ORIANA of 1995: ORIANA and the QUEEN MARY 2 in Lisbon

segunda-feira, 14 de dezembro de 2015

ORIANA and the QUEEN MARY 2 in Lisbon

Two of the greatest active icons of the British Merchant Navy, ORIANA and QUEEN MARY 2, were together last Saturday on 12 December 2015, in the historic port of Lisbon.
Both of them belong to a rare breed of passanger ships, unique in their own design, which is almost unexisting nowadays in the cruise industry. The amount of expectation and grandeur prior to their arrivals in 1995 and 2004 respectivaly, could be fairly compared to those of the great ocean liners of the past, having been christened in their homeport of Southampton by the Godmother they share, none other than Queen Elizabeth II.

And to increase the importance of their status, they also belong to the oldest British Maritime companies still active, P&O [178 years old] and Cunard [175 years old], and although the two were great rivals in the past, they presently belong to the same North-American group, Carnival Corporation.
After spending the day in the Portuguese capital, ORIANA left her berth first in the afternoon, followed some hours later by the QM2, who was forced to delay her departure due to a small fire in the engine room, that was shortly put under control. Also ORIANA, who was already underway some miles south, returned to the Tagus in the evening and docked at Jardim do Tabaco berth [where QM2 was previously docked] to disembark an ill passenger. She then left her moorings again and went on for her day at sea voyage to Casablanca, Marocco, having arrived on schedule today.

It isn't the first time that ORIANA and QUEEN MARY 2 meet in Lisbon, it also happened on 9 August 2006, and on that particular day the Cunard flagship, after leaving the Alcântara terminal, went upstream to give a traditional horn salute to ORIANA, before turning downstream again and bound to the open seas. One of those emotional and incomparable moments that only the ships and the sea can provide.