Oceana / Cruises | My Time Travels

Oceana - 1st Cruise - 24th June 2003 - 14 Nights

Ships Statistics

Gross Tonnage 77,000 (approximately)
Length Overall 856 feet
Beam 106 feet
Draught (full) 26 Feet
Maximum Speed 21 Knots
Engines 4 medium speed diesels
Cost $300 million
Builder Fincantieri Cantieri Navali Italiani, Monfalcone, Italy
Flag British
Passenger Capacity 2,016 Reg 2,272 Max
Passenger space ratio 38.3 tons Passenger Cabins 1,008 total

1^st Cruise - 2003

Tuesday 24th June - Southampton
Wednesday 25th June - Amsterdam - Holland
Thursday 26th June - At sea
Friday 27th June - Oslo - Norway
Saturday 28th June - At sea
Sunday 29th June - Nynashamn (Sweden)
Monday 30th June - Tallinn (Estonia)
Tuesday 1st July - St Petersburg (Russia)

Wednesday 2nd July - Helsinki (Finland)
Thursday 3rd July - At sea
Friday 4th July - Warnemunde (Germany)
Saturday 5th July - Copenhagen (Denmark)
Sunday 6th July - At sea
Monday 7th July - Zeebrugge (Belgium)
Tuesday 8th July - Southampton

Total distance steamed was 3,934 nautical miles

Adonia - 2nd Cruise - 23rd June 2004 - 16 Nights

Adonia entered service in 2001, far and away the smallest of the fleet holding just 710 passengers and measuring 30,000 tons.

Aurora - 3rd Cruise - 6th November 2005 - 21 Nights

Ships Statistics

Gross Tonnage 76,000 (approximately)
Length Overall 886 feet
Beam 106 feet
Draught (full) 26 Feet
Maximum Speed 24 Knots
Engines Diesel electric
Cost £200 million
Builder Meyer Werft Shipyard, Germany
Flag British
Passenger Capacity 1,874 Reg 1,950 Max
Passenger space ratio 40.6 tons Passenger Cabins 939 total

Cruise Itinery

Sunday 6th November - Sail from Southampton
Monday 7th November - At sea
Tuesday 8th November - At sea
Wednesday 9th November - Ponta Delgada
Thursday 10th November - At sea
Friday 11th November - At sea
Saturday 12th November - At sea
Sunday 13th November - At sea
Monday 14th November - Antigua
Tuesday 15th November - Tortola - BVI

Wednesday 16th November - St Lucia
Thursday 17th November - Grenada
Friday 18th November - Barbados
Saturday 19th November - At sea
Sunday 20th November - At sea
Monday 21st November - At sea
Tuesday 22nd November - At sea
Wednesday 23rd November - At sea
Thursday 24th November - Madeira
Friday 25th November - At sea
Saturday 26th November - At sea
Sunday 27th November - Southampton

Total distance steamed was 8,339.5 nautical miles

While we were in ????????? one of P & O's other ships, the Arcadia was also there. When it was time for us to sail we had a party on the upper deck, aft. It was called the 'Great British Sail Away'. We had very loud music and were all waving flags. The idea was that the passengers on both ships could wave at each other as we sailed. It did not quite work out like this as most of the passengers on the Arcadia had only arrived that afternoon by plane and were all asleep. Anyway we had a lovely party.

This is a view of one of the 3 swimming pools on board the ship. Above this pool was an enormous sliding roof so if the weather was not very nice the roof could be closed making it an indoor pool.

In order to keep us informed of everyday events a daily paper was issued called Aurora Today. In it there would be information about the dress code of the day as well as details of the various resturants and bars around the ship.

There would also be information about the various activities and entertainment available on the ship.

If we were in port it would also tell us the arrangements for going ashore and sailing times.

Dinner was a main occasion every night. There was always plenty of food around all day and you might very well miss some meals but we never missed dinner. You can see from the menu on the left that we could chose whatever wine we fancied although in honesty we did tend to go for the same red wine every night.

