we have just come home from the best cruise yet. Embarkation was perfect, check in to cabin only 20mins. The Oriana is a great sized ship, everything within walking distance. The food in the main restaurants was edible, nothing amazing. We found the food in the buffet restaurant wonderful, happy to eat there most nights. We absolutely adored the beach house and sindhu restaurants. Staff couldn't do enough to help and would go the extra mile. excursions were great, but if you need a tender to go ashore, check the weather 1st. We were stuck in one for 45 minutes, bobbing around in really rough weather, there was a queue of them as they took ages to on/off load. Panic attack!! We had an inside cabin which was more than adequate. our cabin steward, sinesh, was very attentive and cabin left immaculate after he'd left. Sorry to see Oriana "retire", such a beautiful ship. On the whole, well done p and 0, look forward to sailing on Britannia next year Read Less

It was nothing more than a floating retirement home.Daytime activities consisted of boring quizzes,seminars on weight loss and pain relief,watercolour painting and something called Knit and Natter (think old ladies sitting in circle knitting and gossiping).The evening entertainment was just diabolical; the mediocre ship theatre group putting on mediocre shows,an irish comedian rehashing jokes from the ark and,wait for it, a harp player wtf. the food was nice but nothing special but the service was good. as for the cabin it was fine for the first week but then it was flooded by a burst pipe and the treatment we received from the deck manager and housekeeping manager was just unbelievable.i only hope they don't treat their mothers the way they treated mine. they wouldnt move us so we had 3 days in a damp smelly cabin (my mother was up all night being ill because of the smell) and all we got was a cheap bottle of p&o plonk (we don't drink) and a tiny box of p&o chocolates.needless to say we have made formal complaints this was our first and last cruise with p & o. next year its back to royal caribbean Read Less

Chose this cruise because it was going to Greenland (never met anyone who had been to Greenland) First stop was Stornaway. It was great because it was raining. Remember the long hot spell. Next stop was Reyjavik. Been there before with P&O and it was a big let down. I kept telling everyone how boring iceland was, being covered with lava. This time we walked into town from the shuttle bus stop, and it was a big eye opener. The shops were great and the locals friendly. One place not to miss is the Harpa Hall which is Reykjavik,s concert hall. If you are lucky and get there on a sunny day the prismatic windows throw all the colours of the rainbow onto the entrance plaza. Back to Oriana. Been on her before and we felt just at home. The most comfortable cinema afloat. On to Greenland. First stop was to Quaquortoc. On the way the bridge announced a sighting of a large iceberg. Fortunately it was about a mile away, still it did look good in the sunshine. Arrived at Quaquotoc, took a thirty minute stroll around town, swatted some flies, and then back on board. Still, I done it, ive been to Greenland. Next part of the journey was through Prinz Christian Sund. Absolutely magical. Small 'growlers' everywhere and more glaciers than I could shake a stick at (not that i carry a stick). This steady, sedate cruise was not to be missed even if lunch was. In a way a bit of a shame because the oriana food was really, really good. We arrived at Nuuk (the capital) where we had a whale watching trip booked. Off we went to view these whales which the captain said were in the vicinity. The boat was a bit oldish wooden vessel but was very capable and seaworthy. It wasn,t long before we were in the right area. Sure enough a pair of hump back whale appeared. Photo time came and just as the whale was giving us the big goodby with its tail, and I was taking the first pressure on my camera; the numpty in front of me decided to stand up and shout whoohoo with his arms in the air. Fifteen hundred miles just for a photo of his back. I thought 'what a plonker' or words to that effect. On arriving back at Nuuk we decided to walk into town. Off we trudged, in the rain, but the distance and the hill was a bit too much for us. Pity there was no shuttle bus. We were in the habit of taking breakfast in Al Fresco . We soon realised that we were surrounded by "holier than thou" muscle mechanics with their yoghourt and bowls of Meusli who want to start or finnish their daily fitness regime by digging through to the bottom of the dish using a spoon as a spade. The noise generated by these breakfast miners is pretty shattering to those of us who are hard of hearing and must wear hearing aids to enjoy the company of others. Not all disabilities are visible, but these plate thumpers dont care about others as long as others can admire their lycra clad, nearly perfect bodies. The only flaw in a nearly perfect cruise was on a Black Tie night. Two waiters collided and I took a good shower of milk. Humble appologies and here is a basket of inedible fruit to compensate. No dry cleaners on board. Still not to worry, these things can happen Read Less

