More literature featuring ORIANA

We have mentioned previously the subject of ORIANA being written about in maritime literature often with near sister AURORA.
During the late 1990's the ship while still in her early career made an appearance in two books relating to maritime matters.
The first 'CANBERRA- In The Wake Of A Legend' written by maritime historian Philip Dawson was P&O's official book commemorating the venerable liner's retirement in 1997.

      Since ORIANA was to serve as CANBERRA's successor as flagship and also one of the most important passenger ships built for Britain since the 1960's in the book it mentions the various ways  in which CANBERRA's design influenced ORIANA's mentioning what features were adapted into ORIANA.
  The second book from 1999 'Cruise Ships An Evolution In Design'  also by Philip Dawson features a detailed description of the development of the cruise liner from it's earliest origins to the emergence of the 100,000 ton + ship.
ORIANA has an entire section of one chapter dedicated to her as a example of a modern day ship inspired by the era of the ocean liners.
The cover of the book also included an early rendering of the ship which would become AURORA during a period when the ship's design bore a stronger resemblance to ORIANA. 

Latest literature relase

As mentioned in an earlier post this year has seen the publication of two books to feature ORIANA and AURORA as their subject matter the second of which ORIANA & AURORA Taking UK Cruising into A New Millennium went on sale this week.

 Written by Sharon Poole and Andrew Sassoli-Walker the book more than lives up to the promise of its cover photography by detailing the ship's careers to date and interviews with crew members both past and present revels little known characteristics and stories relating to the ships accompanied by many photographs of each ship.
Beginning with a forward for each ship from Commodore Ian Gibb and former P&O's Managing Director Gwyn Hughes respectively Sharon and Andrew's book serves as a excellent tribute to undeniably the two finest liners built in modern times and the true successors of P&O's famed CANBERRA.

ORIANA in Crime fiction

"As the Passengers join ORIANA in Southampton they are hoping to leave troubles behind them for the peace tranquility and the unexpected delights of a summer cruise.
Not are on board for pleasure. There are those who seek revenge, hide a guilty secret or are escaping from an adulterous past. Others are mere opportunists

As the Captain steers a smooth course towards the warm waters of the Mediterranean, the passengers start to relax and romance begins to flourish
Then Murder strikes......" 
The above is the  interesting and somewhat fanciful synopsis of  The Cruise: A Novel of Murder & Romance which was published in 1995 offers "an a tale of consequences full of mystery and passion" which was set on board ORIANA.
The book written by no less than 14 authors among  them Bernard Cornwell, famed for his Sharpe series of novels, was the brainchild of the Dyslexia Institute who would receive a donation from each copy sold.
It also marks something of an usual use for a cruise liner while the great ocean liners of the past often may have played host to the odd murder mystery and even Britain's' most famous Secret agent 007 abseiling  down the side of the original QUEEN ELIZABETH it is a rarity, some might say mercifully, for a modern liner to play host this kind of fiction.
Having enjoy several cruises on board I can not help but be puzzled by how the authors envisioned such a fiendish plot within ORIANA's opulence.

More literature on ORIANA for 2012

While also celebrating the the recent anniversary of P&O's with the rest of the fleet 2012 also marks another interesting year as ORIANA and her near sister become the subject of two books which look back over the two superliners careers thus far.

The first published in April AURORA & ORIANA: Trend Setters of British Cruising by Brian D.Smith includes a forward by P&O Cruises Managing Director Carol Marlow and covers both ships stories from conception as Project Gemini and Protect Capricorn respectively into their careers and most recently ORIANA's 2011 refit and adult only conversion.  
 The second book ORIANA & AURORA : Taking Cruising Into A New Millennium is due in September comes again from writing duo Sharon Poole and Andrew Sassoli-Walker.
Featuring a foward by ORIANA's first master Commodore Ian Gibb and fresh from the author's  success with their excellent 175th anniversary book it looks set to offer another excellent read telling the the story of these two most deserving and unique modern liners. 

