"As with her cherished namesake and her sister the sacred CANBERRA, old acquaintance will be more than enough to ensure that whenever the great ships of Britain are brought to mind, another ORIANA shall now never be forgot."
Oriana
ORIANA berthed in Funchal as the replica of Columbus SANTA MARIA passes by. 8 October 2015
On 26th December, ORIANA was back again in the port of Funchal, while on her 16-day Christmas and New Year's cruise around the Canary Isles.
The call in Madeira's capital, was precisely the first one of this itinerary, and not long after she completed her berthing, she was joined by MARELLA DREAM, of newly renamed Marella Cruises, the former Thomson Cruises.
Curiously the former THOMSON DREAM was, like ORIANA, built in the German shipyards of Meyer Werft in Papenburg, but in the decade before, namely in 1986 as the HOMERIC of now extinct Home Lines. She was actually the last ship there to be launched sideways to the water, and at the time she was quite shorter, having been lenghtened some years later, when cruising for Holland America as the WESTERDAM.
Nevertheless, having both of them together on this occasion in Funchal, provided a nice opportunity to watch the 9 year evolution in shipbuilding, as when ORIANA was launched in 1995 she presented herself as Meyer Werft's prime work and a state of the art ship in terms of design and technology.
Later that afternoon, when ORIANA slipped her moorings and passed by MARELLA DREAM on her way out to sea, the two engaged on a nice and persistent horn salute, ending with ORIANA having the last word! Unlike some past years, she will not welcome the New Year in Funchal, that will be VENTURA's task, instead she will be present in Santa Cruz de Tenerife when 2018 comes into action.
After another call in Lisbon, ORIANA returns to her homeport on the 6th January, and then will prepare herself to return to drydock for the following three weeks, for some last minute and needed maintenance works, as reported here in the blog last month.
ORIANA as seen leaving Funchal bound to Arrecife, in the Canary island of Lanzarote. Image: Peter Gonçalves
We take this opportunity to wish all our readers a HAPPY NEW YEAR!
After nearly seven months after her last call in the port of Funchal, in May, ORIANA returned to this destination she knows very well and vice versa, last Saturday on 16th December 2017, while on a 14-night cruise around the Canary Isles.
Having arrived early morning from the Island of La Gomera, she found the company of a former fleetmate, the ARTANIA. Also in port, but for a brief period of time, was fellow Carnival mate AIDA VITA of AIDA Cruises, whom departed some 20 minutes after ORIANA's arrival, thus ending an overnight call in Funchal.
When ORIANA entered service in 1995, the ARTANIA was cruising for slightly a decade more in Princess Cruises, a P&O subsidiary, as ROYAL PRINCESS, therefore we can refer to both as being mates within the P&O group at that time.
The two even met once in Funchal, on the 25th April 2000, at the occasion of ROYAL PRINCESS' last call with her name in this port. The following images taken by Nuno Jesus depict the meeting:
Five years later, and when P&O and Princess were now sister companies under the ownership of Carnival Corporation, their relationship become even more closer, as ROYAL PRINCESS was transfered to P&O and renamed ARTEMIS. The two became fleetmates, cruising out of Southampton and meeting quite often in their homeport.
Nevertheless, one of the many meetings occured far away from Southampton, in Madeira's capital port, on 31st December 2010, when both met to welcome the new year together, as seen bellow:
It was precisely in 2011, that ARTEMIS left the P&O fleet and started operating for her present owners, the German based Phoenix Reisen and so renamed ARTANIA. Curiously later that year, ORIANA entered dry dock in Hamburg, and after several exterior and interior changes, she re-appeared as an adults only cruise ship, thus replacing that void left in the fleet by ARTEMIS.
However, and after all this time, it seems that ARTANIA didn't forget about the close relation she once had with ORIANA, and at the moment of her departure last Saturday, she was very insisting in having a horn salute with her former mate, after some six long blasts when passing by her side, horns that were of course sent back by ORIANA on a funny fashion to say the least. A great moment witnessed in the port of Funchal!
The video bellow depicts the horn salute:
Another interesting fact that both of them share, is having two Godmothers of the British Monarchy, as the ARTANIA was christened by Princess Diana in 1984, and ORIANA by Queen Elizabeth II eleven years afterwards, both ceremonies held in Southampton.
ORIANA remained in port until the evening, offering her guests a chance to see the Christmas lights around the city, and afterwards she left bound to Lisbon.
