Adriatic Sea

1st November 2009

Buongiorno! We shall still have a greeting in Italian today as Italy is just over on the starboard side of Oriana!

Let’s talk about Venice yesterday, it is my favourite city in the world and in my humble opinion the very best sail in, it never disappoints. I can imagine people reading this all around the world thinking that poor Cruise Director has lost the plot, has he never sailed in to Sydney, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town or San Francisco!!! Yes I have sailed in to all these amazing harbours and Venice is the one that ‘rocks my boat’! Now I can hear you asking why does Venice ‘do it’ for Nigel? That’s easy, Venice is man-made, it was built on 118 marshy islands and is a testament to the ingenuity, drive, intelligence and artistic brilliance of the human race. The above cities I have mentioned have amazing scenery and natural harbours, but when it comes to architectural wonders Venice is in a league of its own.

Now I have got off my ‘soap box’ I will talk about yesterday and the experience of sailing in to and going ashore in Venice.

Sunrise yesterday was 6.50am and I was up on the Navigational Bridge of Oriana at that time ready to start my commentary for the sail in at 7.00am. Yes, Captain Julian Burgess had kindly given me permission to give a commentary to our passengers over the open decks and in to the Crows Nest Bar.

Venice is in the Venice Lagoon which is 35 miles long and 7 miles wide and the Lagoon is protected from the sometimes rough Adriatic sea by two long thin islands with three sea inlets. As we all know Venice is sinking and sea levels are rising so Italy has embarked on the largest public works project in its history to protect Venice from its floods.

It is called the MOSE Project and is monumental in its sheer audacity and scale; 78 huge steel gates will rise up from the seabed blocking the three sea inlets to the Venice Lagoon in times of projected high tides, effectively making the Lagoon an inland sea while the gates are raised!!! I explained all of this to the passengers yesterday morning as we sailed in from the Adriatic to the Lagoon, and pointed out all the main feature of this huge construction project as we sailed through the sea inlet and entered the Lagoon.

After entering the Lagoon, Venice appears all of a sudden and even if you have never been before she looks like an old friend as we are all so familiar with her image on TV, in movies, in newspapers and magazines - she never fails to amaze.

Sailing in on one of our great ships is an unforgettable experience; we pass within three hundred metres of Piazza San Marco and look down the Grand Canal while we turn to port before we entered the Giudecca Canal to make our way down to our berth at the Stazione Marittima.

After our arrival I ‘cleared my desk’, (that means I dealt with as many emails as I could!), before going ashore for a walk. My destination was the Rialto Market and the Casa Parmigiano Delicatessen there; my wife Mandy is a fabulous cook and whenever I am in Venice I have to buy a vacuumed pack slice of Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, the bigger the slice the better! All you lady readers out there will be thinking what a romantic I am, I am away from home for months and then I take my wife home a slice of cheese! Before you all think bad of me I always take Mandy home a bottle of Rosé Champagne as well!

My family and I have been to Venice twice on holiday. Six years ago when we were there in February for the Carnival it snowed one day, it brought a new meaning to the word magical! Mandy and I also went to Venice last year to celebrate our silver wedding anniversary. It isn’t actually until next year but she was convinced I wouldn’t be at home! As it happens it looks like I may be! A life at sea does mean that family milestones are often not celebrated on the actual date!!!

Photo gallery time, the shots will say it all, but you really do need to be on board one of our ships sailing in to Venice to truly appreciate the majesty and grandeur of the most beautiful city in the world.


Oriana approaches Venice.

San Giorgio Maggiore Church

Looking down the Grand Canal, Santa Maria Della Salute Church is on the left, behind the old Customs House.

Rio San Trovaso, on the left of the Rio (canal) is one of the remaining Gondola workshops.

The Grand Canal.

Basilica of San Marco

The Rialto Bridge.

P&O Cruises ships are visiting Venice next year on seventeen cruises, spread between five ships of the fleet. Read all about them in the 2010 P&O Cruises brochure!

Arrivederci,

Nigel.

Venice - Italy

31st October 2009

Buon Giorno, from my favourite city in the world!! I will be doing a feature on Venice tomorrow with a photo gallery of our sail in and my travel hints for this unique testament to mankind’s ingenuity.

Yesterday we had our ‘wear it pink day’ in recognition of the ‘pink day’ back in the UK. As we departed Dubrovnik in Croatia at 3.30pm we had a ‘pink’ inspired Sailaway Party, one of the available Cocktails was ‘pink’, our music selection was ‘pink’ inspired and all of our passengers were given pink balloons to wave.

A few facts and figures about this great ship, she came in to service in April 1995 and was quality built at the Meyer Werft Shipyard, Papenberg, Germany, she is 260.97,meteres long 32.2 metres wide, has a gross tonnage of 69153 and an average draft of 8.3 metres. She is a classic ocean liner and built for any cruising schedules.

Some great shots whilst at anchor of Giardini Naxos, Sicily on 28th October.

