We travelled on cruise X512 to Iceland, Ireland, the Faroes and Orkney.

Embarkation was painless - the terminal at the Mayflower has been upgraded since our last Southampton cruise in 2013 and is much improved. Upon arrival you are allocated a coloured card based on 'first-come, first-served' and although you are given an advised time of arrival by P&O, we arrived early and noted that people were dealt with in the order that they entered the terminal. The CPS car-parking was extremely efficient and highly recommended if you are driving to the port.

Oriana was much the same as I remembered from 2013, with one major exception. The advent of 'Freedom Dining' at dinner time has vastly improved the eating experience for all on board. The Conservatory self-service restaurant was a bit of a bun-fight in the past, but dinner times here are now very civilised and we took advantage of the dinner buffet there on several occasions. They offer a 'themed buffet' every night - the curry nights were very good and very popular - and there is a carvery as well so there is something for all tastes. The Peninsular Restaurant is used for freedom dining, with the 'Oriental' retaining conventional first and second-sitting dinner times. The Oriental suffers from vibration, as before, as it is right above the screws. Read more