But already on the 21st of December, she will depart from Southampton bound to Funchal again, on her Christmas and New Year's cruise, and is scheduled to arrive four days later, on the 26th.
In a surprise announcement yesterday P&O revealed that ORIANA will be returning to Drydock in the new year to undertake three weeks of technical maintenance with the the planned 50 night USA & Caribbean cruise being cancelled to allow the work to take place .
In their on line statement posted on their social media page P&O's Senior Vice President Paul Ludlow stated
"We apologise to those guests due to travel on ORIANA's X801 but our
technical team has advised us that it is necessary for ORIANA to undergo
a three week technical maintenance from January 6 2018. As a result we
will be cancelling this cruise.
We have contacted all those affected guests today and we are extremely sorry for the late notice and disruption.
It is presently unkown what the issues are which will be addressed however when asked if they are related to technical problems ORIANA expirenced with her boiler plant earlier in the year P&O responded that the maintenance is not related to any previous technical problems.
There has been as expected quite a lot of activity on P&O's social media pages relating to the news on the company's Facebook page many of their past passengers have been critcal of their decsion to withdraw her from service for 3 weeks and the effect it is having on the passengers who were booked to sail while others were more concerned if other sailings will be affected to which P&O replied -
"
this cancellation is due to the dry dock facility becoming available
and so we are taking the opportunity to undertake a range of technical
work on her. This will not affect her other sailings." With the sudden change to ORIANA's schedule it is no surpise that also has been a certain amount of speculation around the reason with several even suggesting that the work was in prepration for the ship being sold this was quickly dispelled as P&O replied "rest
assured we have no plans to sell ORIANA at present. We are simply to
take this opportunity to undertake a range of technical work on the ship
as the dry dock facilities are available." As of writing it is not confirmed where ORIANA is to drydock but it is very likely that she could return to the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg where she was refitted last November and December.
Today we share some photos of ORIANA from her 2016 Christmas and New Years cruise, as is most often the case for ORIANA a cruise around the Atlantic Isles and Iberian Peninsula.
Departing Southampton on the 18th December it was he second cruise and first full length cruise after her refit Nov/Dec 2016 in Hamburg.
The first port of call of the cruise was one of ORIANA's most popular ports and indeed the maiden port of call during her Maiden Voyage over 21 years earlier Funchal, Madeira.
Our first photo from Christmas Eve shows ORIANA alongside in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria with the Cunarder QUEEN ELIZABETH and Thomson's THOMSON MAJESTY being glimpsed behind.
Christmas Eve meeting: ORIANA with QUEEN ELIZABETH in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.
For the last port of call of 2016 ORIANA again returned to Portuguese waters and another port she has visited many times over the years, as she sailed up the River Tagus to the capital Lisbon.
ORIANA under clear skies with bunker ship SACOR II alongside her while docked in Lisbon 30/12/16
From Lisbon ORIANA headed back to sea to spend New Years eve before arriving in La Coruña, Spain on New Years day. We would like to extend our thanks Bob Bowler for allowing us to use his excellent photographs. Photo Copyright: Bob Bowler
On 21st June 2017, ORIANA met with her fleetmate and near sister AURORA in the port of Gibraltar, a home far away from home for most of the passengers onboard.
Appart from being a meeting between two P&O Cruises' mates, just the fact that both these ships were the last projects ordered and built specifically by the company, before making part of the North-American Carnival Corp. in 2003, always adds a more special feeling to the occasion.
When ORIANA was delivered in 1995, she was the result of a special planning, in order to become a worthy successor of CANBERRA, to whom she carries a lot of resemblances in and out, like the design of the funnel, inspired by the last's twin funnel, the layout of the life boats and tenders in the Promenade Deck, just to name a few.
Five years later, in 2000, AURORA was launched by the same German shipyards that built ORIANA, Meyer Werft in Papenburg, and therefore was seen as a modern version of her older mate.
Having a bridge with enclosed wings and a retractable dome in the Crystal Pool, which became sort of a fashion in the late 90's/early 2000's, are just some of the differences between the near sisters.
Despite that, AURORA retains many similarities, when it comes to layout and features, as ORIANA, thus the reason that both are considered to be a living legacy of the venerable and much beloved CANBERRA.
For this meeting ORIANA arrived from the Greek island of Corfu, while on a 19-night Med cruise based in Southampton, and AURORA did so from Sardinia island in Italy, as well undertaking a Med itinerary of 16 nights, also from/to her British homeport.
