History in the Making Revised -- Part 3 -Delivery and Christening III

“I name this ship ORIANA.”

With ORIANA completed and delivered to P&O, all that remained was to deliver the ship to her home port of Southampton where in a spectacular and fitting ceremony she would be named by Queen Elizabeth II. For P&O this had been a long held dream of having the reigning monarch name their flagship, although the company had many royal connections , it had the distinction of being the only British shipping company to have been founded officially by Royal Charter from Queen Victoria in 1837, it also had been given permission by the royal houses of Spain and Portugal to use the colours of their flags.
It had been initially planned that Her Majesty was to name CANBERRA at her launch in March 1960 but this was changed with the birth of Prince Andrew in February the same year.
While preparations were underway in Southampton ORIANA with her crew for the first time in charge of her, bid goodbye to land of her birth and to Emshaven as the ship headed out into the North Sea this time to take southerly course through the English Channel on route to her new home. Due to the heavy sea conditions that ORIANA had encountered during her sea trials which had resulted to in a rescheduling of some of the trials, this meant that her departure was later than had first been anticipated.

Commodore Gibb on the bridge.

For Commodore Gibb and his crew the moment they had waited months for had come ORIANA was finally  bound for her home port under their command.
Being only a short journey ORIANA was expected to arrive the next day, for the remainder of the day and night ORIANA navigated through the English channel passing the east coast of the British mainland to starboard and the Dutch/Belgian coast to port. Onboard were a few shipyard workers who had a few final fittings to complete and check, also the ship's first photographers preparing their onboard shop and photo printing room.
While elsewhere on board the ship's crew were preparing for the first visitors and passengers she would receive in the upcoming weeks and months from the restaurants where the waiters were preparing with last  minute cleaning and fine tuning their service to the Theatre Royle where ORIANA's very own theatre company were polishing their performances the story throughout the ship was the same ORIANA was ready to meet her public for the first time.
During the early hours of the morning ORIANA slowed as she approached the Nab Tower Lighthouse in the Dover Straits marking entry into the Solent. Embarking the pilot for the first time ORIANA continued slowly ahead, as day broke curious spectators watched as at first light the ship continued to make her way up river towards Southampton. As is tradition when a new ship arrives in Southampton local people, ship enthusiasts and photographers took yachts and small boats out to greet and escort the ship into dock while at her bow tugs gave a traditional water hose welcome. For the first time many of P&O’s and CANBERRA’s loyal fans were able to view her in person as the historic port welcomed the worlds newest and finest passenger liner.

On an overcast Southampton morning ORIANA arrives.

 Along with the officers and harbour pilot Lord Sterling was also to be found on the starboard bridge wing being interviewed he summed up the general feeling on board.

Due to the ship arriving later than was planned the next three days up until the naming would be a busy period of last minute preparations and arranged visits and over the next five days would have a heavy schedule of events going on onboard which would see 10,000 visitors enjoy ORIANA’s hospitality. As was expected ORIANA attracted much media attention including interviews with members of P&O’s management and the ships crew among them Commodore Gibb, Speaking of his anticipation of the maiden cruise he said “ Funchal in Madeira is one of our favourite ports of call, there’ll be a great welcome, with a half a bottle of Madeira wine for every passenger and corsages of local flowers- and the weather is almost always sunny too.”
However before the maiden cruise there was the important matter of the naming ceremony which was set for the 6th April an event like no other the naming is always ranked as one of the most memorable in the life of a ship and P&O certainly wanted ORIANA’s to as special as possible. 
For those who had been lucky enough to stay onboard over night and those arriving early the day started with a classical music presentation which was held in the Crows Nest bar followed by recitals in the Pacific Lounge. Afterwards they joined the later arrivals on the dockside where they took their seats on the specially installed seating which had been set up next ORIANA for the occasion. All being seated by 11am the guests were honoured by musical entertainment supplied by the Band of HM Royal Marines until Her Majesty arrived. From behind as the band played, the Royal Train from London could be heard pulling into the station. With cameras filming to broadcast the occasion to the world and The Choir of Westminster Abby singing Fair Oriana, Beauty’s Queen, Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness Prince Philip The Duke of Edinburgh took their places on the podium in front of ORIANA and on ORIANA's promenade deck he officers lined the rail watching the gathering below
Before the ceremony began and as is always the case when Her Majesty is present the choir of Westminster Abbey led the singing of the National Anthem and the introduction were made by the Master of Ceremonies, then followed the playing of Fanfare to ORIANA a piece of music which had been composed by the famed composer Benjamin Britten for the launch of the previous ORIANA. After the music finished speeches were made by the chairman of Associated British Ports and Lord Sterling, concluding with the ship being blessed with holy water by the Bishop of Basingstoke. With Commodore Gibb and Lord Sterling looking on Her Majesty made short speech before saying the words that in the English language are so associated with ship naming ceremonies -“ I name this ship ORIANA, may god bless her and all who sail in her.” she pulled the leaver sending the bottle champagne smashing against the “I” in the ships name as ORIANA’s horn blew enthusiastically much to the excitement of the crowd many of whom admitted later of having a tear in their eyes.