This photograph was taken from the deck of Oriana, Taormina is in the centre of the photograph and in the top left of the shot is the gorgeous hill top town of Castelmola.

Oriana anchored in the bay of Giardini Naxos, you can see the tenders alongside the ship that are used to take passengers ashore.

The beach at Giardini Naxos showing the local fishing boats with Taormina and Castelmola above.

Back tomorrow with a full report on Venice!

Arrivederci,

Nigel.

Dubrovnik - Croatia

Dubrovnik - Croatia

30th October 2009

Dubrovnik today for our passengers, Venice tomorrow, life does not get much better than this!

The blog is a bit of a photo gallery today; all the shots were taken in Cadiz Spain on Sunday 25th October during our call there. Cadiz is a great port of call, it’s not a touristy city at all, and in fact most of the visitors are Spanish which gives the city a really local feel. The Spanish are a stylish race, they seem to be able to achieve a cool look effortlessly, they are rather like the Italians in that way! As you can tell I really like Cadiz, it would be great for a long weekend away. Most of the huge fortifications of the city were built to keep out us Brits, you’ll be pleased to hear that was a couple of centuries ago!

A section of the seawall fortifications – Cadiz.


Marvellous trees in the gardens of Alameda de Apodaca – Cadiz.



Castillo De Sta. Catalina – Cadiz.



Playa De La Caleta – Cadiz.



Casteillo De S. Sabastion – Cadiz.



The Town Hall - Cadiz.



Cathedral Cadiz, Construction began in 1722 in the Baroque Style.



Shots taken from the Cathedral’s Bell Tower, spot Oriana at her berth!







Spot the thousands of fish, Atlantic Ocean – Cadiz.



Today onboard we are having a number of events in recognition of the ‘wear it pink’ day, I will be telling you all about how we got on tomorrow!

Bye for now.

Nigel

Corfu - Greece

Adventures Ashore

Italy yesterday Greece today, it’s a great cruise this one!

I am going to tell you about our Shore Excursions Department onboard today. As you know we have fourteen ports of call this cruise and between them we are offering an incredible 103 Shore Excursions in all, there really is something for everyone! At P&O Cruises we believe in really taking care of our passengers whether it’s on board or in one of the ports and an organised excursion will provide you with peace of mind and the expert knowledge of a local guide.

There are four members in the Shore Excursions Department onboard, Tours Manager Pauline Kuleta, Assistant Tour Managers David Wright and Tim Mathieson and Port Presenter Jackie Edelstein. For each and every port there is a sea day presentation in the Theatre Royal, (these are recorded and then shown again on the Passenger's TV System). The talks are informative, entertaining, honest, and give a real insight as to what our ports of call offer. All of the Shore Excursions feature the history, geographical position and any other relevant facts pertaining to that port.

The Entertainment Department try to assist the Shore Excursions Department in any way it can and our Entertainment Technicians are on hand to make sure all of the technical aspects of the port talks are perfect.

If I was a passenger this cruise one of the excursions I would be booking on is the ‘Hidden Venice Walking Tour’ - what a treat that would be, to be shown all around the narrow streets and back alleyways of Venice by a local guide.

Left to right, myself, Shore Excursions Manager Pauline Kuleta and Captain Julian Burgess outside the Tours Office on Oriana 24th October.


Yet another port tomorrow, the magical walled city of Dubrovnik in Croatia.

See you there!

Bye for now,

Nigel

Giardini Naxos - Sicily

Hello from the largest Island in the Mediterranean, mysterious Sicily where Mount Etna is over 10,700 feet high and dominates the island. This is the cruise port for Taormina which is perched high on the cliffs above the bay where we are anchored.

Taormina is a very beautiful town, my wife and I went there this year for a week in May whilst I was on leave. It is just about perfect, with great restaurants, bars, shops and some very impressive buildings dating back to the Greek-Roman Theatre of the 3rd century BC. We stayed in a great hotel that is owned by a famous Scottish rock star and his family, I am pleased to say it was all very sedate and classy; no one was throwing any TVs out of the hotel bedrooms!! We had a hire car for the week but only used it to get to the airport and back as Taormina was so lovely that we did not have any wish to go away from the town and its direct environs. From the hotel there were views across to Mount Etna and its snow capped peak, of a night time you could make out the red hot lava flows down the side of mountain.

I want to talk a little today about the Youth Department onboard which is part of the Entertainment Department. Four of our ships are family friendly, and two are for adults only, we offer great choices here at P&O Cruises.

The Reef is an interactive and colourful children’s programme with age specific clubs and the four family friendly ships all have their own children’s clubs, teenagers areas and even night nurseries! There is even a Cyber Reef website for children.

On Oriana at the moment we have a Youth Director and six youth staff, but the number of these qualified staff varies depending on how many children we are carrying and the age breakdown of those children.

I can well remember when my son was young and we used to go on holiday, if he was happy, my wife and I were too. Happy contented children mean happy contented parents, simple!

The Youth Department of Oriana and myself!

