Baltic Cruise on P&O Oriana June 2014
I had an outside cabin on deck 9 with a picture window. It was a good size and had adequate wardrobe space, fridge, tea making facilities and a small flat screen TV. The bathroom had a bath with a shower over it. The cabin was clean but a little tired, as was the whole ship.
I like the size of the Oriana and it is more like a traditional cruise ship as opposed the larger 'floating hotel' type of ship. It is adult only and it had a good, friendly atmosphere.
I was assigned to Freedom dining which meant I could eat any time between 6pm and 9.30pm. I chose to eat every evening about 8.30pm and it worked very well. I only had to wait for a table on two occasions and that was for only 2 minutes. I think this worked very well as I was on my own and I met some lovely people every night. I could dine on a different table every night and meet different people. The food was very good and they catered extremely well for my lactose free diet. Wine prices were good, ranging from about £15 per bottle. Drinks in general were reasonably priced. Gin and tonic was about £4.10, Prosecco £3.50 per glass, bottled water £1.50. There was also a Costa Coffee shop on board in Tiffany's bar but the coffee was not as good as on the high street and it was more expensive.
Entertainment was good and the Headliners Theatre Company were excellent. There were also two excellent comedians and a good female and male vocalist. Films were shown daily at various times in the cinema and there was plenty of things to do every sea day ranging from quizzes, keep fit classes, line dancing, Spanish lessons, ballroom dancing lessons, lectures and art classes (a charge for art).
The itinerary was good and the cost of the excursions were good value. The first port was Bruges, which is a pretty place. I stayed on board as I have visited Bruges a number of times. Gydnia in Poland was the next stop from where I took at P&O organized coach into Gdansk to do as you please. The cost of the tour was £22 and the guide was excellent. This is a lovely old walled city full of character, with plenty of tourist shops. Prices were very reasonable. Klaipeda in Lithuania was next. I would recommend booking a tour here as there was not much to do in the pretty, small town. I just had a walk round the town for a couple of hours.
The highlight of the cruise was St Petersburg where we stayed overnight. There was a good selection of tours. The first day I took a half day tour of the Hermitage Museum which was excellent. The museum is vast but our guide showed us the major highlights and we saw quite a lot in the time allocated. The second day I did a half day walking tour of St Petersburg which was very interesting but the guide was poor and she hurried around without any thought to those who were walking slowly. As I did organized tours through the ship I was covered on a group visa so I did not have to apply for a Russian visa in advance.
Tallinn in Estonia was the next port of call. I took the ship's shuttle into town but you could walk into the city in about 40 minutes. This is another beautiful walled city with stunning architecture and beautiful turrets. There is plenty to see in the city and I walked round for about three hours but the weather was bad with pouring rain. Prices were more expensive here than in Gdansk and Klaipeda.
The final port was Copenhagen and the weather was warmer here. I walked from the ship into the city passing the famous Little Mermaid statue. Copenhagen is a large city and again the architecture is beautiful. I walked past the Amalienborg Palace, which was about 15 minutes’ walk from the ship. I saw the changing of the guard here. It is about 30-40 minutes’ walk from the ship to the centre of the city. I took a canal cruise from Nyhaven. The cost was only 75 Krone (about £9.00) for an hour's cruise, which was good value as prices in the city are quite high. The weather was quite disappointing for the time of year but when you are considering doing a Baltic cruise, it is more about the itinerary than the weather and I was prepared for this.
The dress code on the cruise was four formal, four informal (jackets required for the men and smart clothing for ladies) and the remaining six nights were casual. I was pleased to see the staff enforcing the jackets for men in the main restaurant. Some people complained but they should have chosen a more casual ship if they did not want to dress up. The problem was that there were some late deals on sailing and some people booked on price without considering the dress code.
I think standards have dropped since I was last on the Oriana about 12 years ago, but this is reflected in the prices charge now and is quite understandable under the circumstances. The food was very good in the main restaurant. As I was travelling alone, I did not try the speciality restaurants, but he supplement to eat there was quite reasonable. The breakfast in the buffet was good but the lunch fairly average and the salad bar lacked inspiration some days. The afternoon tea choice as also poor in comparison to Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. The service was generally very good until the last night in the restaurant where the service was poor and we seemed to be hurried. I think it was because the staff knew that most people already had paid their gratuities. When we used to give them their gratuities in cash on the last night the service was much better.
Taking into account the itinerary and being an all adult ship, the age range was probably on average 60+. I enjoyed the cruise despite it not having the glamour of the more modern ships. The Oriana certainly has character. I think it is a very good ship for single travellers. I met some lovely, friendly people and always had someone to talk to. I did not feel lonely at any time.