Afterwards the two went on their own different paths as ORIANA departed homeward bound, and AURORA made her way for a small voyage en route to Lisbon.
Early last week 1.7 million UK viewers tuned in to see inept reporter Tazeen Ahmad go undercover and board P&O's OCEANA armed with an air quality monitor, an infered camera and with a shoreside group of 'experts' to reveal the 'true' cost of our cruises to the enviorment.
'Environmental research?' Tazeen Ahmad on board OCEANA Copyright: Channel 4
While her methods were for the whole best described as pseudoscience and her results along with other sources were highly quetionable, it did not stop her or the programme declaring that one cruise ship in a day produces the equivalent pollution of 1 million cars.
So with that in mind today we look at how ORIANA who has been in service 5 years longer than OCEANA measures up in terms of environmental performance
Like all cruise ships in service today ORIANA uses heavy fuel oil to power her 8 medium speed diesel engines which have a combined output a total of 78,100 hp or 57,430 kw
One of ORIANA's main engines Copyright: Meyer Werft
These engines 4 main and 4 auxiliaries were designed from the outset
to be as efficient as possible this included having the fuel heated to a certain temperature before being pumped into the engine for combustion.
The 'farther and son' arrangement of the engines is also to the trained engineers a flexible system which enables different configurations to be used which allow she ship to burn as little fuel as possible and ensure that maximum efficiency is achieved.
In combination with the engines ORIANA has two other different systems which help with reducing the possible emissions the ship produces, firstly her propellers being controllable-pitch, also known as varible-pitch means that their effiancy can be increased by altering the pitch of the each propeller's blades increasing their effectiveness in the water allowing an increase in speed without increasing fuel consumption.
Under normal circumstances even with efficent engines when combustion takes place in the engine only two thirds of the fuel is used the other third would be released as waste heat and gas this is where ORIANA's other system comes into play alongside her powerplant the ship features a heat reclaim boiler plant, consisting of 2 vertical down-fired boilers, 2 water-tube exhaust-gas boilers and 2 twin water-tube exhaust-gas boilers this set up allows the waste gases to be utilised elsewhere on board for heating water etc.
The remainig CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) which is emitted from the funnel is filtered through a series of particulate filters to clear the majority of particles from the exhaust before being finally released from the funnel.
Another area mentioned in the programme was cruise ships discharging waste water in open seas.
According to the programme's sources a typical cruise ship discharges around 799,000 litres of waste water per day which they dump, if their expert is believed, without any form of treatment.
On cruise ships there are two different types of waste water Black water from the ships sewage system and Grey water from sinks, the galley and other areas.
On board ORIANA as with most cruise ships in service today the water is treated on board and can either be reused on board in the ship's ballest tanks or can be once it has been fully treated returned to the sea in partically the same condition it was first pumped on board.
In order to treat the high amount of waste water ORIANA's water treatment system consists of no less than 4 Hamworthy Super Trident sewage treatment plants designed and built by Hamworthy Engineering ltd of Poole, Dorset a world leader in the industy and now part of Wärtsilä.
Once all solids have been removed from the waste water it is pumped through the treatment plant where natural additives are added to further break down waste products remaining in the water.
Depending on the ship's location and the status of the water being treated ORIANA will either transfer water from her tanks once she reaches port for waste handlers to treat further or will while at sea discharge water back into the sea which has completed treatment and is free from all waste products and contaminants.
An example of a Super Trident treatment unit Copyright: Wärtsilä
For the first time this year ORIANA made recently her return to the Atlantic archipelagos of the Canaries and Madeira, thus making her first 2017 call in the port of Funchal on 28th May, a consequence of the company's decision to call only in the Azores during the Caribbean Transatlantic cruises, both on the westbound and eastbound crossings.
Seen here with Portuguese submarine NRP ARPÃO, returning to port after a brief voyage out in the bay to demonstrate her capabilities with some local Government entities onboard.
Currently on a 15-night Azores, Canary Isles & Portugal cruise, she departed from her homeport on 21st May, then calling in Ponta Delgada and Praia da Vitória (Azores), Funchal (Madeira), La Gomera, Las Palmas* and Puerto del Rosário (Canaries), Lisbon and Vigo before the landfall of the voyage in Southampton on the 5th June.
