Oriana 17th –20th October
I have found a new favourite ship. Having spent 3 nights on board Oriana I can see how so many people just fall in love with her and return cruise after cruise. I was on board Oriana organising a Travel Agent Exclusive VIP group, so much of an exclusive group we had no other than the new Managing Director of P&O Cruises on board with us Mr Nigel Esdale.
17th October
I briefed the team in the office early in the morning. (8:15 is definitely a struggle for some!) I managed to produce another schedule of events for the team. May I note I went up to version 10.1! Having briefed the team we went down to the good ship Oriana where we were met by a rather jolly Eva who ensured our baggage was loaded on to the ship and got us checked in. Most of the CCS people then headed straight for the restaurant, myself and Giles held back to organise the room. I have never been so well looked after, you don’t even have to ask for anything when organising a function on board. There is a team to do anything for you! All the agents came to the sessions after they had been fed and watered and the trip began in true style with presentations from each of the CCS people in a nice kind of open forum environment.
We finished the sessions and each of the guests went to meet their families and friends (who we had invited in the trip too) then everyone donned their delightful orange jackets at the muster drill.
Food is definitely going to become a reoccurring theme for this cruise as half of our group were dining in Oriana Rhodes and the other half in the main restaurant. I was in the main restaurant and had a delightful meal with all the trimmings, not to mention the wine! A few of the group decided it would be a good idea to dance of the calorific value of the meal. I decided my meal would be better digested with a gin and tonic.
18th October
Early. My alarm woke me up at 06:00. The 1st 1-2-1 was at 07:30. Too early if you ask me. I put on my suit and went down to the 1-2-1 suite. Giles, Mark and Nigel were all looking perky so I made my best effort with the blusher and kept smiling. I organised the coffee and found the 3 of them becoming almost human for the 1-2-1’s.
At 09:00 Leanna Rice held a session on P&O Cruises and Elevation. Most of the agents attended and found it really worthwhile. After the session we went back to the 1-2-1’s and with several more gallons of coffee being consumed throughout the day and some tonnage of Danishes too!
At 10:00 we arrived in Rotterdam. Quite a few of the agents disembarked and went to Amsterdam.
In the afternoon Bob Dixon gave a presentation on profiling and sharing information. It was quite funny to see what “Profile” each of the agents had! We then had a Q&A session with Tim Yates (General Manager P&O Cruises) and he was able to share a huge amount about the ship and how much the ship has been elevated.
Still recovering from the sheer amount of food and the quality of the food we decided to go for the optional (but not really so optional if you work for CCS) game of football. I did think that as a girl I might not get attacked as much. I was wrong. Getting ready for the evening with black and blue legs was the highlight of my evening. Not to mention the looks I got in the gym.
Half of the group dined in the main restaurant and the other half dined in Oriana Rhodes. I dined in Oriana Rhodes with Nigel and Carol and Philip George from Traveland. We had a fantastic time and spent at least 3 hours eating. (Note to self – remember to make the delightful champagne cocktail I had in Rhodes – 40ml of sloe gin, topped up with British sparkling wine mmmm mmmm). I started my meal off with the lobster thermidor risotto, followed by a sweet corn chowder, followed by Monkfish on a bed of prawns and coriander salsa, followed by a mango cream, followed by a white chocolate dessert, followed by… I would love to go on but it will only make you hungry!
19th OctoberAnother early morning and they say its all fun, fun fun. Dragging myself out of those delightful Egyptian cotton bed sheets is getting harder. The 1st 1-2-1 was a little later at 08:30 and they went all the way through. I was on hand with a big smile and more gallons of coffee.
We arrived in to Zeebrugge on schedule at 08:00;many of the agents disembarked and went in to Bruges. Lesley and Julie from Cumbria Cruise Club came back bearing chocolates, which have been very well received (Thanks ladies). In the afternoon we had our optional yet non-optional game of football. There was a fellow female playing so I didn’t feel quite so bad. We were winning (of course) then Justin Pearson (CCS) on the other team let out a yelp and couldn’t walk. Giles had to help Justin to the gym. After visiting the gym Justin and Giles were sent to the medical centre. I went down to see him and personally I am not very good with hospitals, sickness, injuries, anything involving blood or people looking ill. I managed to stay approximately 3.5 mins before finding out he had torn his Achilles tendon.
I made my apologies and left trying to make my way up to the gym. To my horror I realised it was 18:25 and time to get ready for the cocktail party.
Picture: Justin Pearson
I arrived back to my cabin to find some rather appealing canapés; I thought it would be rude not to so I inhaled each and everyone of them without even a thought for dinner.
At the cocktail party we all enjoyed a large selection of drinks and even more canapés. We hosted the Travel Agents and were also hosted by many of the ships company in Harlequins. We organised (with military precision) the group photo and were given a short speech from Nigel Esdale.
At dinner we all enjoyed the formal meal, with most of us indulging in every single course! I must admit that the Beef Wellington was the best I have ever tasted; the other courses were amazing too! From the restaurant we headed to back to Harlequins as it is the late night bar on board Oriana and started to dance the night away. It was even quite funny when Giles and Paul wheeled Justin in to the middle of Harlequins and left him there – talk about mocking the afflicted.
After several hours of dancing I decided to hit the hay. A good event, well done I thought to myself- I am ready for Queen Victoria now…. Bring it on!
By Liz Cardy
