Hello from OCEANA!

Hello Everyone,

I hope this finds you all well! My thanks to Neil Oliver, Jo Grove and Carol Marlow for filling in when I was on leave and doing such an excellent job. What a great leave I enjoyed with my family and friends! I have returned refreshed and re-energised. One of the great aspects of this job is that you are 'full on' when you are on board but 'fully off duty' when on leave, a colleague of mine refers to this as QT with family - Quality Time!

My congratulations to Carol and everyone involved on the successful launch of AZURA. I hope to visit the ship in the not too distant future. I have heard so many good reports from Passengers and Ship's Company alike - very pleasing to hear.

It is very exciting to be on board OCEANA - the fun-loving and glamorous OCEANA - after five years apart. Oceana's gross tonnage is 77,000 and she carries 2,076 passengers. As soon as you walk on board and enter the grand atrium with it's glass fronted lifts, palm trees and the sweeping marble staircase you can feel the holiday spirit all around. With her spacious open decks and sparkling pools she is perfect for summer cruising. This is my first time sailing with flexible dining and so far I have been very impressed. With so much to do on board this gives more variety and choice than ever before.

I left Arcadia on the 15 April - the day the ash cloud came out to play!! After a transatlantic Christmas Cruise and New Year Cruise, a full Round World Cruise all I wanted to do was get home and put my feet up - sods law or what..... I stayed in London for three nights before hiring a car and driving up to Scotland to catch a ferry home. It really does make you appreciate how fast and convenient the flights in the UK are. I was also caught up in the knock on effects of the ash cloud on two other occasions. Needless to say that was enough for me so I did not venture to Italy to visit the Lakes - one for another time!!! The weather at home was fantastic all the way and I enjoyed re-discovering the coastline, beach walking, cycling and dining!

I was in our spectacular new office at Southampton on a couple of occasions during my leave for meetings and refresher courses, and now I am programmed to be on board OCEANA until the 25 October 2010.

For the past five years I have been on the over 18s cruising so it is a 'change of beat' to return to a family friendly ship with over 300 children on board. The young people are so well taken care of by our Youth Staff. To date all is going very smoothly and passengers are having a ball. The weather has been fab all the way.

Since sailing from Southampton last Friday we have enjoyed two sea days, a day call in Gibraltar and today we are in Cartagena with endless sunshine and very high temperatures - a 'proper' high summer cruise with everyone here to have a fantastic time!

It does not take long to get settled into a ship when you have been here before - I have served as EP on board Oceana from 2002 to 2005. I was present at the naming when HRH Princess Anne was here along with Zara Phillips. Nothing like name dropping I hear you say!! That was the second time I met Princess Anne as the first was at the naming of AURORA when the Royal Party stayed on board over night - big moments for the Ship's Staff..........and moments I will never forget.

What a pleasant surprise to meet up with Commodore Steve Burgoine once again! Commodore Burgoine will be here for two cruises and then Captain Hamish Reid returns to OCEANA. Since I last sailed with the Commodore he has been to P&O Australia for a tour of duty, between us all we have covered a lot of the globe this year to date.

Best wishes meantime and great to be back at my desk working and blogging once more.........and I will bring you more tales of of our adventures on OCEANA as the cruise sails on.....

James.

Summer time and the living is easy........