Oriana repairs

Last night saw P&O’s Adults only Oriana arrive back into its home port of Southampton 3 days early, to do repairs to one of the propeller shaft seals. Passengers have the option of disembarking today, tomorrow or as originally planned on Saturday. So far 300 passengers have decided being docked in Southampton watching the Isle of Wight ferry come and go is not how they planned to spend their time so have disembarked , 30 are leaving tomorrow and the rest of the ship will disembark as scheduled on the 01st March.

The ship was on a 14 nights Canaries cruise when the problem with the propeller shaft seal arose. They had cancelled one of the ports of call already as the problem had slowed the ship down but a decision was made to return to Southampton for emergency repairs.

Customers on board have been offered either a 100% cruise credit for a future cruise on board Oriana in 2014 or 2015 , or they can receive a 40% refund. I have customers booked on this cruise and they have opted for the 100% credit towards another cruise.

Would you remain on board  – although only docked in Southampton and make use of the facilities on board, food and entertainment or would you disembark? I would choose to stay on board, despite only living 50 minutes away from Southampton – I would rather be on board making the most of the holiday then coming home. My sister said the same and would actually prefer not to sail anywhere as she suffers from sea sickness but likes the feeling of being on a cruise.

My mother is sailing out on the Oriana on the 13th March and has been booked for over a year and a half to see the Northern Lights. I am keeping all fingers and toes crossed that Oriana is fully repaired and no technical problems occur otherwise P&O will have the wrath of Mrs James to deal with – especially as she has just brought lots of ski clothes to make sure she keeps warm.