We would like to thank the ship photographers Ruben Câmara (first two images) and Francisco Correia (last three images) from Funchal, for sending these images depicting ORIANA during her most recent call in Madeira's capital.
*Where she called today, at the time when this post was published.
In March 1997 ORIANA the proud flagship of the P&O fleet followed in the wake of many of her proud forebearers as she preformed a duty that in the eyes many represented the true demise of the British Empire.
Arriving in Hong Kong during her World Cruise, as many P&O ships had on both World Voyages and in earlier times liner service, ORIANA was to spend the day with her great Cunard rival QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 and while docked received on board 53 new passengers and their families who unlike the other passengers on board would not be paying for the privilege of sailing on Britain's most luxurious ship.
So who were these passengers and why were they special?
In short they were not in anyway special or noteworthy, they were in fact British Civil Servents whose work had supported the United Kingdom's Government and it's administration of Hong Kong, the last large overseas territory, and for many the last symbol of the faded might of the British Empire.
Within 4 months even that would be gone as it had been agreed in 1984 that Hong Kong would be handed back to China on the 1st July 1997.
Ahead of this date many of the officals and support staff of the Government whose services were no longer required would be exercising the right bestowed by their position working in an oversea territory for free sea passage back to Britain for them and their family, all paid for by the taxpayers of territory they were residing in.
The only conditions attached to the deal was that the person would need to have been working over seas for at least 15 years or be over 50 years of age.
In days gone by that would have meant months of travel in less than luxuirous condition but in 1997 it meant passage by cruise liner on a leg of it's world cruise with all the benefits that such a voyage brings with it.
The last 'British' flag of Hong Kong is waved from ORIANA as she prepared to sail
As the sun was setting and to the sound of the Band of the Hong Kong Police force and Bagpipes play ORIANA slowly proceeded astern from her berth on the dockside there was tears as friends of those who had boarded waved many themselves would be heading home theirselves on board the QE2 two days later.
A true end of an era the departure attracted some press attention as show below.
ORIANA's terrece aft decks filled by passenger as the Band plays on the Quayside
Today we look at item from ORIANA's Maiden season which reflects perhaps the most major change she has undergone during her career so far and also serves as link for ORIANA to the P&O liners of old.
From her debut in April 1995 until November 2011 ORIANA cruised as a family friendly ship with a full suite of facilties for children of all ages from a night nursery for the youngest to a teens club.
Below we have plaque awarded to on board ORIANA during her Maiden Season for a Fancy Dress competition held amongst her younger passengers.
A plaque awarded during a Fancy Dress competition
While it is no longer a staple of ship board entertainment fancy dress balls and competitions were once a popular past time on board P&O ships not only among the younger passengers in the days before the multifunction entertainment venues and full performance theatres.
P&O entertainment 1950's style on board ARCADIA (II) Copyright: British Pathé
May 1995 brought ORIANA another first in her early career; a meeting with perhaps P&O's greatest rival on the seas, the famous Cunarder QUEEN ELIZABETH 2.
Having taken over the role of Flagship of the Merchent Fleet from the ageing QE2 it would make for a fitting meeting to pass the baton from the old to the new as it were.
ORIANA passes QE2 for the first time
The two ships identical in tonnage although different in every other way represented two contrasting eras of sea travel, QE2 a mixed Transatlantic liner/Cruise ship from the end of the great liner era and ORIANA a thoroughly modern dedicated cruise ship the first dedicated to the British cruise market.
With Commodore Gibb on the Port bridge wing, ORIANA enthusiastically sounded her horn in greeting to which QE2's deep horn replied.
While it was common for the veteran queen's to get the last blast in on this occasion Commodore Gibb blasted one final salute to ensure ORIANA truely made her presence felt.
This being the first meeting there was to be many more over the years both in Southampton and at many other ports around the world.
One such meeting occurred 13 years later during QE2's farewell year on the 3rd January 2008, both ships by this time ultimately owned by Carnival PLC, met in the port of Funchal on the fair Atlantic Isle of Madeira, ORIANA by now herself considered somewhat classic withj the ever larger new builds entering service, still made quite the contrast to the old liner.
ORIANA and QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 contrast Funchal, Madeira, 3/1/08: Copyrigh Nuno Jesus
For regular cruise passengers there is nothing like embarking on board a new ship especially a Maiden Voyage and alongside the boast of being the first to enjoy the new ship's amenities and being on deck with pleanty of firehose welcomes for the ship making it's debut in each port.
