Welcome to my latest blog, it’s my twentieth! It’s another relaxing day at sea for our passengers; we get to the port of Piraeus for Athens, first thing tomorrow morning. In the distance off our port side of Oriana is the country of Greece.
A few bits and pieces today!
This is a Portunus Club Cruise! When you cruise with P&O Cruises just once, you automatically become a member of the club and the more days you spend at sea with us each year, the more benefits you get, it’s really that simple. When you book one of our Portunus Club Cruises you receive exclusive discounts.
The top tier of the club is Gold and one of their benefits is a Gold Tier Luncheon held on a sea day during the cruise. As many of the ship’s staff as possible host a table during the lunch. Along with all the other Senior Officers on board I always attend. This cruise I attended the lunch on 26th October and I really did have a table of very charming passengers, they were; Mr and Mrs Donald and Ann Mitchell, Mrs Pamela Morgan, Mrs Joan Westbrook and Mrs Vera Kydd. Because I have been with P&O Cruises for so many years it is very rare I will host a table and not have sailed with the passengers before.
Mrs Ann Mitchell had a lovely story to tell us all; she first cruised with us in 1953 on the P&O liner Iberia and for a two week cruise to the Mediterranean she paid £45.00 2nd Class!!! Ann had travelled on that cruise with a girl friend, but to be honest she does not look old enough to have done a cruise all these years ago without her mum and dad!
Talking of when our ships were two classes - I remember many years ago talking to an elderly lady passenger on our liner Canberra, she said she always used to travel first class, (this is when the ships had two classes), and she said ‘it was wonderful as she could always go down to see ‘them’, but they were not allowed up to see ‘her’!!! Of course she meant the first class passengers were allowed in to second class areas of the ship but it was strictly forbidden for second class passengers to go in to first class areas!! The two class concept is now in the past with the full range of facilities on our ships being open to all passengers.
What’s on tonight you may be wondering? We have a really comprehensive program this evening, with female vocalist Michelle Montuori in cabaret in the Theatre Royal and in our show lounge, (The Pacific Lounge), we have another Production Show with the Headliners Theatre Company, ‘We are the Champions’. This is a tribute to the top selling rock band of the 1970s and 1980s, Queen. We have had numerous versions of a Queen show on our ships for over 15 years as every time we try and drop the show the passengers demand they are re-instated! The music of Queen appeals to all ages, my mum is 87 and she’s still a fan!!! I was a Queen fan before hardly anyone had ever heard of then, I saw them in 1973 at the Hammersmith Odeon London supporting the British Rock Band, Mott the Hoople!!! Apart from the cabaret and show tonight there are movies on, live music in four lounges/bars, quizzes, and a game show. What a night!
Star Cabaret, Jimmy James and myself backstage in the Theatre Royal on 25th October. Jimmy was for many years the front man for Jimmy James and the Vagabonds, but now tours the world with his very own show.
The below shot was taken at sea on 27th October looking aft down the six decks of the ‘fan tails’ of Oriana, great weather, and a proper looking ship!
I look forward speaking to you tomorrow from Piraeus when I am going to tell you all about the future of our company, the cadets.
Bye for now
Nigel
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2 comments:
Jimmy James, a great singer lets hope he will be on the 2011 Aurora world cruise
Hi Nigel
Jimmy James looks very well for his age. I believe he's 70! I hope he turns up on one of my future cruises because it's nice to see different acts. The trouble with being a regular passenger is you seem to see the same acts all the time. I remember a couple of years ago we were on Arcadia and they had the searchers on. Now the searchers are more my mum's era than mine, but we really enjoyed their act. To date the best that we've seen IMO is Jane McDonald. She is actually a great singer. I know people criticise her because she first turned up on the cruise documentary, but she is good. Even hubby enjoyed the show. She is so down to earth too. Although she did have a large entourage with her when she was on Oriana a couple of years ago. We chatted about the rough atlantic crossing we were experiencing at the time (well what do you expect in December in the atlantic)! Talking of which, not long until loose women is on. Better get ready for the gym :-)
Elaine (aurorabore)
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