  After the naming its self Her Majesty went onboard ORIANA to dine and for a tour of the ship and lunch on board as did many other guests. Including many areas the paying public would never see including the navigational bridge.

Her Majesty is shown the ships plaque. On the bridge.

While touring the ship Her Majesty showed a particular interest to the Children's and Teenagers areas where she met a young Girl named Oriana who had wanted to meet her.
Recalling the tour Ian Gibb  felt it was a success and in particular related two stories he had of it
"I think she was impressed with the ship, she certainly appeared to be. There are two memories in particular I have while touring the ship, the first was while she looking round the Spa & Fitness areas she joked while observing the Exercise Machines that “we have these in the dungeon at Windsor Castle!” and sometime later while touring the ship's Galley the executive Purser had selected 10 or 11 members of the restaurant crew to introduce to her to and as it turned out they all had the surname of Gomez so I was walking down the line introducing each saying “This is Mr Gomez and this is Mr Gomez and this is Mr Gomez as well”
To complete what had been a perfect day as night fell a full pyrotechnic display was arranged by P&O to celebrate in the grandest possible way the arrival of ORIANA- Queen of Seas.

Celebration fireworks.

And so the first chapter of ORIANA’s story came to a spectacular end ORIANA had gone from concept -Gemini, to a solid reality speaking of the relevance of the new ship John McNeece said "She will be the benchmark by which all others will be measured", in 3 days she would depart on her Maiden Voyage and Madeira where a warm welcome awaited for her first landfall.

ORIANA in the most fitting and Majestic way possible had truly arrived.

Photo and Video  Copyrights: P&O Cruises.

History in the Making revised--Part 3-Delivery and Christening II

Sea trials in the North Sea.

March 1995:- After a more or less successful journey from Papenburg and a short stopover at Hamburg for a hull inspection ORIANA was at last ready to head out to sea to prove the ships technical systems.
The Trials would take place over the course of 10 days and would test all aspects of the ship including: Stopping distances at different speeds, manoeuvrability, deployment of lifeboat and testing of lifesaving equipment, effectiveness of the stabilisers and of course a full speed run to see what top speed ORIANA could actually achieve.
Alongside members of the crew who had joined the ship many shipyard workers remained onboard to continue with the remaining fitting out tasks such as adding the balcony dividers and fittings such as artwork and some light fixtures.
Among those onboard ORIANA anticipation was high, finally after years of planning and designing the ship was a solid reality a new flagship ready to begin what would be hopefully a long career and to be the latest showcase of P&O’s high levels of service.
Although many different tests had been preformed on the ship's design during the later planning stages it was not until now that P&O would know exactly how ORIANA would perform.
As ORIANA took to the high seas for the first time the weather took a turn for the worse the sea conditions deteriorated rapidly and soon the ship found herself in conditions which certainly would be a test for her sea keeping abilities.
At this point still technically a German ship Commodore Gibb was still on board as a observer with the trials being handled by a shipyard Captain.
As a sign of early promise with the aid of the stabilisers ORIANA only rolled by a about 3 degrees in either direction much to the pleasure of those aboard.
Many commenting on how despite the heavy seas how the ship kept a steady course throughout.
The work that had gone into making ORIANA suitable for all season cruising seemed to have been worth it as her deep sharp angled bow deflected the North Sea's ferocious waves like her great predecessor ORIANA showed herself to have excellent sea keeping abilities.