A great cruise with one or two problems in the cabin (see cabin review under). The itinerary was excellent which is why we chose this. People moan about the ship but for a ship of this age it was clean and tidy and the stabilizers worked a treat in the odd rough sea we experienced. It's a nice size ship so you don't get the problem of overcrowding and thankfully it's an adult only ship. Maintenance was constantly being done on deck such as painting and varnishing which to me should not be done whilst there are paying passengers on board, unfortunately I suffer bad headaches from the smell of paint but it was hard to avoid such areas. It's way out of date with it's daily activities and shows compared to the new modern large cruise ships but hey ho, you can't have everything. Food, as usual with P & O is boring old fashioned everyday cooking and most of the time, especially in the restaurant, it was dry. The menu is repetitive rather than an experience as on Celebrity ships. Since our last cruise they have reorganised the Conservatory dining experience whereby the food stations have been split into smaller stations which was much better as you didn't have to join a long queue to get your food. The timing of the afternoon tea always is a nuisance for us as coming back from being on shore around 5pm it's closed until 6pm so for that crucial hour when you are wanting a snack before second sitting dinner there's nothing. The shows are the same boring old "Headliners" and comedy/music acts but the talks in the Theatre during the day and the port presentations made up for it. Nigel Marvin the TV wildlife presenter was on board and his talks were excellent and funny too. New ideas are needed for the theatre. The ports of call were superb. Sadly too windy for the tenders in Stornoway so we were the unlucky ones who didn't get ashore. Luckily we had been before. Reykjavik: Did the Golden Circle Tour with P&O and it was excellent, expensive but worth it. The Almannagja Fault was the first stop, where two tectonic plates meet, then Gulfoss waterfall and lunch (yum yum, superb) then the spouting geyser which performed well. On to the Kerio crater, stunning colour and then the Geothermal Power Plant. Arrived back at the ship so decided to take the shuttle into Reykjavik for the evening. Prins Christian Sund: This was an unscheduled trip which the captain announced the day before. It was the icing on the cake. The weather was more than stunning, cold but superb. The trip through the sound lasted around 6 hours and was the best part of the whole cruise. The scenery was simply outstanding. Qaqortog: Lovely little town to walk around, warm sunny day so had to buy a head net as the flies/mozzies were horrendous. Found plenty to do despite it being small but as photographers, it was great. A little walk out of town and a grocery store sold the local beer which they opened for you and we sat outside on the tables provided to drink it. Seal fur factory was interesting but at the same time quite sad. The only hotel was very busy and provided great views. Nuuk: Hmmm, not my idea of a stop off place but still glad to experience it. Decent walk from ship to town and no shuttle not that it bothered us being walkers but would be very difficult for some. Overcast and misty to start the day so we walked to the old town which was ok but that's about all. Got some atmospheric photos before it decided to pour with rain for the rest of the day. Go to the library (green building in the centre of town) for free internet access, worked quite well. Isafjordur: Small little town which provided plenty of places to take photos. Walked all around the outskirts and noticed lots of pretty little houses along with a good view of the ship anchored in the bay. Beer tasting right near the ship was excellent, spent rather too much time in there trying the different beers and was quite hard on my purse too. Akureyri: Went whale watching on a ships excursion this morning. Took and hour's ride out into the fjord before we saw any whales then there were two together which was great. Spent about an hour circling them and watching them spurt and dive (humpbacks). Got frozen to the bone as we stayed at the front of the boat in head wind as didn't want to miss anything. Resorted to inside on the way back. Back in town and we walked to the Botanical Gardens, absolutely delightful. Walked all around the town before going back to the ship. Plenty going on in town so never short of something to see. Torshavn: Sadly another wet wet day. We had decided to walk around the town and enjoy the local hospitality but another couple from the ship asked if we'd like to join up with them so we all took a local taxi trip around the main island (Tour No 5: Tjornuvik) for 2 hours. The scenery was stunning. The taxi driver didn't speak English but it didn't really matter as you can always read up about the local history yourself after visiting. He stopped for us wherever and whever we wanted to take photos which was great. A beautiful island, would thoroughly recommend it. Greenock: Nice warn day and we decided just to walk around the town and area, not much of a place but we had seen all the ships excursion places on our own visits ot Scotland and last time we docked in Greenock we took the train into Glasgow so didn't want to do that again this time. Lots of days at sea but they never seemed to drag as there was always something to do and walking around the deck for exercise was certainly an experience some days due to the strong winds. Lots of icebergs on the way to and from Greenland and the ship sailed within a mile of the sinking of HMS Hood so we had a minutes silence out of respect and flower petals were thrown into the sea to commemorate the sad event. Nothing more to be said, a great cruise. Read Less

