As you may well know, by far the most important component of ones holiday on a cruise ship is the food. The food we received aboard the Oriana was dreadful. It had all the appeal of a damp rag, it was awful. Presentation was minimal, portions were meagre, and the food was dry and unappealing. There was nothing exciting about any of the meals that were presented to us. On more than one occasion we had to send food back because it was cold, looked inedible or was just tasteless. The vegetarian options were pathetic. The same main vegetarian ingredient in the starter was nearly always the same as in the main course. At times, we wished we’d never booked this cruise. We dined in the “Peninsular Restaurant” every evening, expecting the finest of foods and a wonderful service. How disappointed we were! We have been cruising with other cruise lines, namely Ocean Village, Thompsons, Island Escape and more recently Royal Caribbean. I can say with utmost confidence that your standards of culinary expertise are way, way below that of the other cruise lines, especially Royal Caribbean. It may be worthwhile putting your chefs on “Oasis of the Seas”, to see how it should be done!

We did complain on all occasions, as there wasn’t just one, but many, to the Maître D’, whom we presumed just paid lip service to the complaint, because all he said was, “I will inform the chef, sir”, on each occasion. I also had occasion to complain about a cracked wine glass I was about to drink out of and the dining manageress took my name and cabin number, but there was no follow up to that incident in any way.

The ship itself was in a poor hygienic state, especially the male toilets around the ship. They smelled dreadful, absolutely dreadful. The stink that emanated from them meant holding ones breath or breathing through ones nose to try and alleviate the offending stench. In many of the toilets, a few urinals were always “Out of Order”, some throughout the whole cruise! The buttons on at least two of the disabled toilets did not work to operate the automatic opening of the doors. Read more