Cruise Ships that TRANSFORMED P&O Cruises UK 🇬🇧 Oriana & Aurora Cruise Ship History!

As the popularity of cruising grew across the UK and Europe, P&O turned its attention to new cruise ships.

The design called for a 69,000 gross ton, 260m long ship; built at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany. The ship’s keel was laid down in March 1993, and the name Oriana was selected for the new vessel – so named after the popular Orient-Line flagship that sailed from 1960-1986.

The design of Oriana had to balance the needs and wants of regular P&O travellers, while introducing a suite of new features that would enable the ship to compete with other new build cruise ships.

Modern design features included the inclusion of an entire deck of balcony cabins – something that existing P&O cruise ships lacked. Oriana also boasted a west end style show lounge, the largest of its type on a cruise ship.

But Oriana also carried over some design elements from the beloved Canberra. This includes the Crows Nest Bar – the forward observation bar that has since become a P&O cruises signature room. Like Canberra, Oriana’s lifeboats were set inboard, while the aft decks were terraced creating a huge amount of open deck space for meeting friends, watching sail-aways and sun bathing.

Oriana’s engine layout called for 8 engines, arranged in pairs. Each pair included one larger 9-cylendar engine and one smaller 6-cylander engine in a layout known as a “father and son” configuration.

While most modern cruise ships utilise a diesel electric propulsion system –Oriana employed a direct drive setup. Aboard the ship, the 4 propulsion engines are directly linked to the propeller shafts by gearboxes and couplings rather than feeding propulsion motors. The remaining 4 engines are utilised to generate power for hotel services.

Oriana’s bridge was far more modern than Canberra’s – with electronic systems that allowed the ship to be controlled via a small joystick. Yet the bridge also shares some commonalities with older ships – such as a wooden main-wheel and open Bridge wings – added at the request of the ship’s first master Commodore Gibb.

The completed Oriana entered service in 1995 and immediately transformed the P&O cruise experience. Although the ship suffered from vibrations at high speed throughout her career, in the most part the design of the vessel proved popular with P&O regulars as well as new cruisers and Oriana quickly became a much loved member of the fleet.

Canberra retired from P&O service in 1997, with P&O sourcing additional ships from the Princess fleet. This included Sea Princess, renamed Victoria, as well as Star Princess which joined the fleet, under the name Arcadia.

However with the success of Oriana, P&O turned its attention to building Aurora.

Significant changes included the addition of far more balcony cabins – three decks worth in fact. Oriana had already been superseded by other ships in terms of accommodation – including by P&O-Princess’ Sun Class cruise ships – see: https://youtu.be/rRIuHiY4diI

Aurora entered service in 2000 to a less than auspicious start, with the ship experiencing significant mechanical issues during her maiden voyage – resulting in it being cut short less than 24 hours after departure – not what P&O had hoped for.

Working together, both ships ushered in a new era of modern cruising for P&O. Designed specifically for the British cruise market, their interiors were customised for British tastes, setting them apart from the more-familiar American style cruise ships.

The two vessels also offered year round cruising from the UK – greatly expanding the UK cruise market for the British public.

Carnival Corp. took over management of P&O Cruises following its 2003 merger of P&O-Princess. The move saw Aurora become the last passenger ship built for the venerable Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co.

Both ships remained well maintained and undertook regular refurbishments – with Oriana undergoing a major overhaul in 2016 and Aurora receiving similar treatment in 2018.

Oriana was sold and became a cruise ship in China, the vessel was renamed Piano Land and departed British waters in 2019.

With Oriana retired, Aurora became the holder of the Golden Cockrell, continuing a series of cruises from Southampton until the COVID-19 shutdown rendered the 2020 season a write off.

At the time of upload, Aurora remains in warm layup alongside her fleet-mates in waters off Great Britain, while Oriana – as Piano Land – remained laid up in China.

Oriana & Aurora are important ships in the long heritage of P&O. As the first ships designed by P&O for British based cruising, they transformed the brand into a major cruise brand for the

Image support with thanks to Andrew Sassoli-Walker. Check out Andrew's Oriana & Aurora book here: https://amzn.to/2IZb0hp

Check out our Aurora book here: https://amzn.to/31Av4wP
Check out our Oriana book here: https://amzn.to/34jgxrg

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Видео Cruise Ships that TRANSFORMED P&O Cruises UK 🇬🇧 Oriana & Aurora Cruise Ship History! канала Chris Frame