Oriana (II) Weekender
Oh how easy to be tempted which doesn't help when you have absolutely no willpower.  In November 2006, while reading about all the changes onboard during the forthcoming Oriana refit where her port of registry would also be Hamilton rather than the traditional London so they could hold weddings as current UK law doesn't allow it, those fluffy duvets were calling to me and the Weekender on the 20th-22nd October 2007 was reasonable, even at single rate.  Well I emailed Pam to tell her and was doing a very good job of resisting until I read her reply in the morning asking if I minded her coming with me. Fatal!  So the original three cruises during the year had grown to six where it would stay until the lure of Norwegian Gem two months later.  Oops!  As Oriana has few balcony cabins we decided not to go mad and booked cabin A169 with a window which suited our budget.  After all, it was the ship we were both more interested in than going to Zeebrugge.  Surprisingly the only P&O ship Pam has sailed on is Arcadia (III), now Ocean Village.  It's a shame really the majority of short trips go to Zeebrugge when there are other ports they could go to.  I'd already been there the previous month on Aurora and have a return visit on QE2 in December, not to mention more in 2008, mainly with Pam.  I would end up knowing the port as well as Southampton at this rate!  The tickets arrived on the 21st September stating elegant casual and formal.  Little alarm bells rang after the Aurora fiasco but at least I knew the drill this time.  there were also no luggage labels again but still the offer of porterage at the terminal if we chose it. The 20th arrived.  I hadn't actually been excited until I watched Oriana sail on her three-nighter on the 17th then I did, knowing upon her return it would be my turn.  She was the only one in which was a shame but the summer season was over leaving just QM2 and Oceana (which were due to reposition to the Caribbean that month), Arcadia, departing at the start of November and Navigator of the Seas which would leave us on the 5th, the same day Oriana returns from the cruise after ours.  The weather was quite glorious for October, really sunny and warm as I got the ferry over from Hythe to Town Quay.  There was our ship gleaming in the sun while we had to divert to avoid an MOD police patrol who appeared to be keeping a rather too close eye on us.
Well I arrived but had no idea where Pam and her friend John were until getting a text saying they were in the cafe having coffee which I'd walked right past.  Last I heard they were in Mayflower Park.  They can't half move around.  I'd met John a couple of times at the marina.  After about an hour we all went in John's car to try and see the little yacht docked in 46 he had been convinced was Savarona.  I hadn't actually noticed anything there as I'd been on the other side of the ferry.  It was very difficult to see anything but that didn't deter John.  This was a man on more of a mission than me and my fluffy duvets!  I got on the phone to my dad to find out what it was just as John thought it may be Talitha G, owned, apparently, by Paul Getty, and it was.  He pulled into Dock Gate 4 and asked the security guard if there was any chance of getting to to take some pictures.  No.  He said we'd come 500 miles.  No.  This guard was good.  I piped up saying we were going on Oriana so he asked to see the tickets.  Once he had, he told us he'd have to come with us which was fine.  As my case was flat on the back seat, it was propped upright as we drove there.  Pam had left her camera in her car so it was just John and I getting the photos.  Pam stuck her tongue out at me when I returned to the car.  Cheeky cow!  John came back and we drove back the way we'd come, dropping the guard off and John making a donation in the charity box.  I hope if anyone from the port reads this the guard doesn't get into trouble.  We weren't terrorists but ship enthusiasts who, as we were sailing that day from Western Docks, were hardly going to blow anything up which would result in our cruise being cancelled.  We're not stupid.
After taking us back to Town Quay to put my case in Pam's car, we headed off towards Dock Gate 10 and the Mayflower Terminal.  Although we docked here on Aurora, and I've been there for ship visits it would be my first time as a departure point.  And there she was, her fluffy duvets awaiting my presence to test them out!
We had a bit of a panic when, as we were turning into the car park, a security guard flagged us down.  Pam opened the window only to be asked where we wanted him to stand to get a picture in front of the ship!  That made us laugh.
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		(C) Copyright Patricia Dempsey 20th-22nd & 24th October 2007 Not to be reproduced without permission