On a rough North Sea March 1995

To ORIANA’s crew the new ship with greater manoeuvrability than was available on CANBERRA was a delight to operate.
Commodore Gibb commented “Everyone who knows me knows of my affinity for CANBERRA but with her you had to plan every manoeuvre 10 Minutes in advance whereas with ORIANA everything is instantaneous.”
Also being demonstrated during the trials was the great range of speeds available to the ship using the variable pitch propellers from full head ORIANA was able to be ordered to full stop or full astern within a matter of seconds by just inverting the angle of the propellers’ blades instead of fully stopping and reversing the engines.

Chief engineer Marcus James checks one of the engines.

As has been discussed in previous posts a important requirement for the ship was speed , 24 knots had been calculated to be the required maximum speed for the ships role, faster than any passenger ship built since the 1960s but slower than the later Ocean Liners.
With the engines checked, Propellers set for maximum efficiency for the first time the main engine controls on the bridge were set Ahead Full and for the first time ORIANA’s engines run to maximum as expected 24 knots was easily achieved and surpassed as with little effort 25 Knots was in turn passed a speed which CANBERRA had not operated at for a number of years due to high fuel consumption.
In the rough sea conditions at full ORIANA quickly surpassed 26 knots and eventually made 27.2 knots with predictions that in more favourable conditions a far higher speed was a high possibility.
Of the engine system James commented “ ORIANA has been a major challenge her engine technology is completely different to CANBERRA”
Having also served onboard the 1984 launched ROYAL PRINCESS he said “ I will have no more staff onboard ORIANA than I had on ROYAL PRINCESS despite the substantial size difference of the two ships”
“This is due to computerisation, ORIANA is a ship that has been designed for the 21st century”
It was during the speed trials that it was found that the stern was prone to severe vibrations when the ship was running at higher speeds, as Commodore Gibb explains,
"the vibrations were a major problem the decibels that were being produced in the aft end were truly awful in the aft (Oriental) Restaurant crockery and cutlery was vibrating off of tables, after further trials we found the vibration was caused by the propellers at high speed and for a while it was not even certain we would accept the ship but we were assured the problem could be remedied by having the propellers replaced and in the short term by operating at slower speeds around 22 to 24 knots so we could control the situation."
In keeping with SOLAS while not at sea each of ORIANA’s life boats were lowered to check that both they and the lifeboat davits are in full working order and the crew deployed the rescue crafts housed in the second lifeboat recesses of the promenade in order to train for the unlikely event of a emergency.

Commodore Gibb (left) tests ORIANA’s life saving equipment.

During the course of the trials every system had been repeatedly test to ensure it was 100 percent operational from safety systems such as Watertight doors and swimming pool emergency drainage to external lighting and the ship's onboard public address system.
Alongside the crew  representatives from P&O themselves, Lloyds the company's insurers and the UK government marine safety agency were also on board to insure that all the condition were met in order for ORIANA to enter service in only 2 weeks time.

Sea trials continue 

Between the days spent at sea ORIANA sailed to Hamburg for drydocking to ensure everything below the waterline remained in order during these spells in drydock many of the supplies and crew arrived on board, including uniforms for those joing her.

Completing her trials and being signed off  ORIANA sailed from Hamburg down the Elbe and back to the Ems and the town of Emden ready fo her hand over in two days time.

P&O and Meyer Werft were now completely satisfied with the quality of the ship returned to Emshaven where on the 2nd April 1995 ORIANA was official handed over to become the property of P&O Cruises to mark the occasion the Meyer Werft company flag which had flown over ORIANA during her trials was lowered for the final time and raised in its place for the first time P&O’s historic house flag.

With all the crew Lord Sterling and Gwyn  present P&O cruises chairman Tim Harris and Meyer Werft’s Chief executive officer Bernard Meyer sighed the ships papers to say that ship 636 ORIANA had been completed as per the owners specification and that it met with their approval.

Officially now ORIANA was Commodore Gibb's responsibility, his first task to deliver her safely to Southampton for her naming in 4 days time.

Photos Copyright: P&O Cruises & Meyer Werft.

History in the Making revised--Part 3-Delivery and Christening

Crossing Emshaven

By February 1995 two months ahead of ORIANAs maiden cruise she was ready to make her way from Papenburg to the North sea and ultimately sea trials to prove the technical systems.
This journey would take the ship 40kms to Emden where she would remain overnight before heading out for ten days of sea trails,
Due to the tide in the Ems ORIANA would make a stop at the town of Leer for several hours to allow for the tide to rise the water level high enough for the ship to continue the first albeit short trip down river to Emden.

