Her
design is based
on that of her near sister and predecessor Oriana. She is specifically
designed to operate world voyages and embodies the classic lines,
comfort and ambiance of the traditional ocean liners of
yesteryear. A superliner
with infinite style, Aurora
boasts a
cosmopolitan air that is combined with the very best of classic British
design.
Aurora, the goddess of
the Dawn in
mythologies as disparate as Greek,
Melanesian and Slavonic, is an apt name for a ship launched at the
beginning of
a new Millennium. She heralded the dawning of a new era in cruising by
providing
a world-class cruise experience on a superliner built specifically for Britain.
To the ancient Greeks, Aurora
(known as Eos) was 'the rosy fingered dawn with the snowy eyelids
bringing the
first glimmer of the day'. She was the sister of Helios, the Sun god
and
Selene, the goddess of the Moon and resided on Mount Olympus,
the legendary home of the gods. Every morning she rose from the ocean
into the
sky - sometimes as a winged goddess tilling an urn from which fell the
morning
dew, sometimes mounted on Pegasus, the winged horse, but most commonly
riding
in a purple chariot drawn by two horses.
Far to the North, the Slavs
believed that 'Aurora (or Zorya) of the Morning'
opened the gates of the celestial palace to allow the sun to set forth
on its
daily journey across the heavens. Across the world in the South Seas,
the
legends of Melanesia also revere the
goddess
of the dawn.
Aurora is
probably best known as the term for the spectacular displays of the
Northern
and Southern Lights; aurora borealis and aurora australis respectively.
Both
phenomena can take a number of forms - vertical rays of white, tinged
with
green, gold or red, being the commonest. In other formations the rays
appear to
meet overhead in a star-like shape, ripple upwards, or rise from
curving bands.
Design and
Construction (2000):
She was built by Meyer Werft Ltd,
Papenburg, Germany in 2000.
She was one of the first
British passengers
ships to include a sliding magrodome that can be opened or closed to
enable one
of her three pools to become an inside pool during inclement weather.
Aurora had a spectacular start
to her life. On 16th April
2000 she made the short journey from her German shipbuilders, Meyer
Werft.
Sailing into her home port
of Southampton,
she was
escorted by the "Tall Ships". She was named in a lavish ceremony in
Southampton on the 27th April 2000 by Her Royal Highness Princess Anne,
The Princess Royal. However at the naming ceremony, the champagne bottle did not break — a
sign of
bad luck among seafarers. Sadly she has been plagued by diffculties in
her early years.
Since then she has enjoyed a
successful career with P&O Cruises and throughout the spring,
summer and autumn,
Oriana sails to the Mediterranean, Baltic, Scandinavia and the Caribbean. January to March each year sees her
undertaking her
annual World Cruise, calling at nearly 30 ports of call and taking 90
days to
complete.
P&O Cruises era (2000 – Present):
She sailed on her maiden voyage in May 2000
but after 18 hours the voyage had to be aborted due to overheaded
propeller shaft bearings. Repairs were carried out in Hamburg and she
ran for over 24 hours at over 24 knots at the start of her third
cruise.
In March 2001, she was involved in a rescue
of
11 Russian Seamen after their ship capsized and sank in the South China Sea. During the rescue attempt, her
crew bravely battled
horrendous weather in small rescue boats trying to rescue the Russian
seamen
and the vessel sustained propeller damage caused by floating debris.
In July 2003,
she suffered a crank case explosion in one of
her engines while at anchor in the Mediterranean
which was brought under control by her engineering officers equipped
with fire
fighting equipment.
During a cruise around the
eastern
Mediterranean in November 2003, about 1,000 passengers suffered stomach
infections caused by the highly-contagious Norwalk virus. During the
outbreak, the ship's passengers were denied the right to
land at Piraeus, Greece. On
arrival in Dubrovnik,
health inspector Ivo Miloglav boarded the vessel and ordered the sick
passengers to remain in their cabins "as a precautionary measure."
Those unaffected by the virus were allowed to leave the ship to visit
the
Adriatic port. She then sailed to
Gibraltar
where she was allowed to dock on the 3rd November 2003, on the advice
of Dr Kumar, Chief
Medical Officer. A small number of passengers who were still recovering
had to
stay on board. Passengers who went ashore were required to leave their
passports behind. One passenger had died from a heart attack, unrelated
to the Norwalk
virus. The
Spanish government decided to close the border between Gibraltar and Spain,
on
advice from its health ministry. Spain complained it had
received no comprehensive
information from the UK Government on the outbreak. The Gibraltar Chief
Medical Officer visited Spain
and
informed the Andalusian State Government officials of the
situation. The Spanish central government stated that it does not deal
directly with
Gibraltar, only with Britain,
the colonial power. However, the
UK Government does not have any
responsibility for, or information about, health matters in Gibraltar. The
closure of the border by Spain
led to an international row with Britain and
generated almost as much media attention as the cruise ship itself. The
border
was closed at 7:30 a.m. and reopened 13 hours later, when the ship
departed Gibraltar waters. Some
passengers complained that P&O
Cruises' response was slow on stamping out the spread of the virus
amongst them. Following the
stop, there was no outbreak of
disease in Gibraltar, and checks on people crossing into Spain
were
abandoned after a few days when no trace of infection was seen. The
disease is
considered one of the most common causes of outbreaks and sporadic
cases of
gastroenteritis in individuals of all ages worldwide, including Spain. In
this matter P&O did enforce the prevention with a 3 phase awareness
programme and it did provide alcohol gel in all restaurants and
gangways ,
warning notices in all the public restrooms as well with paper towel
dispensers
for door opening and special bin outside for disposal. During normal
operation
all the contact surfaces are sanitized with accelerated peroxide.
So an eventful voyage by all accounts!
In January 2005,
the Aurora
was about to begin a 103-day World Cruise with more than 1,700
passengers on
board. Bound for Madeira,
the ship repeatedly had problems with one of the propulsion motors.
Unfortunately, the problem could not be solved quickly and sufficiently
and
hence reluctantly the decision was taken to abandon the World Cruise.
As a result she returned to Southampton. During
her time waiting in Southampton,
passengers
had free drinks at the bars and were able to exit the ship at any time
they
felt, or even cancel their holiday. After P&O cancelled the cruise,
the cruise company
donated all of the food purchased for the trip to local charities
around Southampton. The planned World Cruise hence affectionately
became known as a voyage around the Isle of Wight or the largest ever
Isle of Wight ferry. Aurora set
sail for a dry dock in Bremerhaven,
Germany,
where
her damaged motor would be taken out and replaced.
From the 10th - 13th December 2007
the ship underwent a refit which saw the
carpets in some public rooms replaced. All cabins received a makeover
which
included the bedding in the cabins being upgraded to 'Egyptian Linen'.
Today
she continues to
sail for
P&O Cruises and remains a firm favourite with the British cruise
market.
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