Post COVID return to service?

 Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the  cruise industry earlier this year a common question  has  been when will crusing resume?                                                                                                                           ORIANA as PIANO LAND the propaganda flagship of the Domestic Chinese market had her sailings suspended on the 29th of January and has spent most of the last 8 months idle in a lay up vastly different from her former fleet mates back in the UK.

In service with Astro Ocean Cruises

During the course of the year with stories from China itself and the World Health World Health Organization relating to the the state of the virus in the in the country it has been interesting to see when the ship would return to service.
With China being the progenitor of the virus and it's "effective" and "swift" measures being a complete uncomfirmed success it had been widely reported by experts that it would lead the cruise industry into recovery and be the first to return to service, this of course did not come to pass.
During this hiatus ORIANA herself has been for the most part laid up making very short trips out to sea and returning to dock within an hour, a contrast to her former P&O fleet mates who have been constantly sailing between ports on England's south coast.
During April she headed to Zhoushan where Cruise Industry News reported that she would be entering drydock for work alongside new HVAC equipment being installed and a new grade of suites being added with a view to resuming service sooner rather than later
While she didn't enter drydock some work was carried out.

Still in need of a new lick of paint ORIANA departs the Zhoushan shipyard.

 Aside from rumours there has been lack of information coming out China related to it's cruise activities  with only the most broad predictions of the ships returning to service however finally a date has finally been announced and according to Astro Ocean's offical website they will resume their own operations tomorrow, the 12th December although like many things relating to the company and China as a whole there are pleanty of questions left unaswered.

Despite the above banner appearing on Astro Ocean's website the only cruises on sale are 3 cruises scheduled to take place between the 23rd July 2021 and 2nd August 2021.
The first a 2 night party cruise to and from Xiamen, and the second   5 night cruise departing from Xiaman and touring around Japan ending in Qingdao in the Shandong province of China.
For the last of the 3 cruises she once again will head round Japan before returning to Qingdao.

Returning to service?

As some lockdown restrictions around many parts of the world begin to be lift it has been suggested that ORIANA's owner Astro Ocean Cruises would be returning her to service in the coming months.
 Once again being reported by Cruise Industry News the site noted it had observed the company recruiting via V.Ships website leading to speculation that the company is planning a relaunch soon.
In addition for the first time since arriving back from 'refit' the ship has sailed to anchor and back, leading some to suggest that the ship's crew were readying her for service.

In service prior to lockdown Photo: KeitoandKagari

There have been other indications that the company is planning a relaunch in the near future such as the company at long last launching a website albeit one which is only partialy functioning at present.
Although there are menus for destinations and departure dates among others there are no availble dates and the links lead to empty pages.
For the past month the site has proudly proclaimed '50 days to go' referring either to a return to service or potentially  some kind of upcoming announcement relating to the resumption of service a seemingly endless 50 days with no change being made to reflect the passage of time.

50 Days and counting?

Other banners around the site introduce the company's new mascot a typically Chinese lucky cat donning a sailors outfit, based on the Maneki-neko cats of Japanese culture.
Originally the company was also advertising it's enchanced health and hygine procedures however for reasons best known to themselves the company has since removed that information and banner.

Some might find a Chinese company promoting increased health and hygine practices due to Covid-19 a little hypocritical

 For those who may be interested Astro Ocean Cruises website can be found here: http://www.aocruise.com/
In recent weeks there has been localised outbreaks of Covid-19 in Beijing most recently leading to 400,000 people being put into lockdown how will such outbreaks effect the decision to return ORIANA to service? we can not say.
With the secracy and half truths that constantly surround the country it is hard to say whether the company has so far been in a postion to return to cruising either now with the current outbreak or before hand, only time will tell.

Photo Copyright: KeitoandKagari

Layup and changes to ORIANA

It is fair to say that since ORIANA has been under Chinese ownership not many changes have been made to make her "The first ship exclusively built for the Chinese market"
On the whole the majority of the ship's decor has remained unchanged with little to no effort being made to make her uniquly British designs Chinese.
Naturally some changes were made name room changes etc a new albeit oddly placed childrens area built out of the former Crichtons card and game rooms, a new steak house grill from the former Lord's Tavern bar and the removal of the Terrace Bar, and various other minor but on the on the whole not a great deal of work.

In service as 'PIANO LAND'

Due to the ongoing Coronavirus/COVID-19 the ship left service on the 29th of January and was put into lay up in Shanghai.

Laid up in Shanghai

She remained in Shanghai for 2 months finally departing for the port of Zhoushan formerly known as Chusan, a name familiar to anyone who is aware of P&O's history and heritage, where she arrived on the 3rd of April at the Cosco Zhoushan Shipyard.

Shortly after arrival at Zhoushan

Alongside as seen from a drydocked ship. Photo:Arvin Gonzaga

10 days after she arrived at the shipyard it was announced by owners Astro Ocean Cruises via Cruise 
Industry News that "it will spend a month to refurbish the PIANO LAND, taking the opportunity with the ship out of service to make some key upgrades"
It continued "The PIANO LAND, which is the former P&O ORIANA, is heading to a drydock in Zhoushan operated by COSCO for the work. The facility has previously handed emergency repairs for both Royal Caribbean International and SkySea Cruises."

It is worth noteing that during her time at the ship yard in contradiction to the company's/Cruise Industry New's claim, the ship never entered drydock even the crew boasting they were the wet dock team.

The Wet Dock crew pose on the covered former Riviera Pool. Photo Rowel Pacatang‎

The article further details work being carried out during the refit,the ship would  receive a completely new HVAC system which could allow upto 100% fresh air to be circulated through out if necessary.
It also announced that several further changes were being made to ORIANA/PIANO LAND's interiors, several of the ship's cabins would be set up for 'Medical situations'.
It was also mentioned that possibilty of the ship returning to service without any inside cabins signifcantly reducing passengers on board.
This to be honest is not surprising the images and low number of reviews point to the ship sailing with far fewer passengers on board than in her P&O days not unexpected seeing as a domestic Chinese cruise market hardly exists in any form.
In addition to reducing cabin numbers on board Astro Ocean also announced the addition of a new class of suite which will feature it's own dedicated dining area making up a new ship within a ship concept akin with MSC's Yacht Club concept.

Render of the new class of suite. Astro Ocean Cruises/Cruise Industry News

And judging from the image in the article the design is underwhelming, generic and as unispired as it is possible to get, quite the contrast to the aforementioned MSC Yacht Club.
Elsewhere, on Deck 7 the shopping area has been further expanded beyond the atrium itself into what was under P&O Anderson's resulting in an increase in space allowing for the introduction of 100 new international brands to shop from.

The former Anderson's as a new onboard shop but the P&O carpet remains.  Astro Ocean Cruises/Cruise Industry News

Having been docked in Zhoushan for 21 days ORIANA finally departed on the 24th April and arrived in Xaimen earlier today at 12:07 local time.

In need of a lick of paint ORIANA/PIANO LAND departs the Zhoushan shipyard.

Since a date for her return to service has not yet been announced, at the moment all that has been stated is planned resumption of service later this spring, it is assumed that she will remain in Xaimen for further layup and will either resume service form there or return to Shanghai to resume from there only time will tell.