Just like any other cruise picking up momentos also become something of a hobby on board and being the Maiden Voyage a once in a lifetime event it seems more poignant to pick up and keep such items to recall in the years to come.
Such is the case for ORIANA and today we look at some of the items collected from her Maiden Voyage.
Firstly a couple of unique Maiden Voyage/Season items available during the cruise from the ship's photography shop, firstly a image of ORIANA during her later stages of fitting out and secondly a image of ORIANA on her Maiden Voyage signed by Commodore Gibb.
Another must on board ship for aficionad, postcards on sale in gift shop here we have one of ORIANA herself and one showing her ventern fleetmate CANBERRA in all her glory.
While for ladies a compact mirror would make a small and practical keepsake.
Alongside the items for sale on board other items such as menus, invites etc made for another excellent keepsake to recall ORIANA's first days at sea such as this one below, the first invite sent out to her passengers for ORIANA's first formal event in service, for those present certainly memory to cherish as Commodore Gibb and the ship's company turned out in style to greet those on board.
While even some more basic items from the Maiden Voyage were also collected by those eager to collect everything they could from the ship including as shown below cabin Key cards.
ORIANA seen recently in two northern Spanish ports during her previous cruise to the Iberian Peninsula. The first two photographs were taken while berthed and then leaving Santander, on 13th April, and on the last image she is seen departing the following day from El Ferrol bound to Leixões, Oporto.
This 12-night round trip Spain, Portugal and France left Southampton on 11st April, and also saw her calling afterwards in ports such as Cadiz, Gibraltar, Lisbon and La Rochelle, before returning to her homeport on 23rd April.
After 14 nights away on the 23rd April 1995 ORIANA returned to Southampton to complete her Maiden Voyage and prepare for her next passengers to embark.
The previous evening was one that vetern cruisers knew with the feeling of farewells and of saying goodbyes to friends made over the preceding days and nights but also that of celebration as the ship's company did their upmost to ensure the last night of would be a memorable one.
During the last days of the cruise P&O's cameras spoke with many of the passengers on board to sound out their opinons of the ship.
With so many P&O cruising veterns from both the previous ORIANA and CANBERRA on board it was always going to be difficult to introduce innovations and improvements to a cruising experience they saw as already perfect yet it seemed that with ORIANA the company had managed to do just that, the ship retained the company's trademark 'Britishness' and inlaid it with standards of luxury and technology that had yet to be seen on board any other passenger ship.
For ORIANA's crew too the ship had more than proved her worth performing exactly as expected.
Commodore Gibb in particular could not praise his new command enough from her character which was already showing to her performance.
As ORIANA departed once again on the evening of 23rd April this time bound for her maiden calls in the Mediterranean those passengers who were on their way home could look back fondly on the memories of a voyage that would last a lifetime.
Perhaps the final theatre show of cruise summed it up in the best possible way.
Following her maiden departure from Gibraltar ORIANA returned to Portuguese waters.
Firstly to Praia da Rocha in the Algarve the famous resort region of mainland Portugal where ORIANA once again anchored.
For the final port of call ORIANA headed up the River Tagus to the Portuguese capital of Lisbon a port which P&O has a long history of visiting including the previous ORIANA on her shakedown cruise in 1960.
On this Maiden visit due to work maintaince work ORIANA made her way to the Jardim do Tabaco terminal rather than the preferred Alcântara terminal. While ORIANA's passengers enjoyed themselves in the historic city Commodore Gibb and ORIANA's crew played host to the local port authorities and press holding tours of the ships passenger and work spaces, and later to British Ambassador to Portugal and his wife both of whom were eager to see Britain's latest flagship.
Making the most of the last port of call ORIANA's passengers returned to the ship ready for her early evening departure and to wish the great ship on her way a local folk group preformed on the quayside.
Leaving the romance of Casablanca behind her ORIANA next arrived at Gibraltar on the 18th April, for her British passengers a home away from home.
Entering the Gibraltar strait at 6am and boarding the pilot shortly
after ORIANA continued her course where she arrived at her berth at 9:01
am.
For many the cruise offered the chance to explore a little of 'Britain in the sun' as many refer to the Gibraltar, from it's history including the evactation of many of it's citizens during the second world war to popular UK highstreet shops and the duty free merchandise available to purchase the port had a little of everything to offer.
However for one couple the port was to serve as the venue a special day.