This particular menu was for the Captains dinner and as such was a formal affair. This gave the men the chance to wear their dinner suits while the ladies were able to dress in their prettiest evening gowns and jewellery.

The menu was typical of how we ate every night the only difference being the addition of an extra course in the style of the sorbet.

During this cruise we had six formal nights. Normally I vary the colour of my bow tie or my cummerbund but with so many nights I felt I needed something extra. I bought this white dinner jacket onboard. One of the evenings was a black and white dinner. For that I wore a black shirt with a white bow tie and white jacket. It looked very smart but made me look like a member of the mafia.

When booking a cruise one of the questions is how many other guests you would like to dine with. We always ask for 6 as this makes it more likely that you will find someone you can enjoy talking to. On our table we were joined by Jenny and Graham Jenkins and their son Alistar. They were really nice and we got on very well with them.

Throughout our cruise we were always sat at the same table for dinner. The lads on the left were our waiters and really looked after us during our three weeks.

To help us find our way around the ship we each had a little pocket guide. A much larger picture like this could be found on the walls outside of the lifts around the ship.

Oceana - 4th Cruise - 14th October 2006 - 13 Nights

Saturday 14th October - Southampton
Sunday 15th October – At sea
Monday 16th October – Vigo - Spain
Tuesday 17th October – Lisbon - Portugal
Wednesday 18th October – Cadiz - Spain
Thursday 19th October – At sea
Friday 20th October - Gran Canaria
Saturday 21st October – Tenerife

Sunday 22nd October – La Palma
Monday 23rd October - Madeira
Tuesday 24th October - At sea
Wednesday 25th October – At sea
Thursday 26th October - At sea
Friday 27th October - Southampton

Total distance steamed was 3,708 nautical miles

Artemis - 5th Cruise - 17th August 2008 - 15 Nights

Oriana - 6th Cruise - 27th June 2010 - 7 Nights

Ships Statistics

Gross Tonnage 69,000 (approximately)
Length Overall 856 feet
Beam 105 feet
Draught (full) 27 Feet
Maximum Speed 24 Knots
Power is provided by four MAN B&W Diesels
Cost £200 million
The ship was built by Meyer Werft at their shipyard in Papenburg, Germany.
Flag British
Passenger Capacity 1,818 Reg 1,928 Max
Passenger Cabins 909 total

Cruise Itinery

Friday 27th August - Sail from Southampton
Saturday 28th August - At sea
Sunday 29th August - La Coruna - Spain
Monday 30th August - Bilbao - Spain
Tuesday 31st August - Le Verdon - France
Wednesday 1st September - Brest - France
Thursday 2nd September - St Peter Port - Guernsey
Friday 3rd September - Arrive at Southampton

Total distance steamed was 1,482 nautical miles

The Pool and Jaccuzi

While we were onboard we had the opportunity to go into this pool. It is not very large but it

was fun and not too crowded. We had just had the sail away party and most of the people had

gone below decks so we took advantage of it while it was quiet.

Oriana Rhodes Restaurant

In December 2006 the Oriana underwent a £12 million refit in Bremerhaven, Germany.

Coinciding with the refit she was re-registered from Britain to Bermuda in order to enable

Weddings at Sea to take place on board. Due to the success of the 'Arcadian Rhodes' restaurant

on board the Arcadia, a new Oriana Rhodes restaurant was introduced, replacing The Curzon

Room. Oriana Rhodes was designed by celebrity chef Gary Rhodes and can accommodate

96 passengers.

While we were onboard we had the opportunity to watch Gary Rhodes perform a cookery demonstration in the main theatre. He seemed a very nice and natural guy. We had already booked to eat in his restaurant onboard and were looking forward to that very much. We met him and had a quick chat at a book signing. He was not in any sort of hurry and chatted to us in a normal manner. One of the gems he informed us about was the ability to freeze egg whites, Simple but a great tip.