Comparison of exteriors

A most important aspect of a cruise liner's 'personality' is its exterior appearance which give a impression of the ship to those who see her in port.
While many none ship fans are none the wiser to a ship's appearance many either saying it's either big or small to those of us who take great pride in ships and shipspotting  it takes on a greater significance towards while watching the ship in port.
As we have discovered over the past weeks while ORIANA and VENTURA are fleet mates in and as we have seen offer the same levels of high standard service and amenities they are also vastly different this is most apparent their exterior lines.
The reasons for the differences are quite interesting in its self relating to changes in the cruise industry and ownership of the company.
 VENTURA's appearance has very few differences to the rest of her class  the main differences being mainly aesthetic ones including the glass window screening being tinted green instead of blue as on the Princess ships and the lack of white "frame" around the funnel.
The design's history dates to the late 1990's when P&O developed the Grand Class ship for Princess brand of P&O's cruise operation ,at the time it was the largest in the world.
Since then the design has had several modifications resulting in a increase in tonnage from initial 109,000 to VENTURA and AZURA's 115,000 tons.
As can be seen below VENTURA's most visible features are her balconies which account for a majority of her hull which is keeping with modern trend for ship design to allow for this her hull shape is shape is typically sqaure with the ship's stern finishing very abruptly allowing for maximum number of balconies.

   In comparison ORIANA's appearance is altogether more unique and distinctive as seen below lines are much sleeker and even with the addition of her new duck tail of sponson have not been spoiled.

 Her long sharp bow, which contrasts greatly with VENTURA's rounded one gives a impression of speed its sharp angle allowing her to easily deflect heavy waves away from the ship making her more suited to longer transoceanic cruising and also cruising through less than ideal seas whereas the design for VENTURA is more suited towards regional cruising such as Caribbean cruising with a occasional positional voyage.
ORIANA's overall look is influenced by her predecessor CANBERRA from whom she inherits several design features such as the slight recline in the dividers on the life boat recesses and most prominently her well formed funnel which is designed to evoke the image of CANBERRA's twin funnels  in comparison to VENTURA's which can be described more as a collection of pipes inside an incomplete metal shell than a funnel, however to attempt to give a more customized  feel to the ship a yellow shape similar to ORIANA's funnel has been added to either side of the funnel
The large difference can be seen between the two below.

Reaching ORIANA's stern perhaps on of he most visible and appreciated features her handsome terraced open decks the likes of which terrace down until they reach the terrace pool and a brand new deck seating area, originally the on deck children's play area.
They are only really equaled by the same feature on board AURORA with no other ships featuring such a stunningly elegant stern shape

ORIANA's stern with and without her sponson as both showing an elegant shape.

 As mentioned before VENTURA's stern in the main is mostly square to allow for as many cabins as possible, in this case  balconies of most of the suites on board are located there while on the upper decks a small terraced area complete with pool is featured it both rather small and not enough to save the look of the stern its self.

   VENTURA's stern showing its completely flat, balconies shape and small terraces recessed behind the red ensign.

Photos Copyright João Abreu & Steve Martin