Southampton 16th November 2009

Good morning from our home port of Southampton! We have just got back from our last cruise of twenty five nights and at 4.30pm we depart on a ten night cruise calling at Vigo, Spain, Lanzarote, Tenerife, and Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, and then finally Madeira before returning to Southampton.

I will let you know all about what entertainment we have scheduled for our passengers tomorrow.

The really big change for us today is that the cast of the Headliners Theatre Company change over. The outgoing team have been with us since 9th May and will now go their separate ways, maybe doing a Pantomime contract, back to working in musical theatre in the West End or even doing a national musical theatre tour, they may even be going off to join another ship. The incoming thirteen boys and girls have already been rehearsing in South London for the last six weeks, for some of them it will be their first contact with P&O Cruises Headliners Theatre Company but for others it could be another one of many. The incoming cast will be with us here on board Oriana until 16th June next year.

A team of creative staff will travel with the performers, on their first two cruises. Charlie Blair who is one of ‘Headliners’ Choreographers/Directors, Jessica Bedford Assistant Choreographer, two wardrobe personnel Katy Adeney and Syreeta Wootton and Head Boy/Dance Captain Richard Farr who will remain on board from the last cast to settle and guide the new Dance Captain.

Rehearsals in London are one thing, getting the shows up and running on board with a new cast are quite another! Like all of the ship’s company who newly join, the cast are taken through a number of safety inductions, we also require them to be aware of all the different rules and regulations on board. They will, as soon as they join, have costume fittings for the first of their shows ‘Award’ which is tomorrow night! Some of them will be straight out of dance/musical theatre colleges and apart from it being their very first job they will not have been on a ship before and may never have even lived away from home! Last but not least, a ship is a moving platform, and to perform on board is very different than in a theatre at home!

I know all the of new cast will be thrilled and excited to be joining Oriana and to the ones who have not been with us before, this is probably the biggest adventure of their young lives!
We do all what we can to make them feel part of the team on board and settle them in quickly. The Production Manager, Deputy Cruise Director and myself will all talk to them as a group and make them feel as welcome as possible.

Not only does the new cast arrive, but we will also get new show sets delivered whilst the old ones are being landed. The same goes for the boxes of new and old costumes. It’s logistically challenging and I am sure it will be an interesting day!

I will be telling you throughout this next cruise how the new cast are getting on, and I’ll also take a photograph of them all so you can see who I am talking about!

I will be seeing my boss this morning, who is shore based here in our head office in Southampton. Morgan Van Selman is Entertainment Product Manager of P&O Cruises and he is the gentleman I report to.

Below are some photographs of Oriana from an area the passengers can only see from above! It is the crew deck, Promenade Deck Forward. On this area today the show sets and costumes for our new shows will be craned on, and from here they go straight in to the back stage area of the Theatre Royal for storage until required.

The crew deck as you can see has its own swimming pool and sports nets. The nets are used a great deal by the ship’s company for cricket and football practice and matches. This area is also used by those of the ship’s company who are fond of the sun, and that includes me!


Bye for now, see you tomorrow from the ‘Bay of Biscay’ southbound.

Nigel