ORIANA: The Beginning Of A Lifelong Passion

In life there are often things which we grow attached to at an early days and for which we have feelings for which can stay with us for a lifetime, passions which are sparked in the fertile imaginations which are fuelled as we grow phiscally and emotionally.
For both the authors of this blog this was the case with the world of P&O Cruises' ORIANA.
Myself I first become aware of ORIANA in March 1993 an eager 6 year old far from the sea in a rural Wiltshire market town seemingly a world away from ships and  the cruise industry, who by a chance viewing of the 1953 movie 'Titanic' had been introduced to the ill fated liner and passenger ships in general.
About a week or so after watching the film the word 'Oriana' would enter my vocabulary for the first time on the 11th the evening news showed the pride of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, the largest shipping company and one of Britain's most well know companies, as constructuion of it's new flagship got underway and her name revealed for the first time ORIANA.
While on the surface it may not seem the kind of news that a landlocked 6 year old would find interesting, this one found it fascinating the whole idea that this one large building block would grow into the world's latest cruise ship.

11 March 1993 ORIANA's Keel is laid

Over the next year or so news of ORIANA or things referring to her inpending arrival in April 1995 would pop up from time to time including a seeing a cut away poster introducing her in a Doctor's waiting room.
With the internet being far from the all knowing source of infomation we know and love today finding new infomation or news on Oriana was often a case of looking in a Travel agents for new brochure or waiting the odd glimpse of progress in Newspaper.
When April 1995 eventully came finally through the news I got my first true glimpse of ORIANA as they were present in Southampton to film her arrive for the first time.

And later on the 6th April Her Majesty her naming took it's rightful position on the evening news the worlds newest and the most advanced passenger ship was finally home and ready to serve her owners and passengers.

25 months after watching that first block on drydock floor she was finally complete, watching in awe at the television as her classic liner inspired lines complemented her elegant and understated interiors with their art deco touchs showing the vast improvement over the generation of ships she was superseding and in retrospect due to the effort of the world class design team an interior which is leaps and bounds above the dull unispired shopping centre chic look of the behemoth that is due to replace her.
That 6 year old who first saw a single block has long since grown and had many many adventures with ORIANA today he looks back with fondness and sadness as her P&O crew prepare to lower the houseflag for the last time and she sails from the once influential company and once great country that she served so well,  she heads to the endless horizon to begin a new life in a far eastern land, but he knows that ORIANA's heart has been and always will be in Southampton and the countless ports she visited over the last 25 years.