ORIANA back in the Caribbean

Today ORIANA made her first call in the Caribbean  following her latest transatlantic crossing in port of Philipsburg, St Maarten. arriving 6:15am local time.
Following her departure in the early afternoon ORIANA is now spending a further day at sea before arriving at Ocho Rios, Jamaica on Thursday.

ORIANA departs Philipsburg

While her passengers enjoy themselves onboard during this her last cruise before going into refit later this month P&O have revealed a few more details of the refit which including some changes to the Andersons bar including new carpets, rugs and bar stools.

Concept drawing  for Anderson's new look

In the cutaway below we can see some of the other changes which are going to be happening on board.

ORIANA's return to the Caribbean.

Today after a week at sea since her departure from Funchal  ORIANA makes her return to the tropical waters of the Caribbean, the second time this year she has visited these waters.
ORIANA's first call after her transatlantic crossing was St Maarten one of the Leeward Islands.
With it's distinctive mix of Dutch and French influences the island makes for a  interesting port of call it's architecture clearly showing the styles found in The Netherlands and France .
Another claim to fame is the landing approch to the islands main airport which passes directly over the Beach.

Veiw from ORIANA's webcam while docked in Saint Maarten 16/4/16

 From St Maarten ORIANA will visit Jamaica, Mexico before heading to several ports in the US including
Key West, Port Canaveral and Charleston.

ORIANA in Port Canaveral 10/02/2016

 The final port before heading back across the Atlantic ORIANA will once again call in Bermuda the third time she has visited her port of registry.

ORIANA departs from Bermuda 15/2/16

After another 5 days at sea ORIANA will arrive in the last port of the cruise Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel in The Azores before her return to Southampton on the 10th May.

ORIANA in Willemstad - Dutch Antilles

Photographs showing ORIANA's arrival in the port of Willemstad, island of Curacao in the Dutch Antilles on 22 January 2016, shining under a typical Caribbean Winter Sun.

On her way to dock at the Mathey Wharf berth at Willemstad's centre, ORIANA passed by the JEWEL OF THE SEAS, docked at the Ernest Voges berth, another cruise ship built in Meyer Werft Papenburg for Royal Caribbean International in 2004.

Having arrived from Port Castries in St. Lucia, the oldest unit of P&O Cruises current fleet continued with her 50 day voyage bound to Oranjestad, in the neighbor island of Aruba, Dutch Antilles.

Photographic Achievment: Cees Bustraan.

ORIANA and AZURA in Saint Lucia

Far from the terminals of their homeport Southampton under the blue Caribbean sky ORIANA met today with her fleet mate AZURA in Port Castries , St Lucia
As mentioned last week ORIANA is at present a 50 night cruise taking her around the Caribbean and USA before returning to Southampton via Funchal, Madeira.
In contrast to AZURA who repositioned late last year alongside BRITANNIA for the winter sailing out of Bridgetown, Barbados on fly cruises .
The map below shows ORIANA's and AZURA's positions in port today.

During the almost 6 years AZURA has been in service she has met with ORIANA on several different occasions both at their homeport and other ports of call,
Perhaps the first occasion was during AZURA's Maiden Voyage in 2010, ORIANA greeted her new fleet mate at sea while heading to Messina.

ORIANA passes AZURA during her Maiden Voyage April 2010

More recently in October last year the two met complete with new livery in Funchal, Madeir.

ORIANA and AZURA in Funchal 8th October 2015 

Following there departures from St Lucia  AZURA will head overnight to her next Island stop of  Dominica and ORIANA will spend a day at sea before arriving at Curacao in the Dutch Antilles on the 22nd of January.

Photo Copyrights : João Abreu and Steve Martin

ORIANA's Caribbean & American Adventure

Yesterday ORIANA made the first port of call of her first cruise of 2016 in Santa Cruz Tenerife on route to the Caribbean and the Americas on a tour of many of popular ports in the U.S and South America and Caribbean Islands including Bridgetown, Barbados P&O's home port while operating in the area during the winter months

ORIANA docked in Barbados

During the cruise ORIANA will also briefly visit Bermuda where passengers will be able to go on tours to Hamilton, ORIANA's port of registry since December 2006.

Map showing ORIANA's current cruise.

On her return across the Atlantic ORIANA will make her second call of the year in Funchal, Madeira before returning to Southampton.

Photo Copyright : P&O Cruises

An Epic voyage for a landmark year

Coinciding with the start of thr 180th Anniversary year of P&O's founding in January 2017 ORIANA is going to be undertaking an epic 50 night cruise Caribbean and Amazon Adventure which will take ORIANA from Southampton to The Azores, Bermuda, USA, The Caribbean Islands and some 1,450 Km inland up the Amazon River to the port of Manaus which lies at the heart of the Amazon Rainforest.

 ORIANA's itinerary for Jan/Feb 2017

This will be the first time since 2012 that ORIANA will undertake a cruise of such length with fleet mates AURORA and ARCADIA having handled the circumnavigation voyages since 2013 ORIANA having spent the winter months making transatlantic Caribbean cruises and Northern Europe 'Northern Lights cruises'

ORIANA docked in Ponta Delgada in the Azores, May 2012

More infomation on this cruise can be found at P&O's Website : http://www.pocruises.com/x701/?search=true&leadmeta=b

The new blue funnel

Images depicting ORIANA's buff funnel being painted blue by the ship's crew, while berthed in the port of Basseterre (St. Kitts, Caribbean) on 28 December 2014, taken by Bob Bowler, a passenger of her previous Christmas and New Year's cruise.

Bob managed to photograph ORIANA in the early stage of her transformation last year, which saw her return back home, in the beggining of 2015, as a different ship.

ORIANA at anchor in Castries, St. Lucia on the New Year's eve of 2015.

The "new blue" ORIANA seen off Horta, Faial, in the homebound 
transatlantic crossing, through the Azores archipelago. 
7 January 2015

Photographic Achievment: Bob Bowler.

ORIANA in St. George's Grenada

The fine lines of ORIANA contrasting with Holland America Line's contemporary cruise liner RYNDAM in St. George's on the beautiful caribbean island of Grenada.
Photography by William Mayes in "Cruise Ships - Second Edition", date unknown.