Map showing ORIANA's route to Emden

Her lifeboats and tenders which had not been in place for long were once again lowered from their handling gear in preperation for the ORIANA's first voyage and would follow ORIANA down river.
As Commodore Gibb recalls "We also had the lifeboats lowered and they followed our progress down the river like ducklings following their mother. It was quite a sight to behold as it seemed much of the time from the moment we left Papenburg locals came out to watch ORIANA pass by I think it must have been tens of thousands people"
  In the morning with the Dutch registered tug WATERMAN in attendance ORIANA or for official purposes still ship 636 began her first journey with over 2,000 local residents from Papenburg including shipyard employees and their families to watch the ships departure, a sight ORIANA and her crew would witness many times over the coming months.
Although Commodore Gibb was on board he would be acting as an observer, for the time being ORIANA was officially the charge of the shipyard captain since at this time the ship was still the property of Meyer Werft, the handover of ORIANA would only be completed once the sea trials had concluded and P&O confirmed that the ship met with their requirements.
In theory it would be possible for P&O to refuse delivery of ORIANA if for example the ship was unable to develop the speed which had been set down in the contract .

ORIANA departs from Papenburg.

Slowly with the tug ready to assist the ship edged slowly out of the dock entrance firstly passing through a raised bridge.
An extremely, delicate and tight manoeuvre with less than a metre of water beneath the hull and barely a metre between the bridge and the ships sides ORIANA squeezed though, with the slightest breath of wind the ship could have been pushed into the bridge.
The bridge behind them ORIANA moved slowly onward attracting many people from both the German and Dutch border to watch this latest masterpiece in its natural element.
All seemingly going well a slight incident occurred when the ship temporarily grounded, with apparent damage and no possibility at the time of retuning to the builders the ship headed on the decision being made that a examination would be made at another yard once the journey was completed.
" Unbeknownst to us at the time we had struck bottom momentarily during passage, We only discovered that the ship had grounded when we entered dry dock for a regular inspection no damage had been sustained only small area of paint had been removed."

 Arriving at Leer in the afternoon to dock and wait for the tide to raise to a high enough level for the journey to continue, ORIANA looked resplendent with her gleaming white hull looming over the small town and like at her departure form Papenburg the great ship drew the crowds to look at her.

By the time the tide was high enough for ORIANA to continue on her way the light was fading fast and the next leg of the journey would continue by night.
With her lights and funnel fully illuminated ORIANA once again set out on route to Emden making as impressive sight by night as she did by day.
The most unique image that can be seen with a delivery trip from Meyer Werft is of a ship crossing over rather than under a bridge,
Occurring on the Ems Tunnel which allows for the A31 motorway to pass under the Ems.

Nearing her final destination of the day ORIANA slowly slipped into dock later that night where once runited with her lifeboats she would remain until the morning.
With only the slightest of problems ORIANA’s first ever journey had been handled well.
The next morning ORIANA left Emden as had been planned but unlike the original intentions ORIANA headed to the renown shipyard of Blohm & Voss for a inspection as a result of the grounding the day before.
After a brief stay in order to perform a extensive inspection for damage to the hull ORIANA departed the Hamburg yard for the North Sea for her 10 days of sea trials.

On route from Hamburg 

Soon enough P&O would know if the millions they invested in ORIANA had been worth it.

For Meyer Werft they had build the largest and most prestigious ship built in Germany for 80 years and with ORIANA's departure had created quite a spectacle it could be said that for the yard she was the first of many large ships that would bring fame to the Papenburg yard including her near sister AURORA just over 5 years later.

Photos Copyright P&O Cruises , Meyer Werft and Oliver Asmussen.

History in the Making revised -- Part 2 - Construction III

To the sea where she belongs.

