MV Oriana (1995)
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Built by Jos L. Meyer in Germany, the MV Oriana is a cruise ship owned and operated by P&O Cruises. She entered service in 1995 after being formally named by the Queen during a naming ceremony in her home port of Southampton. During a refit in December 2006 her flag was changed from British to Bermudan to enable Weddings at Sea to take place. Oriana is 260 metres (853 foot) long with a beam of just over 32 metres (106 foot) and a draught of 7.9 metres (26 foot) which varies up to 8.2m depending on load. She has a gross tonnage of 69,153 tonnes and a maximum passenger capacity of 1,928. Power is provided by four MAN B&W Diesels generating a total of 47,750kW giving her a service speed of 24 knots.
By the late 1980s/early 1990s it was clear that Canberra was coming to the end of her life, so the order for Oriana was placed. Ideally Oriana would have been built in the United Kingdom, but unfortunately there were no British shipyards left capable of completing such an order so P&O Cruises were forced to look overseas. At first it was believed that Oriana was to be an instant replacement for Canberra, but on delivery they ran together as fleetmates for two more years until 1997 when Canberra was scrapped.
One of her main designers, Robert Tillberg, spent a lot of the time onboard Canberra investigating the needs of British passengers and including as many features of Canberra possible into Oriana's design. Her single funnel is designed to have a resemblance to Canberra's twin funnels and her lifeboats are positioned in a similar place to Canberra's. She has a single deck of balconies reserved for Suites, Mini-suites and Staterooms to cater for the growing desire for balconies onboard.
When she entered service Oriana was one of the largest cruise ships in the world. Since then tonnages have boomed as the economies of scale dictate that a larger ship generates more profit. Nowadays most new cruise ships have a GRT of around 100,000 tonnes.
Annually undertaking World cruises with fleetmate and half sister Aurora, she normally operates cruises within the Mediterranean, the Canaries and the Baltic seas. She is the second P&O ship to bear the name, the previous occupant being the long serving and well known P&O vessel SS Oriana, which was launched in 1959.
She has recently returned from a £12 million refit during which a new Oriana Rhodes restaurant, designed by celebrity chef Gary Rhodes was introduced. Created in what was formerly 'The Curzon Room', the 96 seater restaurant has been inroduced due to the success of the 'Arcadian Rhodes' restaurant on fleetmate Arcadia. Other modifcations included the extension of the popular Lords Tavern bar, festooned with Cricket memorabilia and refurbishment of the children's play areas. In addition all of her cabins have been restyled to include one of four new colour schemes, new curtains and carpets and duvets.