Left to right, Karen Joyce, Liz Jones, Youth Director Carol Ann Montgomery, myself, Jo Lawrie, Cheryl Halsall, Angela Moss, Spot the old one, yes it’s me!!

The Youth Department of Oriana without me!

Left to right, Karen Joyce, Liz Jones, Youth Director Carol Ann Montgomery, Matthew Torbett, Jo Lawrie, Cheryl Halsall, Angela Moss.

Bye for now,

Nigel

Western Mediterranean Sea

Hi Everybody,

Sicily tomorrow, the land of Mount Etna and the Mafia!

The Cruise Director's suggestion for today is to check out the Headliners Theatre Company show, ‘Viva Vegas’, its glamour glitter and a whole lot more!

A little bit about myself, I was born in Paddington central London and lived there with my mum and dad and brother and sister until I was four, we then moved to Kensal Rise/Willesden in north west London as my parents considered Paddington was getting a little rough, anyone who knows these areas of London today will have a quite chuckle about this!

Mum and Dad retired to Somerset in 1980, which is the year I went to sea, so in fact I have not lived in London since 1980.

I met my wife Mandy in 1982, we got married in 1985 and we have lived in Cheshire, where she hails from ever since then, an arrangement that has worked well for us. We live on the border of Cheshire and Derbyshire in the foothills of the Pennines on the edge of Lyme Park. This is the National Trust property which was featured in the TV adaption of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ all those years ago as ‘Pemberley’. It is where Colin Firth emerged out of the lake – a very popular scene! As I have mentioned before I am a keen walker and to living on the edge of Lyme Park is wonderful, at times I can be tramping over there in the middle of winter in a snow storm and not see anyone but the Deer! I walk to keep fit, not to stroll, I have been known to overtake joggers, and if I walk along the canals by us at home I keep up with the barges!!! Mandy has also become a walker in the last couple of years and when she is not at work now loves to join me on my ‘Deer’ watching escapades!

It is a great place to live, quite rural, but close to Manchester and its International Airport.

P&O Cruises were instrumental in how Mandy and I met, but more on that another day!

As you will see today I have posted an updated team photo as there have been a lot of changes. Everyone working onboard rotates to either go on leave or maybe trans-ships (another nautical term, trans-shipping is going from one ship straight on to another one). This cruise we have a change on Oriana of the Deputy Cruise Director and also one of the Entertainment Officers.

Entertainment Officers Oriana Cruise X918.




Left to right.

Entertainment Officer Milly Moran, Entertainment Officer Debbi Burrows, Deputy Cruise Director Karen Campbell, myself, Entertainment Officer John Gittoes, Assistant Cruise Director
Katy Kelly, Entertainment Officer Richie Ternouth, Entertainment Officer Mizzie Saunders, Entertainment Officer DJ Paul Franklin.

Cheers

Nigel

Entertainment – Food and Beverage

Greetings from the gorgeous Mediterranean Sea! We are here now until the 12th November, what lucky people we are!

The title of this blog does imply that all the entertainers eat all the food and drink all the drink on Oriana! What this blog is about is the very close collaboration between these two departments on onboard. The Food and Beverage Department do outnumber us just a little bit; there are 433 of them and 89 of us!

Let’s look at the breakdown of the F&B Department, it is really impressive, 83 work in the bars, 9 work in stores, 101 work in the galley, 157 in the restaurants and 83 in what we call ‘the back of house’. This breakdown must be giving ‘boutique hotels’, small hotels and B&B owners palpitations!

Entertainment and Food and Beverage departments onboard have to be on the same wavelength, here are a few examples; we tie in the restaurant menus with our ‘Theme Nights’. When it is our Formal Black and White suggested dress code and theme night, we have a Black and White theme restaurant menu cover, when it is our Tropical Party night, (which is a Casual Tropical suggested dress code); the dinner menu is a tropical theme.

We also have a number of themed sailaway parties from ports, the biggest being our ‘Great British Sailaway’. this is always the same day as the restaurants have their Best of British dinner menu, like everything else onboard our ships we strive to make everything effortless for the passengers, but there is a great deal of thought behind everything we do, and Food and Beverage and Entertainment do work as one big team.

Heading up the F&B Department is Food and Beverage Manager Amanda Barnes. Amanda is from Bristol and has been at sea nearly nine years working so far on 6 of our P&O Cruises ships. She joined the company as a Junior Assistant Purser and has worked her way up through the ranks up to her present position, the next step up for her is Executive Purser who happens to be my boss onboard - I am personally always charming to Amanda!!

Our Executive Chef is Andrew Yuill who heads up a galley team of 101 personnel; his right hand man is Premier Sous Chef Darren Deegan. Andrew is from Glasgow and spends his leave now between Scotland and the Philippines with his wife. Darren is originally from Ballymote in County Sligo but now lives at Letterkerry, County Donegal Republic of Ireland. The galley is sub divided into different areas, and is a 24 hour operation.

