P&O Oriana - 2001

Like most people, you will remember where you were 9/11. I was being offered a cruise to depart the following day from Southampton, on the P&O staff stand-by offers.

It's hard to put into words how different this was from Arcadia, but personally I found it a lot more formal (not as relaxed) which goes to confirm not every ship will suit everyone but there is a ship out there which will suit you! That being said we still had a fabulous time and enjoyed the ports of call we visited.

On our first cruise we didn't look at this too much but this now plays a major role when picking a cruise for myself and of course recommending ones for clients too.

On this sailing we had our first visit to Gibraltar, which we loved and have visited many times since, always from a cruise. A taste of Britain in the sun, what a quirky place.

Renowned for the Barbary apes who reside here, we were fascinated. We took a tour with another couple from the Oriana and had a driver show us all around before dropping us back in the centre for a bit of shopping in M&S and C&A!

One other port we should have visited on this trip was Guernsey but the weather was considered too dangerous to send the tenders ashore so it was missed out. Another one for the bucket list still!