This was my and my friends first cruise. We choose this one as we thought we would try cruising with a short break to see if we liked it. Well I can 100% say it was amazing from the time we arrived at Mayflower terminal until the time we disembarked. The efficiency and ease of boarding was so relaxed and stress free - a very slick operation !! The Oriana is a beautiful, stylish and elegant boat and I strangely felt very attached to it and became extremely emotional when I had to disembark ! The cabins (as was the whole ship) were immaculately clean and well appointed with plenty of storage room and wonderfully comfortable beds and pillows. Room service was 1st class with information booklets left in room each day and chocolates. All dining facilities were faultless and the freedom dining worked very well for us. We initially felt a bit concerned about sitting with people we didn't know, but this worked really well. Entertainment was superb and the staff excellent, so many of them, we never had to wait to be served. I have read lots of reviews, mostly good, but some poor ones and cant help but feel these might have been from people who are extremely picky and just like to complain! Although this is the only cruise I have been on I can honestly say we could not fault it and had an amazing time. One day after coming home I booked a family cruise to the fjords next year on the Ventura. I would have liked to gone on the Oriana again but dates did not suit us . Hope to go on the Oriana before it goes out of service next year. Read Less

We chose this cruise to give my daughter and husband a taste of cruising. It did not occur to us that there would be large groups of big women on hen parties who tended to monopolise the facilities. The cabins at the back of the ship were very noisy and the disco in the Pacific Lounge will keep you awake till the small hours. We have cruised on Oriana before and although we knew the engines were very noisy we did not expect the disco scene. P&O should advertise this as a party cruise. Take your earplugs. The crew were very friendy and helpful and the food was good. The best parts were ashore in Bruges and Guernsey. We booked a shuttle bus to Bruges through viator as the P&O bus is very expensive. This was very good and you could get tickets at the kiosk otside the dock entrance. Read Less

We are Americans, and veteran cruisers. This was our first P&O cruise and chose it for the itinerary. Wanting to see Ireland without all the driving was most important to us.I have to say we were extremely impressed with the cruise from start to finish.Some of the previous reviews i had read were of concern to me due to negativity.Not from us. I felt like i owed P&O more money when we were done. Great food,clean cabins,attentive staff and all around fun with our fellow British "mates". Seriously,some of the nicest people I've ever cruised with.Will definitely do P&O again. Unfortunately,Oriana is being retired next year.I'm sure the other ships will do her proud. We generally cruise the Carribean from the U.S, and the Meditteranen from Venice but will certainly look at the Canary Islands for an upcoming itinerary. Boston to Heathrow is comparable in price to Boston to Miami for airfare.Thanks P&O and Oriana for a great trip. Read Less

After reading reviews about the Oriana, our expectations, were not very high. However we were pleasantly surprised, to find the ship, alot better than, what we had read, in the reviews. It was the first time we had sailed on a smaller, adult only, ship. We loved the art deco design, of the ship,and the size of the ship. So easy to get around. Lots of different bars, and entertainment places. Every area of the ship, was always, clean and tidy.We had an outside cabin (Deluxe Window), on A deck, which was lovely and clean, and plenty of space to hang all our clothes. Our cabin stewardess was a so friendly, she made us feel very welcome. The food, and service, in the restaurant, and bars in the evening, were excellent.All the staff, in the restaurant, were friendly and helpful. The evening entertainment ,was excellent too. Plenty to choose from, to suit all tastes. Loved The Brit Tones and E Sarah Carter, and the man who sang, a mixture of Simon and Garfunkle and other songs, and played the guitar, in various bars, around the ship. We could not fault the Oriana, and would love the chance to sail ,on this ship again. We sailed, all around Ireland, which was nice. It enabled us to see, different parts, of Ireland, Cobh, Dublin, Killybegs, and Galway.We only went on one shore excursion, to visit, Blarney castle, great morning out,which left us plenty of time to look around Cobh, in the afternoon, before sailing. All the ports had lots of excursions you could book, or you could just get off the ship, and do your own thing. Dublin and Galway, both had, city sightseeing buses, which is always a good way to see a city, and for getting around. Read Less