The choice of bars and restaurants onboard our ships is outstanding. On Oriana we also have one of two Gary Rhodes Restaurants on P&O Cruise ships, the other one is on Arcadia.

I am always in awe of the Food and Department Department onboard, it is hugely complex operation incorporating bars, restaurants, stores, galleys, and the team of administration personnel who gel it all together.


Left to right is Myself, Premier Sous Chef Darren Degan, Food and Beverage Manager Amanda Barnes and Executive Chef Andrew Yuill.

I did manage a walk in Cadiz yesterday, it was cloudless and 25c!

We have another relaxing day tomorrow at sea, I will be back then.

Cheers

Nigel

Cadiz Spain

Hello readers!

It’s the first of our 14 ports of call this cruise and it’s a really good one to start. The passengers have so much choice with the range of tours on offer here from a day in Seville, Sherry Tasting in Jerez, and even The World of Bees and Honey - the one I would choose myself is a Walking Tour of the City of Cadiz. Cadiz is the oldest inhabited town in the western world and it’s fascinating to explore the narrow lanes of the old quarter which is famous for its picturesque charm.

Today, as usual, my two alarm clocks will go off at 8.00am, and the first thing I do after getting out of bed is put the kettle on. My wife says I am not human until I have a couple of mugs of coffee inside me in the morning! I try to be in our office by 8.30am and I can be sure the Deputy Cruise Director Karen will already be there, she gets in at 7.00am every morning!

Today I have a couple of shipboard meetings to attend - the first at 9.45am and then one at 11.00am. After that, I intend to go for a good walk around the city walls. Cadiz is almost entirely surrounded by the sea; it is virtually an island, so makes for a great hike. All around takes about an hour, so I think it will be about four miles.

Tonight’s star entertainment in the Theatre Royal is Jimmy James, as in Jimmy James and the Vagabonds; he is a fantastic soul/Motown influenced singer who always gives a high powered performance. Also tonight, we have one of the four ship’s bands ‘Natural High’ with an evening of Jazz in our Crow’s Nest lounge, a ‘Night at the Video Races’ (a chance for a drink and a gamble) in our very own pub The Lords Tavern. There are also movies being shown in Chaplin’s Cinema, dancing in our ballroom Harlequins, a Syndicate quiz in Crichtons Lounge and cocktail music in Tiffanys Bar. I wish I was on holiday; there is so much to do! No two evening's entertainment are the same, we have choice and variety every night.

In fact my wife & I did cruise on P&O Cruises Ventura this August with our Son, his fiancee and 8 of their friends as a belated celebration for his 21st birthday. It was a Party Cruise (two night), and a great time was had by all - I can thoroughly recommend these short cruises particularly for celebrations with family and friends

I will be back tomorrow, with tales hopefully of my walk in Cadiz.

See you soon

Nigel

At sea onboard Oriana

Hello from the Atlantic Ocean sailing south to the Spanish city of Cadiz where we arrive tomorrow.

This is the second day at sea of this voyage; we left our home port of Southampton on Thursday afternoon. Every day at sea is very important for the entire ship’s company as it’s a chance for the passengers to really see what a great ship this is and get to explore Oriana fully. Everything will be open today, the Boutiques, Spa/Gymnasium, Photographers, Cyb@study, Casino, Tours Office, Florist, Junior Club, all the Bars, Restaurants, Library, and needless to say we will have a full entertainment program available.

Daytime activities this cruise are outstanding, we have two Celebrity Speakers, Sir James Wilton who is a Parliamentarian and Frazer Hines, the actor who is best known for playing Jamie in Dr Who and Joe Sugden in Emmerdale Farm. Our other two Guest Speakers are Doug McKensie, who has been a professional celebrity photographer for 61 years, and Commander Jeff Tall OBE RN, who is a submarine historian. This cruise is also a ‘Tate Britain Theme Cruise’. P&O Cruises has entered into a partnership with Tate Britain and this cruise we have four Tate experts onboard giving talks on the artistic riches from the National Collection of British Art and also giving ‘hands on’ workshops.

We also have a Port Presenter, Dance and Bridge Instructors and a Golf Professional for this cruise, so as you can see there really is something for everyone; we cater for all tastes and interests.

There are also movie matinees, deck sports, quizzes and so much more everyday; you will never ever be bored on a P&O Cruise!!! We offer the choice, the passengers just have to decide how much or how little they want to do!

That is just what is on in the daytime, wait until I get to the evenings.


I will be back tomorrow from Cadiz in Spain.

Cheers,

Nigel

PS I thought you might like the below shot taken last cruise in the Caribbean! I bet you wish you were there!

The Bay of Biscay Southbound!

Hello from the Bay of Biscay, Southbound heading for the Mediterranean and the sun!

I will set the scene for this cruise today!

