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We are coming to the end of our World Voyage and as Oriana continues her stately progress across the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel (both incredibly calm) towards Southampton, we felt it was appropriate to try and record some final thoughts and musings. And so in no particular order, and certainly not in order of importance here they are -
We feel privileged to have visited so many beautiful places, experienced different cultures and met people of many nationalities, both on and off the ship all of which you have read about in our blogs.
What about our experience on Oriana? Despite being in service for almost 17 years, we found Oriana to be a remarkably comfortable and relaxing vessel, which appears to be ideally suited to long distance cruising. We are amazed at how easily we slipped into the relaxed lifestyle on board, how we adjusted to living in a room of 150sq. feet - not that we spent much time in it during the day.
We have been served superb food and drinks in the restaurants and bars - yes, we have had time to sample them all - by frontline staff for whom nothing is too much trouble. They are courteous, conscientious and always wear a smile. Special thanks must go to Gerry, Rajesh, Fredy and Fraser, and the staff in Sorrento and Ocean Grill.
We wish we could record similar praise for the middle and senior management and the Company itself; we were, though, struck more by their spectacular indifference and inattention to detail. Our cabin has been carefully maintained by our excellent steward, Caetano, throughout the voyage.
Of course there are many other staff behind the scenes on the ship we haven't seen, but without them this would not have been possible - engineers, cleaners, office staff, laundry staff, galley staff.
We have appreciated the help from the cheerful girls on Reception when changing money and wittering about the tendering!
One of us was lucky enough to celebrate a birthday on board! Again the attention to detail was much appreciated - a decorated plate of half a dozen home made naughty chocolates and 2 cards, from the crew and the Reception staff, a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday from well over a dozen of the waiting staff at dinner, Gerry presenting a rose hastily crafted from a white napkin, balloons and streamers over the table. Yes, they do it for everyone, but it was appreciated nonetheless.
We have enjoyed the musings of the Officer of the Watch at noon each day and totted up the number of times his fellow officers on the bridge have managed to make him laugh before the end of his report. We know why a ship is likened to a woman (we have already alluded to this in an earlier blog so you have two choices here, return to one of the sea day blogs or Google it!!), we know the meaning of the phrase "over the yardarm" and put it into practice regularly. We know that since Southampton on January 5th 23323 eggs have been consumed, 66723 cans of beer have been drunk, 22481 toilet rolls have been used! 63 tonnes of potatoes have been consumed in 3 months and judging by some of our fellow passengers many have had more than their fair share! We have consumed 30561 bottles of wine over the last 96 days, yes we did have a share of those! Ian has calculated that if you divide the number of bottles of wine by 97 days and then by 1700 people, he has only drunk 0.18 of a bottle per day - I don't think so!!! Given the age profile of the passengers, it is no surprise that the Officer of the Watch has not felt it appropriate to indicate the frequency of the refilling of the condom machine in the gents' loos!!! Something for the weekend, Sir??
We have enjoyed the range of entertainment offered, classical recitals, jazz, reggae, Motown, the very talented Headliners Theatre Company, a hilarious ventriloquist, local groups who have come on board at several ports to treat us to their traditional dancing and singing etc. etc.
We didn't learn to put the mobile phone on silent overnight so it serves us right that we have been woken up on several occasions by Orange welcoming us to Norway - and we thought we'd been round the world!!
Overall we have to record that the full 97 days represents, for us, excellent value for money.
How many nautical miles have we travelled? ... 34692. And we have loved every minute of them (apart from the bad weather trying to get in to San Francisco.)
We have, on occasion, been left speechless by the incredibly ignorant behaviour of many of our fellow countrymen, and quite a few Australians also!
A little tip - treat cruise companies' pre-departure offers of free cabin upgrades with extreme caution unless they are prepared to tell you the cabin number at the time. Anecdotal evidence suggests this is merely a ploy to offload the least attractive and noisiest cabins they have not been able to sell!
We were inspired to keep this diary of our travels after following Michael Palin on his various trips all over the world. He and Phileas Fogg completed their circumnavigations in 80 or so days. We were close at 97 and were very fortunate to have travelled in comfort.
If we hadn't written up our blog we would not have been able to recall the half of what we've experienced which has been truly amazing.
We have included a couple of quotations from Ox Travels, a very entertaining travel anthology featuring many excellent travel writers to whom we can merely aspire, which kind of sum up some of our feelings and thoughts of this amazing trip.
"What matters is that you accept the world for what it is and that you withhold judgment on things you don't understand". (Shehan Karunatilaka, The Piece of String, his story in Ox Travels) "I knew I had a story to tell that was recognisably my own. Sunsets and sunrises will always be there, but what makes them special is who you are watching them with at the time". (Michael Palin on his observations of the time he spent with the crew of the Al Sharma, the dhow which took him from Dubai to Mumbai).
We find it hard to believe that some of you might have read nearly all of our ramblings. We apologise for the more extreme and outspoken comments and are left with the feeling that you really deserve a medal! Be assured we have no plans for Volume 2 unless it's Travels with a Caravan!
- comments
Lizziedripping Really enjoyed your thoughts. Still wished I'd have been able to be on board. Now going to follow my brother walking for 2 months round coastal path. Only 636 miles at 65!
Clairey Welcome home!!! Great to have you back again! XXXX
Derek and Kathy NEARLY all your ramblings? - We've read every carefully crafted word so we'll be round for our medals and a drink or two as soon as you're ready! Welcome home xx