ORIANA in Southampton

After a day crossing the infamous Bay of Biscay ORIANA in true spirit docked in her home port Southampton at 2:45 am after almost effortlessly cutting through the 7 metre waves ORIANA approached the Isle of Wight yesterday evening at the speed of 25.4knots over a knot faster than her maximum service speed and a speed which all but a few other modern liners would find almost impossible to match

Taken from her fleet mate VENTURA who was occupying the Ocean Cruise Terminal ORIANA is seen docked in the Mayflower Cruise and under the cover of a rainy twilight was joined by Fred Olsen's BLACK WATCH docking in the neighboring City Terminal as shown below.

While ORIANA herself was to be seen in the Mayflower terminal passengers on board VENTURA could also seen another reminder of P&O's proudest and most distinguished fleet member with her name written on the dock side to commemorate the occasion of her first docking in the new Ocean Terminal in 2009 as seen in the image below.

Departing Southampton earlier this evening ORIANA is now undertaking a 22 night Caribbean transatlantic cruise with her first port of call in Ponta Delgada before heading out across the Atlantic.

Photos Copyright: Steve Martin