With ORIANA’s hull construction almost complete by July 1994 it was almost time for ORIANA to take her first steps into the outside world, this would give Meyer Werft chance perfect the manoeuvre when it would be required some months later for the installation of the funnel.
In preparation the final block of the hull was installed the bulbous bow
Before ORIANA could be moved one final calculation had to be made to work out the ships centre of gravity, this was achieved by what is called the preliminary inclining test, as the name suggests ORIANA would be inclined by a single degree.
With this preformed the date was set for ORIANAs first albeit short journey the 30th July 1994

Ready to take to the water 30th July 1994

Flooding of the dry dock took several hours but finally with the Meyer Werft tug ANTJE attending at her bow ORIANA was ready to move.
With many locals stood on the banks of the river opposite the yard looking on as ORIANA began to slowly move emerging first the elegantly designed stern proudly displaying the words ORIANA and LONDON
A slow process the whole move would take 4 hours as eventually ORIANA emerged seemed to continually grow larger with her upper decks only just clearing the ceiling of the building dock .

ORIANA begins to move

ORIANA towers above the attendant tug

Afloat for the first time!

Despite not having its funnel in place and the forward deck structures incomplete the hull was still a impressive sight.
Devoid of any of any decking and with only gaps in the upper decks and terrace where the pools would later be installed ORIANA did look somewhat curious but within days she would be retuned to the covered dock for work to continue.
While ORIANA herself floated for the first time P&O them selves were busy preparing for arrival in 10 months time,
The maiden seasons cruises had been drawn up and gone on sale with the maiden voyage selling out quickly, to be emblematic of the company history the itinerary for the maiden voyage would include ports of calls which had a long associations with P&O ships.
The first port of call would be Funchal, Madeira a port which P&O had visited since its earliest days, more recreantly since the mid 1980s CANBERRA had called regularly and spent most New Years eve’s in port allowing for the passengers to watch the world famous and record breaking fireworks display.
After a overnight stay and a fireworks display put on for her passengers the ship would depart for the Canary islands before heading to Morocco and Gibraltar turning back north the ship would call in mainland Portugal before heading back to Southampton.
Also of good news to the company was that Her Majesty the Queen had agreed to name ORIANA just as her cousin Princess Alexandria of Kent had 35 years before with the previous ORIANA .
P&O had also successfully campaigned for ORIANA to carry the call sign of her namesake and to this end she was assigned the call sign GVSN , this would be changed to ZCDU9 11 years later when the ship was reregistered to Hamilton, Bermuda.

ORIANA'S impressive and elegant bow

Once returned to the cover off the dock work commenced again, during this period using external generators some of ORIANA’s major systems were tested including a using zero thrust propellers to test the main engines as well the planking on the decks and some of the fitting out including the installation of the swimming pools and lifeboat davits.

With work in dock continuing and more of the fittings including the cabins ready to be put in place ORIANA quickly took on some resemblance of her final form.
 Finally on a cold snowy 7th January 1995 ORIANA was ready to leave her dock for the second and final time to have her funnel installed before being moved to the outfitting pier.

With outfitting underway ORIANA soon began to look like a luxury liner instead of a steel building site, with her cabins, public and crew spaces all being installed with specialist contractors working along side Meyer Werfts own staff to insure delivery in just 3 months time

A nocturnal shot of ORIANA during fitting out.

With ORIANA finally afloat the fitting out begun in the covered building dock took priority as the number of electricians and fitters on board greatly increased and almost daily the harsh shipbuilding environment of steel and welding gave way a world of soft furnishings and exquisite art work.

Never a easy process for owner or builder P&O made the most of the last months before ORIANAs completion with some of her designated crew training onboard CROWN PRINCESS to gain experience of a ship with roughly the same tonnage as well as in training simulators in Southampton
While Meyer Werft in preparation for the ships departure has approached the state government of Lower Saxony for permission to dredge the River Ems at Papenburg to a depth of 7.3 metres in order for ORIANA to depart, initially this was refused Meyer Werft then reproached for special permission just for ORIANA’s departure this was fortunately granted.
By February ORIANA was virtually complete all that remained was small finishing touches to be added which could be completed while the ship was on trials.

ORIANA at the fitting out pier almost completed

Also missing at this point was ORIANA's lifeboats being built by Mulder + Rijke in The Netherlands these would be delivered to ORIANA shortly before her trip down the river Ems to the sea.
Soon ORIANA would be ready to take her place as the newest and most advanced ship in world.

Photos copyright Meyer Werft and P&O Cruises.

