Southampton to Fremantle Oriana Grand Voyage 2008 |
| Reviewed By: Cooper, Wilson, Western Australia, on 29th Mar 2008 |
| Cruise Line: P&O Cruises |
Times cruised before: 6-10 |
| Cruise Ship: Oriana |
Sailed:
January,
2008 |
| Destination: World Cruise |
Age: 65+ |
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My wife & I flew out of Perth on Wed Jan 02, to join Oriana's 62 days cruise back to Fremantle, it was 39C when we left Perth & arrived at Heathrow to 1C a bit of a shock to the system.
After a couple of days in London we left Sunday mid-day to travel by Eavesway down to Southampton to join Oriana.
We ended up sitting on the coach for about an hour & a half, as the terminal was busy due to the late arrival of the ship, still it was warmer on the coach than standing outside.
Once inside the terminal the boarding process went smoothly & we were onboard by about 6 PM & the ship sailed at around 10 PM.
This was our 6th cruise with P&O & our 3rd on Oriana, so it was a bit like coming home, though she had undergone refurbishment since our last cruise & the cabins redone with new mattresses & duvets etc.
We were disappointed that the Curzon Room had been altered to the Rhodes Resturant, which never seemed to be full, even when they offered the World Cruisers (& there were 900 going all the way around) a 10GBP discount at various times.
We opted for an inside cabin midships on deck 5 this cruise, which my wife said was the best cabin we'd ever had as it was a 4berth, & with only the 2 of us in the cabin, the extra room & in particular the additional wardrobe space was most welcome.
There was hardly any movement in rougher weather at this level, which my wife approved of as she's not a real good sailor & never liked our last cabin on A Deck.
I won't comment on the cruise from Southampton to Hong Kong as this has already been reviewed by Jelfs Feb25, & we totally agree with his comments.
After Hong Kong we carried on to Shanghai & we were lucky we arrived after the snowstorms they'd had, it was a little cool around 2C in the morning, warming up to about 4C during the day.
We did a half day tour of the city which took in the YuYuan Gardens which are in the centre of the city & date back to the Ming Dynasty & also visited the Jade Buddha Temple which is dominated by a six & a half foot 455LB Buddha made of white Jade & precious stones, this was a well worth it half day tour.
Keelung in Taiwan was our next port of call where we did a full day tour.
Here we visited the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial, The National Palace Museum & the Matry's Shrine, which is like a war memorial & we were lucky enough to see the Changing of the guard, they were excellent, & immaculately turned out.
Also made a photo stop at Taipei 101, the world's tallest building at 509 metres & 101 storeys, that's until the new building in Dubai is completed & apparently there is one in China which is going to be taller.
Once leaving Taiwan it was 6 days at sea & then Australia.
The weather wasn't the best for the visitors as it rained in Cairns (not too much), Brisbane & Sydney but the weather on Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays was excellent, lost count of the number of English visitors who said they'd like to live there.
We passed Aurora one day just before we got to Cairns ( Yorkey's Knob) & she had missed Cairns & the Whitsundays due to rough weather as both these ports were Tender ports.
The remainder of the Australian ports Melbourne, Burnie, Adelaide & Albany were all great weather wise & we arrived in Fremantle at 8AM on Sat Mar08 at the end of our 62 day cruise.
Just to sum up, the port lectures were good & the Port Presenter tried to get into the spirit of the port she was presenting by wearing the appropriate costume for that country, which was a little different.
Though the tours were expensive, they were well worth doing if you just wanted a quick over view of that port.
Entertainment on board was first class, what with Theatre Shows, quizzes lectures, ballroom & line dancing classes & all the deck sports.
We particularly liked some of the entertainers like the versatile Allan
Stewart, Pam Ayres & her poetry, & the Welsh singer comedian Diane Cousins, & the Theatre Company Group were also great, just to name a few.
The staff as usual were excellent, the service great, so once again we had a fantastic cruise, courtesy of P&O, so we are looking forward to our next cruise on Arcadia in 2009.
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| Quality of Food |  |
| Breakfast & lunch at the Conservatory, occasionally Alfrescos
Dinner at the Peninsular Restaurant | | Entertainment |  |
| Pam Ayres ,Allan Stewart, Diane Cousins, excellent
Some of the comedians, poor & jokes pretty tired | | Shore Excursions | |
| Essence of Rome tour excellent
Salalah,Dubai, Phuket were good
Penang, Ho Chi Minh City, Shanghai & Taipei all excellent | | Staff | |
| Cabin Steward Milton, excellent, nothing was any trouble
Restuarant waiters Suresh & Sanjay, jovial & helpful | | Children's Facilities | n/a |
| | Onboard Activities | |
| Thoroughly enjoyed line dancing with Beccy | | Cabins | |
| Everything we wanted & room to spare | | Overall Rating | |
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