ORIANA's mention in P&O at 175

In the second book released to honour the 175th year of the P&O name P&O at 175 which looks at the history whole P&O group ORIANA again makes a big appearance as important milestone for the cruise side of the business.Featuring excellent images of P&O's finest the book also takes the time to explain some of the origins and inspiration of ORIANA.
It looks also at the ocean liner inspiration for interiors giving descriptions of each room and their designer and most importantly looks at how she was designed for longer voyages compared to her contemporaries.
Taken from the text is the following description:
"Being intended to undertake lengthy cruises with long transoceanic segments, ORIANA's hull form was finer at the bow than was typical for vessels of her size and type. She was also rather more robustly constructed with thicker plates better to withstand the the rigours of the open ocean thus from a structural view point she was in essence a hybrid ocean liner and cruise ship, her sharp bow profile, slender forward lines enhance her good looks."

Honouring a grand tradition and name

ORIANA and her fleet mates are honoured by a new book released last Week commemorating 175 years of P&O.
P&O Cruises : Celebrating 175 years of Heritage by Sharon Poole and Andrew Sassoli-Walker was released last Wednesday 4th January with launch on board ORIANA's fleet mate AURORA fresh from her Christmas /News Years Cruise.
The book which traces the P&O Cruises brand back to the founding of The Peninsular and Oriental Navigation Steam Company also looks at each of the current fleet and some of the more famous past ships of the company.

The book features several excellent photos of ORIANA including the photo below of her with CANBERRA in 1995.


Speaking about ORIANA in the book Executive Purser James Cusick known among the blogging and shipping community for his blog, who was on board ORIANA for her Maiden Voyage says,
"With her classic interior and quality build ORIANA was destined to become a firm favourite and still is today."

Further images of ORIANA

Continuing with the theme of ORIANA in Passenger shipping literature we have below two more images of ORIANA.
The first is again from P&O Port Out , Starboard Home by David L Williams and appears to have been taken prior to her hand over to P&O in March 1995, this is evidenced by the lack of P&O's house flag and the Meyer Werft company flag flying on her Mast.

The second is from the 2009 published P&O Princess The Cruise Ships by Roger Cartwright and shows ORIANA docked sometime in 2008 although the port where the photo was taken is not mentioned.

Photo Copyrights Bettina Rohbrecht & Roger Cartwright.

Description of ORIANA

For ORIANA's many fans the ship holds a special place as a truly elegant and authentic ship and
from the enthusiasts point of view who's interest is more in the ships design and purpose rather than emotional attachment ORIANA is still a ship which has a very few rivals.
Below is a description given of ORIANA in the 2004 published Cruise Britannia, a book looking at the growth of ships of the British Cruise market written by authors Roger Cartright and Clive Harvey.
" ORIANA (1995)
In 1972 P&O introduced their first purpose-built cruise ship, the 17,370grt SPIRIT OF LONDON.
The ship was designed for the US market as replacement for ARCADIA AND IBERIA.
In 1974 P&O acquired Princess cruises and SPIRIT OF LONDON was transferred to the Princess fleet as the SUN PRINCESS.
By 1991 it was clear that CANBERRA would not be suitable for service into the latter years of the decade and an order was placed for the first ever purpose-built cruise liner for the UK cruise market.
Whilst it was popularly believed that ORIANA was a straight replacement for CANBERRA, this was not the case and the two ships operated alongside each other until September 1997 when CANBERRA was withdrawn and replaced by ARCADIA (ex-STAR PRINCESS)
No British yard felt able to compete for the order and it was gained by the experienced cruise liner building yard of Meyer Werft in Germany.
Robert Tillberg who was responsible for much of the design work, spent a great deal of time on CANBERRA assessing the needs of the UK cruise passenger.
His design was elegant yet in many ways traditional, ORIANA’s single funnel is designed to have a resemblance to the twin funnels of CANBERRA and the positioning of the lifeboats also reflects the design of CANBERRA.
ORIANA is an extremely elegant ship and brought new standards of accommodation to the UK cruise market, including a whole deck of staterooms and suites .
So successful has ORIANA been in stimulating the market growth that by 2003 she was the smallest in the P&O fleet having gained a larger half-sister in the larger AURORA in 2000."


The above image was placed with the description although no place or date was included.


Copyright: The History Press 2004.