We have never cruised on P&O before, or adults only, so were a little apprehensive for this cruise. We were given an arrival slot of 3pm but this worried me about being late so we left home at 1pm and only live in Portsmouth so didn’t have far to drive. At the terminal, check in was a swift process and they never mentioned us being early so within about twenty minutes we were in our cabin with our luggage arriving very quickly after us. The balcony cabin on B deck (Britannia) was very spacious with loads of storage space, which was a worry of my husband as I had 6 suitcases. There was a mini bar, with a range of drinks and snacks and we got two small free bottles of water. We took everything out of the fridge to put our own stuff in. There is an option which we also took which was buying 6 large bottles of water too for about £10. There was a beautiful flower in a vase which was really unusual and bloomed for the whole of the cruise. There was a seating area and the chairs on the balcony were nice. We had binoculars which were not that great, lucky we had our own, and a map book in the cabin too. The bathroom was adequate size, with a bath and shower over and lots of storage space again. There was one of those old fashion hairdryers on the wall in the bathroom which wasn’t very good but there was another in the cabin which was good. The room attendant came in and introduced herself to us which was nice. As we had two rooms next to each other (travelled with my sister and her husband) we asked the room attendant to ask for the adjoining balcony door to be removed. This did happen when we were next in port. As stated this was an adult only cruise and most of the people were very nice. Others however seemed to think they were more important than us and were rude. They didn’t queue for food or lifts and seemed to know the staff very well so most probably regulars. One thing that really bugged me was the sunbeds! They are supposed to be used within 30 or items removed. I spent many days by the pool and many days sunbeds were reserved and the ‘owners’ only returned for a few minutes at a time through the day. Leaving people waiting for a lounger. I would have, however, asked a member of staff if I could not find a single lounger. The ports on this cruise were amazing and the tours we bought with P&O were good value for money. Equally on some shore days we just jumped on the hop on hop off bus/boat. In Venice it was cheaper to buy the hop on hop off boat ticket than to pay P&O to take you into the city on their tender. The food was amazing on this cruise and as we were ‘trying to be good’ we mostly ate in the restaurant rather than the buffet as I think you tend to over eat there. Afternoon tea is not to be missed. (Yogi, our server was great, table 11 in freedom dinning) The cinema is great and we watched some good films and I also went to the gym for classes and use of the machines which was great too. I never found the sauna. There were lots of talks and activities for a range of people however, it was mostly not to our taste. I would have loved to learn to dance but hubby had a bad leg so couldn’t participate. There was bingo and quiz nights too which were fun. The men enjoyed the World Cup, well mostly because sometimes the system wasn’t tested and parts of games were missed and people had to move to other areas or own room to watch. One frustrating thing was buying pints of beer in different lounges/bars. The price booklets are the same in all venues but waiters are reluctant to go to another bar to get you a pint and try to sell you the bottles of beer which works out more expensive. There is tea and coffee available from the machine in the buffet or after a meal in the restaurant and these are also topped up every day in your cabin, you also get 2 packets of biscuits every day along with a chocolate on your pillow each nifght. The public areas were always clean and shorts were not allowed in any restaurant in the evening, nor was swimwear, which was nice. The staff at reception made us feel like it was an inconvenience to talk to them sometimes but the staff in the shops were friendly. The prices, as expected in the shops were steep so never really bought anything. The muster of the lifeboats seemed a little disorganised and we were all squeezed into a small area with the staff member not really having control of the passengers. The entertainment was ok, there were lots of things to choice from every day and evening, some of it wasn’t to our taste or liking, but we did enjoy the four tunes, and some other bands. The resident group were ok and I enjoyed the queen night. I also enjoyed the magician. Disembarking was crazy we chose to get off at 9 am and were told to go to the theatre and wait, but when we got of the ship our luggage was everywhere with no real organisation. On the whole I would consider going with P&O again but mainly due to the size of the cabin and the food. Read Less

Party of 6. Picked this cruise because or itinerary. Appreciate Oriana is an older ship but it has had a recent overhaul. Ship is smart in a rather retro style. We made extensive use of the Lords Tavern bar which is the nearest to a large English pub and the staff were great. Went to Indian Sindhu restaurant one night which was superb and well worth the small supplement. Main dining food and service could not be faulted unlike the buffet which was very average. As an example we were given stale bread at breakfast on a number of breakfasts. Bread choice was poor. We could only get white or brown rolls or pre sliced bread. Cooked food choice was limited. No ice cream available at lunch or dinner. I am not being picky but these things and more all add up. This was a 1st on P & O and unfortunately has now put us off. We generally had a good cruise but did not get off feeling special as we have with our favourite Celebrity cruises. Read Less