This was our first cruise on P&O and the last, in fact this ship has for the moment put me off cruising. The ship is scruffy and desperately in need of a re-fit or selling off. I find it hard to imagine it ever had any luxury about it, for example on Queen Victoria they have a massive Christmas tree in the atrium that spans two floors, a harpist playing on the second level by a cocktail bar, on Oriana just a cheap 6ft tree. We had to collect our cases some way down the corridor instead of them being already in the cabin. The cushions in the cabin were horribly stained, the bed valance had large stains and holes stitched up, all fit for the bin. The carpet tired, worn and stained. There was a fresh flower in a vase, on Christmas morning it had wilted and flopped over, the cabin girl simply did away with the stem and plonked a stemless flower head in the vase. No complaints with the cabin staff though.

I do not like to hear people criticise the age of people on cruise ships but on this ocassion even my husband who is 72 felt young, plus there was noticeably more tattoos and less manners on this cruise line, more like Butlins on sea. The general consensus from other passengers seemed to be standards were down, the entertainment poor and the christmas decorations disappointing.

On the other side of the coin I have to say the meals in the Oriana restaurant were excellent, probably the best I have had on a cruise and our two waiters absolutely exemplary, they bent over backwards to please and always took time to chat, I was sad to say goodbye to them. The propellers are very noisy in this dining room but this did not bother us as much as it bothered others. I did hear some people not so happy with the food but in our experience this was absolutely not the case (petit fours not so good but a very minor point). Read more