Being UK registered it was not possible to be married on board, it would be over 11 years before ORIANA's first wedding would take place but on this Maiden Voyage ORIANA had her first on board honeymoon.
Following her triumphant call in Funchal ORIANA made a short overnight trip of around 257 nautical miles to Tenerife the first of two ports of the cruise in the Canary Islands to be followed the next day with a call in Lanzarote the latter of which would see ORIANA on anchorage for the first time.
Both ports being popular ports for P&O's as well as British holidaymakers.
During this leg of the cruise an impromptu gathering was held where many veterans from the previous ORIANA memories and brought along many menus, price lists and many other momentos from the old ship.
So far ORIANA had lived up to the memory of her namesake and was impressing on her passengers she was a fitting as CANBERRA's replacement as P&O's flagship.
Moving away from the Atlantic Isles the cruise next brought ORIANA to Morocco and the city of Casablanca symbolic once again P&O's history and it's close ties with North Africa.
The city, it's Spanish name coming from it's Portuguese Casa Branca, is famous for it's mix of French, Spanish and Moorish architecture and for being the setting for the wartime Hollywood romantic drama of the same name set the perfect scene for a port of call on a great ship's Maiden Voyage
Following on what was a very special first day of ORIANA's maiden call of the inaugural voyage, the 13th April 1995 found ORIANA still berthed in Funchal for one more full day.
Scheduled to depart at 6 pm later on, the best spots along the city's coast and the harbor were being filled by a crowd of people wishing again to have the best view to the newest cruise ship afloat. Only the New Year's Eve fireworks in the capital of Madeira could compare to such a gathering.
The importance of this event would lead to the release of a small series of local postcards with aerial images of ORIANA, made to promote the destination Madeira, which could be seen for sale in every souvenir shop for many years to come.
ORIANA's maiden call in Funchal was to remain one of the biggest, if not the biggest event this port ever had, at least until Cunard's QUEEN MARY 2 made her inaugural call on 15th January 2004.
On a sunny morning of 12 April 1995, a maiden visitor
could be seen approaching the breakwater of Funchal, Madeira on her inaugural
voyage. A maiden visitor that had been the highlight and subject of great
expectation worldwide, in the years prior to her launch.
Known at the time as the largest ship built in Germany
in the last 80 years, the largest ship exclusively dedicated to the British
cruise market, and the newest flagship of Britain's Merchant Fleet, it was none
other than P&O Cruises' brand new ORIANA!
Apart from all of these features, which were more than
enough to make this a very special call in Funchal,
ORIANA was also seen as the
successor of the venerable CANBERRA, at the time a ship that had been calling
in this port frequently for a long time, thus being a well known visitor among
the locals.
Besides we can also refer to another important factor
surrounding this maiden call, at the time it was not common to observe brand
new ships like ORIANA in Funchal. After the great "boom" of the
cruise industry in the late 70's/80's, most of the larger and new ships were
being built in Europe as well but for the North-American market, cruising
essentially in the Caribbean, during the Winter, and Alaska on the Summer
months, as depicted by the most famous companies, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, NCL,
and Princess... Eventually ORIANA would operate on a different schedule,
not on a turn-around basis in a specific region, but on distinct cruises to Med,
Northern Europe, Canary Isles and also Caribbean and World voyages based in
Southampton, as she still does nowadays.
Therefore at around noon, ORIANA was “sliding” through
the flat seas on her way to the harbor, and much like what happened in her
homeport days before, a flotilla of small craft went to sea welcoming the new
superliner in great style, along with the local tugs dressed overall for the
occasion. Even the dolphins were jumping out of the water to have a good
glimpse of ORIANA.
On shore thousands of people gathered at seaside to
witness this grand event. In the previous days she had been already a huge
highlight among the local Press.
After docking at her designated berth, the passengers
were presented with a performance from a local folkloric group, while leaving
the ship’s gangway, being at the same time, offered with typical souvenirs from
Madeira.
Later on, Commodore Gibb welcomed onboard several
authorities and entities for the traditional plaque exchange ceremony, and
kindly invited everyone for a tour around his brand new ship.
With the day nearly at its end, and as ORIANA prepared
to overnight in Funchal, there was still place for a fireworks display, a final
special touch truly placing her inaugural call among the most memorable moments
this port ever had.
Unlike some past years, she will not welcome the New Year in Funchal, that will be VENTURA's task, instead she will be present in Santa Cruz de Tenerife when 2018 comes into action.