We departed Southampton yesterday afternoon on this a 25 night Mediterranean cruise due to call at Cadiz Spain, Giardini Naxos in Sicily, Corfu Greece, Dubrovnik Croatia, Venice Italy, Athens (from Piraeus) Greece, Dikili Turkey, Istanbul Turkey, Mytilene Greece, Heraklion Greece, Palermo Sicily, Palma Majorca, Lisbon Portugal, and Vigo Spain! It really is ‘A Magnificent Adventure’, what a cruise!! The ‘Med’ is my favourite cruising area in the world, and Venice at the top of my list of ports of call!

I must tell you about a strange thing that happened the other night, two lady passengers made a strange request of me!!! Do not worry, it was all very innocent! The ladies in question, (Dorothy and Pearl, who are regular cruisers with us, and are known around the fleet), asked me to join them for Afternoon Tea in The Peninsular Restaurant. They said everyday at 4.15pm a piece of music is played that no one knows the title of!

Anyway I joined them and another lady called Jess for Afternoon Tea on 17th October taking my mini recorder with me - if I did not know the piece of music, I wanted it recorded as someone in my team would! I do have to say a P&O Cruises Afternoon Tea is an event and an occasion - you get a choice of teas, coffees, cakes, biscuits sandwiches etc, this could hardly be regarded as work! I did not know the piece of music, but once I got back to my office I played the recording to Entertainment Officer John Gittoes and he said it was a Richard Clayderman piece called Pour Adeline. I let the ladies know this good news; three very happy passengers and a mystery solved!!

I will be back tomorrow with a rundown of the entertainment we have for our passengers this cruise; there really is a great deal of it!

Nigel

Southampton Turnaround

Hello from the home port of P&O Cruises Southampton.

We arrived this morning and are due to sail at 5.00pm this afternoon on our next cruise which is a 25 night Mediterranean cruise, more about that tomorrow.

Whichever port the passengers are finally leaving and joining is a turnaround port for us, for most of the year it’s Southampton, for our P&O Cruises six ships, but during the winter months of this year into next, three of our ships are deployed to Caribbean cruises and turnaround mainly in Barbados; our passengers fly out from the UK to join the ships there.

I will give you a few facts and figures about today’s turnaround: we have 1746 passengers disembarking and 1749 joining, with 6 passengers staying on from last cruise. The passengers leaving will have their approximately 3800 cases taken ashore for them and placed in the Mayflower Cruise Terminal and the passengers joining will arrive with approximately 4200 cases which will then be taken from them and delivered to their cabins! You are probably wondering why the discrepancy in the number of cases being taken off and the number coming on, this is due to this next cruise being longer than last, so passengers bring more baggage with them!

Here is the list of stores coming on:
22 tonnes dairy Products
59 tonnes dry Products
66 tonnes frozen products
68 tonnes bonded products
78 tonnes Fresh Fruit and Vegetables

293 Total Tonnage, just like the weeks shopping in Waitrose!

We will also take onboard 12 tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables in Piraeus, Greece, on 3rd November.

Also we will be loading 1350 metric tonnes of heavy fuel oil; I hate to think what that would cost at your local petrol pump!

We also have 148 ships company disembarking to go on leave and 155 joining and have 36 entertainment staff leaving and 41 joining!

Turnaround days are logistical wonders - everyone onboard and from our head office in Southampton act as one big team make it happen.

The day started bright and early for Captain Julian Burgess and the Deck Department: we embarked our Southampton Pilot off the Nab Tower (off the Isle of Wight), first thing, and his job is to assist the Captain in our transit of Southampton Water until we are secure alongside our berth. The Pilot is there to assist; the Captain is in command of Oriana at all times.

Personally, I always have a very busy day on turnarounds and today is no exception - at 8.00am I have a meeting with the Entertainment Product Manager of P&O Cruises Morgan Van Selman, at 9.00am I have a meeting with the Entertainment Services Manager of Carnival UK Anthony Radford and at noon another meeting with Anthony Radford. Meetings in Southampton with shore side based managers is usual, it is a chance for them to see us and us them! We will start embarking our passengers early afternoon and I do like to start getting around the ship as soon as they come onboard to say hello to previous passengers I know and ones I have not yet met. At 3.45pm we are on standby for the Passenger General Emergency Drill (which is a requirement of law), which all passengers must attend. It takes place at 4.00pm. We are due to sail at 5.00pm and as soon as the Passenger GES Drill is over our play off band (today it’s The Royal Corps of Signals of Blandford Garrison), will strike up and play until we have cast our lines and have moved off the berth. Sailing from Southampton is always an occasion and our passengers will line the decks and even maybe enjoy glass of Champagne! Myself and my team will all be out for sailing meeting and greeting passengers, old and new!

A Southampton Pilot will once again assist the Captain in our transit of Southampton Water and disembark off the Nab Tower early evening.

Once we have sailed, I and my entire team will get around all the public rooms in the evening, meeting and greeting, and needless to say a full entertainment schedule is in place for our passengers.

I will hope to get to my cabin no later than 12.15am, and I can assure you once my head hits that pillow I will be out like a light!!

See you tomorrow with details of this ‘Magnificent Adventure’ we are about to embark on.