History in the Making revised -- Part 2 - Construction II

ORIANA takes shape

Within 2 months of the keel laying ORIANA soon began to take on her distinctive lines at the mid ships area the hull was already at deck 6 out of the eventual 14, the fast construction time was due to the a for mentioned prefabrication of modern shipbuilding with the blocks of the ship being constructed next to the building dock then when ready being lowered and welded into place.
In theory the blocks could be of any size, the limiting factor being the load limit of the overhead cranes  around 700 to 800 tons, the majority of blocks for ORIANA weighed around 450-500 tons.
In the case of ORIANA the ship is made up from 45 such blocks as seen below, the last of these blocks would be the funnel.

The heaviest block would be number 16 weighing in at 722 tons which would eventually house the main engines.
During this phase of construction in order to prepare for the later fitting out stage the spaces to allow for cabling, pipes and ducting etc. were pre cut.

Construction continues. The main engines are lifted into place.

While ORIANA herself grew at a fast rate in her birthplace other vital components also were coming together in other locations in Europe.
These included the ships stabilisers at the time the largest ever built.

ORIANA's stabilisers being checked.

The ships stabilisers work like aircraft wings extending out from the hull beneath the waterline during rough sea conditions they adjust their position to counteract the effect the waves effects on the hull.
Built by Brown Brothers of Edinburgh the company had over 120 years experience in marine engineering, before the development of stabilisers it had specialised in steering equipment among those it has built for were White Star’s famous Olympic class liners and French lines legendary NORMANDIE before building the first stabilisers in the 1930's.
The stabilisers journey from the factory to the docks in Leith ready for the voyage to Papenburg created quite a stir as they prepared to set sail for the first time.

  Other components being constructed and bring shipped to Papenburg included the sanitation system and onboard pumps all being supplied by Hamworthy engineering from Poole, Dorset on the south coast, the heat reclaim boiler from Senior Thermal engineering in Wakefield, Yorkshire, and from Italy the ship's 15 watertight doors.
By July 1993 ORIANA had reached ten decks in height at the mid ship area and work began on the installation of sections of the air-conditioning system.

Various components arrive while construction continues.

The forward section of decks 7,8 and 9 are lowered into place.

At 8 decks in height.

At 10 decks in height.

As ORIANA’ hull began to take on its final form many of the ships unique interior features including the statue and statuettes that adorn Harlequins dance venue and the wall mural in the Lords Tavern were being made ready, all being masterfully created by artists, Sculptors and metal workers, ORIANA would soon take her place as a interior work of art as well as a engineering triumph.

Artist Janet Shearer works on the Lords Tavern mural.

Sculptor John Mills at work on the Harlequin entrance statue.

  By April 1994 87% of ORIANA’s structure had been completed along with much of the pre-fitting out.
 On the 8th April one year and one day from her Maiden Voyage  Lord Sterling made his first visit to the yard to have detailed look at how the work was progressing and how ORIANA was shapeing up, as well as walking through her incomplete hull he also toured mock ups of her various rooms to give his input and opinions.

By May 92% of her steel was in place and the construction showed no signs of slowing down and work on her interiors was also well underway

After another 3 months of construction ORIANA was at last ready to make her first brief appearance into the outside world.
With final adjustments underway and many locals waiting to see their latest Masterpiece, Meyer Werft prepared for the first time to flood the building dock which until now had been ORIANAs home.
Soon ORIANA would take to her natural element and a famous name would float again.

