Middle of the Ocean

October 16th 2009

Good Day from the middle of the mighty Atlantic Ocean!

At Noon today we will have travelled 1339 nautical miles or 1540 land miles since leaving Barbados on Tuesday and still have 1281nautical miles or 1473 land miles to go before we get to Madeira on Monday morning at 8.30am. The closest land to us is the Island of Santo Antao in the Cape Verde Island group and the ocean here is 4881 metres or 15,863 feet deep! (we have just crossed over the Mid Atlantic Ridge).

Oriana is a great cruise ship, I have lost count of the tours of duty I have done on her but it’s always a pleasure to return to her. People often ask me if I have a favourite ship and the answer to that is no, our fleet of six ships are all different and every one of them has its own personality. Our passengers love this ship, a great many of them have lost count of the number of cruises they have sailed on her and some of them not only come here once a year but a few times a year! For many passengers Oriana is the destination, it does not really matter to them where she’s going!! They love the ship for many different reasons but the ships company stands out above all others, they do like to be welcomed back onboard by a familiar face with a friendly smile.

Oriana is perfect for these long cruises; she has more public rooms than any of our ships and even has a designated Ballroom, Harlequins, so if you are a keen dancer this is the ship to sail on. Because of all these public rooms we can schedule a diverse and varied entertainment program. I do have to say that I rarely get any passengers telling me on Oriana there is not enough going on, it’s usually the other way around passengers comment to me there is too much going on! There is as much, or as little for our passengers to do as they want, no one is every forced in to taking part in an activity or an event.

Good news; two of my direct team are getting married; they are familiar faces to many tens of thousands of our loyal passengers. Entertainment Officers Debbi Burrows and John Gittioes. They met in the Cruise Directors Office on Oriana Easter 2007and became great friends before they started to ‘see’ each other, I should explain that ’seeing’ someone is a very ship phase, on shore side you would call it dating! Debbi is from Wolverhampton and has worked for us five and a half years and started her sea career as a Youth Officer before becoming an Entertainment Officer. John is from Wigan and joined P&O Cruises in November 1995, first of all as a DJ then as an Entertainment Officer.

John Gittoes, Debbi Burrows and myself.

The date for the wedding is November 26th they are getting married in a castle at Shrewsbury, Shropshire. I do hope they have checked they are both on leave on that date! Oriana is very special to them and their wedding cake will be of Oriana, I guess it will not be the 69,000 tons of the original but somewhat smaller!

They are honeymooning on not one but two cruises!!! The first is an Atlantic Crossing to Miami the second a Christmas Caribbean cruise. This year they have already been on Ocean Village 2 for a cruise, they just love being at sea! Talking of being at sea, today I have been at sea 29 years; I joined my first ship on the 16th October in Tilbury Docks for a thirteen night cruise to Madeira and the Canary Island. Twenty cruise ships and 29 years later I am still here, I must love it too!


The Entertainment Officers of Oriana, back row left to right,
Entertainment Officer Cora Jackson, Entertainment Officer DJ Paul Franklin, Assistant Cruise Director Katy Kelly, Entertainment Officer Richie Ternouth, Entertainment Officer Mizzie Sanders.

Front row left to right;
Deputy Cruise Director Leanne Taylor, Entertainment Officer John Gittoes, Entertainment Officer Debbi Burrows, and myself.

Have a good day whatever you are doing, I shall be back tomorrow with more tales of the ‘motion of the ocean’.

Nigel