Nigel

The Bay of Biscay

Hello from the Bay of Biscay!

It’s the final day of this cruise; we are scheduled to arrive in Southampton, our home port, first thing tomorrow morning. The passengers who have sailed with us in the Caribbean will disembark during the morning, Oriana will embark her passengers for the next cruise during the afternoon and we will then set sail on a 25 night cruise to the Mediterranean. The last day of a cruise is very important to the entire ship's company; we really want to send our passengers home with happy memories of their cruise holiday and strive to ensure their enjoyment right up to the time they disembark. I have very deliberately held back our biggest and best ‘Headliners Theatre Company’ production show for this evening and do hope our passengers will all still be praising its merits as they make their way home tomorrow! We have another packed day of entertainment - with movies being screened, guest speakers in action, craft, art and bridge classes happening, deck sports taking place, an ‘Encore’ performance from the ‘Music Festival at Sea’ team, a Hoedown and there is even an opportunity this evening for the passengers to shine in their very own show!

‘There’s a World out There’ that P&O Cruises really does explore. This year we will have visited 235 destinations in 82 countries on our six ships! This great company came into being in 1837 so we should know what we are doing by now!

Oriana alone this year will have completed 23 cruises in all; its longest at 84 days from January to April being the Round the World Cruise and the shortest a 3 night cruise to Zeebrugge for Bruges in Belgium and Le Havre for tours to Paris in France, all our cruises on Oriana this year will have sailed Southampton to Southampton. Oriana in 2009 will have sailed as far south as Auckland in New Zealand and as far north as Godthab in Greenland!!

Three images from the Passenger/Music Festival at Sea production of ‘The Mikado’ on 18th October.

The Mikado!

John Brunning (from Classic FM) and I backstage in the Theatre Royal workshop prior to ‘Curtains Up’! John played Ko Ko, the Lord High Executioner of Titipu in the production.

Robert Dean from ‘Music Festival at Sea’ and Choral Director of ‘The Mikado’ and I backstage, Theatre Royal.



I am looking forward to speaking to you tomorrow from Southampton, a great city and the home port of P&O Cruises.

Cheerio for now.

Nigel

P&O Cruises People

Hello from the North Atlantic Ocean!

It’s the first of two days at sea now from Madeira to our home port of Southampton.

Today I want you to meet and greet a couple of our P&O Cruises Entertainers, and some of our active sporty passengers!

Cabaret Vocalist Lynsey Simon and myself.

Lynsey is just one of the seven cabaret acts we have had on this 21 night cruise, she has worked alongside some of the great performers of our age including Tony Bennett, Gene Kelly, Cliff Richard, Jack Jones, and Victor Borge to name a few! Lynsey is a classy upmarket vocalist with a super personality; our passengers want to take her home!

Cabaret Vocalist Stuart Gillies and myself.

Stuart, to my knowledge, is the longest serving entertainer for P&O Cruises, he did his first cruise with us in 1973, (beats me by 8 years!), on the old Oriana. I first worked with him in 1982 on Sea Princess when that ship did its very first season of cruises ever sailing out of Southampton. Stuart lives on the beautiful island of Jersey with his wife Rachel, (who he met in 1981 when she was a dancer on P&O Cruises Canberra) and his children Hannah and Callum. Stuart is this year celebrating 50 years in show business. His act is as vibrant as ever and passengers young and old warm to his terrific personality and choice of material he sings.

Oriana Passengers Shuffleboard Players, with myself and Entertainment Officer Cora Jackson.

This photograph was taken by one of the fantastic professional ships photographers at 10.50am on 15th October when we were on the second day of our five days Atlantic Crossing - check out that great weather!

I did ask the passengers if it was okay to use this image on the blog and they were very happy for it to go out to the world!

We run Shuffleboard Competitions, as we do Quoits and Table Tennis every day at sea, morning and afternoon. As you can see the passengers look very sporty and relaxed, be in it to win it!! There is of course a P&O Cruises prize for the winner of all our sports competitions on our days at sea.

That’s it for today, Bay of Biscay tomorrow!!!

Nigel

Madeira

Hello from Madeira!

We arrived first thing this morning and are due to sail for our home port of Southampton this afternoon. Madeira is one of my favourite ports of call in the world; it is so lovely I have even been here on holiday with my wife Mandy and son Bradley. We were here for New Years Eve a few years ago and they always have a firework display to see the old year out and the new year in, it is fantastic, something everyone should see once in their life. This year on New Year’s Eve the lucky passengers and ship's company will get to see the fireworks display in Madeira as Oriana is going to be on an eleven night cruise departing Southampton on 28th December, and is scheduled to spend the day and evening in Madeira on 31st December.

Our passengers adore Madeira, there is just so much to do and so many diverse tours to choose, you can go on the Famous Toboggan Ride, have Tea at the Reid’s Palace Hotel or even go out on the Whale and Dolphin Watching Tour; in all we have fifteen tours available in this port!

