ORIANA meets her near sister in Gibraltar

On 21st June 2017, ORIANA met with her fleetmate and near sister AURORA in the port of Gibraltar, a home far away from home for most of the passengers onboard.
Appart from being a meeting between two P&O Cruises' mates, just the fact that both these ships were the last projects ordered and built specifically by the company, before making part of the North-American Carnival Corp. in 2003, always adds a more special feeling to the occasion.

When ORIANA was delivered in 1995, she was the result of a special planning, in order to become a worthy successor of CANBERRA, to whom she carries a lot of resemblances in and out, like the design of the funnel, inspired by the last's twin funnel, the layout of the life boats and tenders in the Promenade Deck, just to name a few.
Five years later, in 2000, AURORA was launched by the same German shipyards that built ORIANA, Meyer Werft in Papenburg, and therefore was seen as a modern version of her older mate.
Having a bridge with enclosed wings and a retractable dome in the Crystal Pool, which became sort of a fashion in the late 90's/early 2000's, are just some of the differences between the near sisters.
Despite that, AURORA retains many similarities, when it comes to layout and features, as ORIANA, thus the reason that both are considered to be a living legacy of the venerable and much beloved CANBERRA.

For this meeting ORIANA arrived from the Greek island of Corfu, while on a 19-night Med cruise based in Southampton, and AURORA did so from Sardinia island in Italy, as well undertaking a Med itinerary of 16 nights, also from/to her British homeport.
Afterwards the two went on their own different paths as ORIANA departed homeward bound, and AURORA made her way for a small voyage en route to Lisbon.

 Images: TravoClick