After reading all these replies, I can only conclude that "orientate" is a perfectly fine word, with lots of historical and contemporary usage to support it.
This conclusion has both affirming and unsettling aspects. Affirming in that my sneaking prejudice against the word and its users has been shown to be just that--a prejudice--and once again I am shown how easily prejudices can evolve when one does not dare to question one's assumptions.
Unsettling, however, in that I am left with less certainty of the importance of making fine distinctions in language. Perhaps the previous poster who mentioned a difference between descriptive and prescriptive dictionaries could help me by elaborating on this difference ?
Am I philosophizing too much? If so, please excuse.(But if we can talk about stoned elephants, is anything out?)

Side thought: Does a poster post posts?
Thanks,
MM