On board ORIANA's penultimate cruise

Today we share some more photographs from around ORIANA on her  penultimate cruise sent to us by Jamie Connerty and Patricia Dempsey.
While Carnival's mechanical maintaince has been called into question a lot over the past few years ORIANA's interiors have been kept to a high standard even if the new carpets, decor and upholstery doesn't quite match the style of the original designs.
We start by looking at one of ORIANA's most loved venues The Crows Nest

Unrivalled by any other Carnival Group ship, ORIANA's Crows Nest Photos:Patricia Dempsey

Another of ORIANA's destinctive features her atrium staircase as it always has been to be dramatic and elegant first impression when boarding the ship.

ORIANA's ever stunning atrium staircase Photos: Jamie Connerty

Slightly diminised since the removel of the waterfall feature in 2016 the atrium still exudes an air of understated elegance.
And it was here that ORIANA was wearing her colours on her sleeve so to speak as she proudly displayed the Golden Cockerel, awarded to her in 1997 upon the retirement of CANBERRA.

Proudly displayed-The Goldern Cockerel Photo: Patricia Dempsey

Looking through ORIANAit brings to mind the ships future, what will these elegant venues look like under Astro Ocean Cruises? and how will they be used to create "A ship custom designed for the Chinese market"

Harlaquins ORIANA's main dance venue

Small detatils lacking from ORIANA's newer fleetmates, a small vestibule between The Monte Carlo Club Casino and Andersons bar

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II stands guard over the entrance to Andersons Photos: Jamie Connerty

Not to be outdone ORIANA's outer decks offer more open deck space than the larger ships in the P&O Cruises fleet.

ORIANA's terrace pool and surrounding area in use while at sea

Passengers around the Crystal pool area Photos: Jamie Connerty

ORIANA's Riviera pool:Photo Patricia Dempsey

A small reminder on deck of ORIANA's 16 years as a family friendly ship:Photo Jamie Connerty

 While it is obvious that as far as P&O is concerned ORIANA's time has come and only that going forward it's only concern is for it's larger mass market vessels during this her final days at least her crew have made provisions for passengers to share their memories in the form of a memory board set up near the atrium staircase featuring memories written by passengers and items collected from the ship over years while in the Theatre Royal Oriana:From Dream to Reality, the documentry commissioned by P&O about ORIANA's design and construction.

Among the momentos a first editon of ORIANA Today featuring Commodore Ian Gibb ORIANA's first master

More memories and images that availble to purchase on board during her maiden season Photos: Jamie Connerty

One item pinned to the board which stands out as perhaps the most poignant the part of a registration  form for the as of then unamed ORIANA's maiden season, the chance to be what the P&O of the 1990's saw as the future.

Photo:Jamie Connerty

Once again we send our thanks to Patricia Dempsey and Jamie Connerty for the kind use of their photographs.

All Photograph Copyrights: Jamie Connerty & Patricia Dempsey