Photo Copyright: P&O Cruises & Meyer Werft

History in the Making revised -- Part 2 - Construction I

A Dream Starts in Germany

On the 20th January 1992 P&O officially announced that it had a month previously signed a contract for the construction of its new liner with Meyer Werft, while the ship entered its final design stages P&O assembled a team people to work on certain aspects of the project headed by project leader Jim Hunter they comprised of the new ships Chief engineer designate Marcus James, Purser Chris Bullen, specialist theatre designer John Wyckham and alongside them numerous other people from shipboard departments and P&O’s operations and marketing departments.
While that team began its work P&O began other preparations into the ships construction and assembled another team to work more closely with the shipyard, these included site manager Peter Bonham who would be on site with his team of inspectors to make sure the work met with P&O’s high standards.
P&O had already chosen the ships master, Captain Ian Gibb  who later be appointed Commodore was in preparation for the new role as ORIANA's first commander and was assigned to the recently completed Princess ships CROWN PRINCESS & REGAL PRINCESS being of similar tonnage to the new ship the experience would prepare him for his new role.
Speaking about his time leading up to ORIANA's introduction to service he said,
"I spent some time with Princess on board one of their ships, I don’t recall which, to gain experience on board a larger ship and with the newer systems there and I also went out with the pilot to QE2 in Southampton to observe her being brought in."
He and future Chief Officer Hamish Reid would also spend some time during the construction at the Meyer Werft yard as Ian Gibb recalls their different experiences in Germany.
"I actually lived in Germany for a time during the construction as did Hamish Reid my Chief Officer so we were on site a majority of the time, Hamish had travelled out before I did and was living with a German family and his German improved greatly, I was stayed in a hotel so mine didn’t."
  Meanwhile to ensure the final designs were what was required two models of the ship, one 3 metres in length and the other 8 metres, these were taken to Trondheim, Norway for testing in one of the largest testing tanks in Europe, with further tests being performed on the aerodynamics of the designs gas emissions and the proposed anchor in Vienna.
10 months after the contract was signed and all design work almost complete on the 4th October 1992 the first steel was delivered to Meyer Werft where it underwent numerous inspections by Bonham and his team he explained “P&O is a very demanding client which wants first-class ships built”.“Classification societies such of Lloyds are employed by the shipyards but I and my inspectors are independent, there at the request of the client.”
Although it had some experience of modern shipbuilding with its subsidiary Princess P&O had not ordered a new ship for its UK service since 1956 when the order for CANBERRA had been placed with Harland & Wolff, in the years since then shipbuilding techniques had radically changed.
When the previous ORIANA and CANBERRA were built although being of very different design the basic construction of the two ships was the same, the majority of the hull being built in the traditional manner of steel riveted hull plates with larger welded aluminium superstructure.
The new ship would be built using newer prefabrication methods in Meyer Werft’s enclosed building dock as ship number 636.

Building dock 1 © Meyer Werft

While the preparations at Meyer Werft were almost complete there was one vital area which had so far received little attention: the engines.
For this they looked to MAN B&W in Augsburg, who using a state of the art computer system calculated the best engine system for the ship.
It suggested a so called father and son arrangement of 4 medium speed diesel producing 39,750kW at 428rpm to supply the propulsive power, with a further four auxiliary engines developing 4,420kW to supply the mains electricity for the ships A/C machinery and hotel services.

Construction begins

 As the sun rose on the 11th March 1993 it did so on the first day ORIANA’s official existence, later that day a group of around 100 people gathered on the floor of the building dock before them stood the first block of 636.

The keel is laid

Keeping with tradition P&O’s Tim Harris placed a 1 pence coin onto the keel and Meyer Werft Bernard Meyer, Chief executive officer placed a 1 Pfennig coin.

P&O's Commodore John King and Managing Director Gwyn Hughs with a Travel Agent rep

Both giving speeches Harris took the opportunity to officially announce the name of 636, ORIANA.
He concluded by saying “ ORIANA will lead in terms of design, elegance and passenger comfort” and that “She’ll epitomise everything that is best about Britain”.
As the assembled guests prepared to head off for celebration lunch a brass band also in the dock played for the occasion playing both Deutschlandlied and God Save the Queen as well as big band music.

 ORIANA's designers share a light moment

 With the guests leaving the dock to celebrate the next block of ORIANA was lowered into place slowly at first but surely the great ship began to grow. 

ORIANA begins to grow

With the name now know by the public reaction was varied especially among the fans of the previous ORIANA, to some it was great news a new ORIANA to sail the oceans of the world to continue the legacy of her predecessor while to others they felt that the new ship no matter how well built would not be able to live up the previous one's reputation.
With the construction underway P&O began to publish publicity material including sending existing passengers booklets regularly covering the design and what passengers could expect when the ship was completed more infomation on these can be found here
It was also at this time with computer generated images that the public could see what the completed ORIANA would look like.

Computer image of ORIANA © P&O Cruises

Once construction began the pace quickened, by May 1993 2,000 tonnes of steel was in place, by July 4,036 tonnes ; by November 7,762.

11 months after construction had began 10,845 tonnes of steel had been erected roughly 68% of the total steel used for the ship.
Soon ORIANA would take on a shape that would come to be identifiable and loved worldwide.