After I have ‘cleared my desk’ this morning I intend to get off for a walk, this is what I tend to do in the ports of call if I have the time. I am a keen walker and even bring my walking boots away with me so if I do get an hour or two off I can get out and about and stretch my legs.

A little bit today about all the staff who keep this mighty ship operating. The ship’s company numbers 821 and is made up of 25 nationalities with people from all over the world, with different cultures and religions who all tolerate each other harmoniously, if only the world was like any one of our ships! We are a mini United Nations without their Security Council!

The Passenger/Music Festival at Sea production of The Mikado last evening was wonderfully received by both the 8.30pm and 10.30pm houses in the Theatre Royal, Captain Julian Burgess was an excellent ‘coolie’, if he was not a Sea Captain I am sure he would be ‘treading the boards’! I was the narrator, and our Musical Director Robert Dean and our classically trained singers performed superbly but the real stars of the show were the 96 passengers taking part.

Oriana sailing in to Madeira.

I will be off for now, but will be back tomorrow!

Nigel

The Headliners Theatre Company

Hello again,

Day five at sea across the Atlantic Ocean, Madeira tomorrow, land ho!

There is something special about an ocean crossing; you really feel you are on a voyage rather than just a cruise.

Tonight it is the Passenger/Music Festival at Sea production of The Mikado; I shall be posting the reviews tomorrow!

Today I will tell you about our Headliners Theatre Company; this is our resident cast of professional singers and dancers who on Oriana perform no less than nine production shows. ‘Headliners’ perform on five of our six P&O Cruise ships and are our ‘in-house’ production company, that means we employ all the singers and dancers, and creative teams that put all the shows together - that is directors, choreographers, assistant choreographers, script writers, set designers, costume designers, and lighting and sound programmers. P&O Cruises also own the sets, costumes, props and music for the shows. At the head of this complex creative operation is P&O Cruises Production Show Manager Steve Bee, Steve is based at the company offices in Southampton but spends a great deal of his time at our rehearsal studio near the Oval Cricket Ground in South London.

One of the most experienced cast members on Oriana is singer Paul Loxton, who is originally from Liverpool but now lives in Brighton. Over nineteen years he has worked on six of our ships and completed 16 contracts; the average length of a contact is six months so in the last nineteen years Paul would have been at sea approximately eight years! His background is in musical theatre in London’s West End, national tours, radio concerts and he was also in the resident cast at Disney World Japan. Paul loves being at sea and particularly loves our overnight calls in ports for the cultural attractions these bring.

Paul Loxton and myself.

We currently have thirteen Headliners Theatre Company cast members on Oriana, they joined the ship on 9th May and finish their contract after next cruise on 16th November. The replacement cast for them have already been auditioned and are at our rehearsal studio in South London rehearsing for their contact onboard which will run from 16th November to 16th June 2010.


The Headliners Theatre Company and myself taken back stage in the Theatre Royal just before the opening number of our Production Show, ‘At the Hop’ on 13th October.

Land tomorrow!

Nigel

P&O Cruises Music Festival at Sea

Hello once again,

Day four at sea of our five crossing the Atlantic Ocean, Barbados to Madeira. The weather is amazing Force 3 to 4 and 25c, wish you were here!

I have just counted up all the directly related entertainment events and activities we have planned today and it’s fifty-eight, there is plenty going on if you wish to attend or even take part.
Today I am going to talk about our Music Festivals at Sea, they have been at P&O Cruises for 25 years, and they have been, and continue to be very popular with our passengers. The really great thing is they enhance the entertainment product for the cruise; we still have our Headliners Theatre Company doing their nine shows and 7 cabaret acts performing, along with our Guest Speakers and full complement of entertainment team. The Music Festival at Sea cruises enhance the entertainment of that cruise but we do not drop any production shows or day time or evening entertainment we usually have. There are seven Music Festivals at Sea this year spread throughout the fleet and seven scheduled in 2010, details of the 2010 cruises can be found on page 167 of the P&O Cruises 2010 brochure.

The Music Festival at Sea this cruise consists of its Host John Brunning, (from Classic FM), Stephannie Williams Director, John Wilson, Piano Accompanist, Flautist Peter O’Connor, Guest Viola Gwyn Williams, the Irish Soprano Virginia Kerr, the Mezzo-Soprano Marie Jagusz, the young Scottish Tenor Nicky Spence, Baritone Eric Roberts, Choral Director Robert Dean and the Medlam String Quartet. In all there will be 43 related Music Festival as Sea events, activities musical performances and rehearsals throughout this cruise.

Ninety six of our passengers have been very busy rehearsing each and every day at sea for their involvement in the Passenger /Music Festival at Sea production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado, this takes place tomorrow night in our Theatre Royal at 8.30pm & 103.0pm, I have also been asked to participate as the Narrator and the Master of Oriana Captain Julian Burgess also has a cameo role! I am sure The Mikado will be really appreciated by our two audiences tomorrow and all the passengers taking part will have an enjoyable evening and find it a great experience performing on the stage of our superb Theatre Royal.

These cruises are of particular interest to me now that my Son Bradley is training to be an opera singer. I know this may come as a surprise to those of you who know my level of musical talent!!!

John Brunning, Stephannie Williams and myself in Barbados on 13th October, me getting into my The Mikado role!

Best Wishes, be back tomorrow!

Nigel

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

Day two

Hello again, day two of my blog.

The life of a Cruise Director is very varied; no two days are the same. At times it can be stressful, challenging and demanding, but never dull and always highly satisfying. We are all here onboard to make sure our passengers have the best holiday ever. Myself and the entire entertainment department along with every other member of the ships company are here to make that happen. As Cruise Director I oversee all the entertainment onboard from the daytime activities to our evening entertainment be it a Caribbean Deck Party or a West End Style Production Show.

A lot of my job takes place behind the scenes. On any day on board I can be answering internal ships or shore side emails, attending meetings, dealing with passenger observations, running activities, compiling reports, doing appraisals, working on the planning of future cruises, hosting chat shows, attending drills, introducing production shows, cabarets or classical concerts, the list really is endless!!

I returned to Oriana after leave on 30th September and joiners to any of our ships go through three safety training inductions. It does not make any difference that I have been with the company many years, every member of the ships company attends the induction programme on joining and quite right too, at P&O Cruises safety is our number one priority. We also have Crew Drills once a week, so on this 21 night cruise I will have done the Southampton Passenger GES Drill, 2 crew drills and 3 New Joiners Inductions.

Today we are on day two of our five day crossing of the mighty Atlantic Ocean, it’s just about perfect, Force 3 to 4 with part cloud, a lovely day at sea. The decks have many passengers either sunbathing, or sat out under some shade and it’s just a great atmosphere out there. You could in fact take photographs for a P&O Cruises brochure today, passengers are sitting reading, having a cocktail or pint, listening to some music or just chilling out looking out to sea, a day like today is what cruising is all about. Oriana has eight decks you can sunbathe on; it’s my sort of ship! All three of our swimming pools are doing a roaring trade!

One of the special events happening onboard today is The ‘O’ Factor, this is taking place between 10.00am and Noon in our three deck mid ship atrium. All the different departments throughout the ship are represented and it’s a great chance for our passengers to meet and talk to a great many ‘front of house’ staff and also ‘behind the scenes’ personnel, as the deck department will be represented as will the technical team.


The boss!! The Cruise Directors at P&O Cruises report to the Executive Purser and on Oriana at the moment it is Kathy Jones. Kathy was born in Trinidad but lives in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Vancouver, in British Columbia, Canada. Like myself she has been with the company many years and worked her way up through all the Hotel Officer ranks to Executive Purser. We have worked together on many ships in our numerous ranks throughout the years.


Martha is one of our passengers Kathy and I met at the Reception Desk when we were having our photograph taken for the blog, Martha’s ambition is to work on a P&O Cruise ship as a member of the Youth Department.

Tomorrow, I will be telling you all about a couple of the team who are ‘tying the knot’ on their next leave!

Bye for now, I will be back tomorrow from the Mid Atlantic!

Nigel

Hello everyone

Hello everyone, my first blog ever! Welcome from P&O Cruises Oriana, we have just had five days in port in the wonderful tropical islands of the Caribbean, St Maarten, St Kitts, St Lucia, Grenada and Barbados to name them all and our passengers and ship's company are now looking forward to five days at sea across the Atlantic Ocean over to our last port of call Madeira, before our home port of Southampton on 22nd October. The ports in the Caribbean cruise itinerary have been great but the passengers are now ready for the sea days to get to relax and enjoy the diverse range of entertainment we have scheduled for them. Apart from the entertainment there are different bars and dining options to explore, along with our well stocked boutiques, there really is much to do onboard.

This is a 22 night Southampton to Southampton Caribbean Cruise with Vigo in Northern Spain being the first port of call and Madeira the last. Our passengers love the days at sea; and there are plenty of them with two Atlantic crossings giving us thirteen scheduled sea days this cruise! As a point of interest the Atlantic Ocean covers 22% of the earth’s surface.

During the cruise we will have had 84 entertainment staff onboard which consists of the team of Entertainment Officers, Entertainment Technical Production Team, Musicians, (including a Steel Band as we are on a Caribbean Cruise), The Headliners Theatre Company, The Youth Department, Cabaret Acts, (7 in all), Guest Speakers, and Dance, Bridge, Art and Craft Instructors, an After Dinner Speaker and last and by no means least our Music Festival at Sea Team. Many of our passengers are working hard with the Music Festival at Sea Team to put together a production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Mikado”.

The Master of Oriana Captain Julian Burgess and myself on the bridge discussing our respective roles in the Passenger/Music Festival at Sea production of The Mikado, due to be performed on 18th October at 8.30pm & 10.30pm in the Theatre Royal, more about that another day!!

Nigel