Oriana is the first purpose-built cruise ship commissioned for P&O Cruises and the first cruise ship especially designed for the British cruise market. P&O is the world’s oldest cruise company, starting passenger shipping operations in 1822 on routes connecting England with Spain and Portugal. Their Ceylon which was converted from liner to cruise ship is said to have undertaken the first ever cruise in 1881. The company became a subsidiary of Princess Cruises in 2000 and is now (since 2003) one of the brands (actually two: P&O UK and P&O Australia), being owned by Carnival Corporation.
Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany built Oriana at a cost of 200 million pounds. She was the largest passenger ship ever built in Germany when launched in June 1994 and entered service in April 1995. P&O had been searching for a suitable yard in the UK to build her, but no yard was found capable to do the job at the time, so they were forced to choose a foreign yard.
Oriana was christened by HM Queen Elizabeth II on April 6, 1995 departing for her maiden voyage from Southampton on April 9, 1995.
She was the predecessor of Aurora, also built by Meyer Werft and delivered to P&O Cruises in 2000. Oriana was the fastest cruise ship in the P&O fleet and for this she received the Golden Cockerel in 1997, P&O’s trophy awarded to their fastest vessel. It was previously held by SS Oriana, then passed to SS Canberra before it was handed over to Oriana. Both liners were anchored near Cannes, south of France and each sent a tender out for the official handover ceremony.
In 1995, her first year in service, she sailed on 17 cruises of longer duration, ranging from 12 to 23 nights, followed by a 90-day world cruise starting January 1996, during which she called at 28 ports, 24 being maiden calls for a P&O ship.
Oriana was an outstanding cruise ship at the time of her introduction, having the largest swimming pool at sea. Also, she had the largest outdoor deck area and the largest stabilizers ever fitted to a cruise ship, which were able to reduce rolling by 90% at a speed of 19 knots.
She is powered by four MAN B&W L58/64 diesel engines driving two controllable pitch propellers. The engines have an output of 37,750kW giving her a service speed of 24 knots.
Measuring 69,153GRT, Oriana has an overall length of 261m, beam of 32.2m and a draft of 8.2m. With a crew of 800, her maximum passenger capacity was 1,928.
She had a total of 941 cabins: among them 24 suites, 106 balcony staterooms, 331 inside staterooms and (most of these) 480 Oceanview rooms being 150 ft2. Of course her suites are the largest measuring 415 ft2.
Oriana’s public spaces were reminiscent of English country houses with the intimate atmosphere British passengers like. Well-known interior designer John McNeece was instructed to create this British atmosphere on board and he designed multiple public spaces like the Pacific Lounge , Anderson’s, Lord’s Tavern, , the Emporium, Harlequins, the Casino, the Knightsbridge Shops, the Photo Gallery. Robert Tillberg from Sweden was also involved in desiging Oriana. Both architects spent time aboard the Canberra finding out what passengers wished in the new ships interiors. It is said that Oriana’s funnel is a near copy of the twin funnels of Canberra.
Starting on her top deck, The Sun Deck accommodates pools, the sports court and the Oasis Spa and salon offering thermal lounges, a steam room, treatment rooms and even an aerobics floor.
On the Lido Deck the Conservatory restaurant, Terrace Grill and Al Fresco Pizzeria are situated.
D deck features the Pacific Lounge which hosts cabaret acts and doubles as a lecture room, as well as Chaplin’s cinema and the Terrace Pool.
One deck down, on Promenade Deck, Theatre Royal, Harlequin’s bar and nightclub, Monte Carlo Club casino, Knightsbridge and Anderson’s bar can be found. Both two main dining rooms the Peninsular and Oriental (each seats 500 guests) are on E deck, again one deck down. Two other eateries on the same deck are the Sorrento, an Italian restaurant offering pizza, pasta and seafood and Ocean Grill serving British cuisine.
So apart from her sports facilities, bars and restaurants, Oriana’s passengers have an impressive theatre extending over three decks at their disposal and show lounge/ ballroom, cinema and library as well. The ship’s focal point is her atrium, four decks high featuring a spectacular 12 meter high waterfall.
During her career, Oriana was refitted several times, for the first time in December 2006 for £12m, her first major overhaul and in the process she was re-registered from Britain to Bermuda to make on board weddings possible. She received a new restaurant, the Oriana Rhodes restaurant, being the former Curzon Room. This restaurant was created by celebrity chef Gary Rhodes (this was later changed to the Sindhu Restaurant by chef Atul Kochhar). The Lord’s Tavern bar was enlarged. Finally her staterooms were redecorated (new furniture and colour schemes).
Five years later she was drydocked for a month for yet another upgrade in November 2011. Oriana was converted to an adult-only ship. Her stern was rebuilt. She was given an additional 27 new cabins on deck eight aft where before the children’s play area had been located.
Oriana underwent a 3-week refurbishment at Blohm + Voss Shipyard in Hamburg in November 2016. She was thoroughly renovated: not only her outer decks but also all public rooms, bars, restaurants and staterooms were redecorated with new carpets, furniture, lighting. Theatre Royal received new lighting and sound equipment.
In January 2018 she was drydocked for technical maintenance.
Between 2011 and 2014 she suffered outbreaks of norovirus, in some cases affecting hundreds of passengers and she was nicknamed “the plague ship” at the time as these outbreaks kept coming back.
After a 24-year career with P&O Cruises UK, the Oriana was sold to new owners in China and completed her final sailing for P&O ( an 18-day cruise from Southampton to Faroe Islands – Lofoten – Honnigsvag – Spitsbergen – Tromso – Alesund – Belfast and back to Southampton) returning on August 9, 2019.
At the time she was the oldest vessel in the P&O (UK) fleet. She was one of their adult ships together with fleetmates Arcadia and Aurora. During her service with P&O Oriana followed a repeating schedule sailing mostly out of Southampton to the Canary Islands, British Isles, Norwegian Fjords, the Baltic, Iceland and the Mediterranean, but she also did Caribbean cruises, an annual world cruise and transatlantic repositioning cruises.
After her sale Oriana was chartered back to P&O until mid-August 2019 before she would be handed over to her new owners.
During her final sailing her first captain, Ian Gibb was on board. She was under the command of Captain Sarah Bretton, who, together with P&O President Paul Ludlow presented Gibb with a sword that had originally been given as a gift during her naming ceremony by Queen Elizabeth II in April 1995 and had remained on board ever since. Oriana’s farewell event was held on board on August 9, while she was docked in Southampton after completing her last voyage for P&O.
Oriana left England on August 16 and was handed over to her new owners on August 17.
Her new owner Astro Ocean Cruises is a joint venture company between China Travel Service (CTS) and China Ocean Shipping Group Company (COSCO) and this is their first venture in the cruise industry. Up till then COSCO which currently is the 6th-largest container shipping line in the world gaining a majority stake in Piraeus Port Authority in 2016 and their Zhoushan Shipyard completing several cruise ship refurbishments had been their only link to passenger shipping.
Astro Ocean Cruises will compete with the other large Chinese joint venture travel company CSSC Carnival Cruise shipping, founded in 2019, partners are China Investment Corp. and Chinese State Shipbuilding Corp.. Costa Atlantica and Costa Mediterranea are the first two vessels shifted to the new company, two further vessels will follow in 2023 and 2024, they will be newbuildings based on the Vista class vessels.
V-Ships Leisure has been given the contract to handle technical and hotel operations management of the Piano Land as Oriana has been renamed. The name refers to the Chinese island of Gulangyu, known as the ‘Island of Music’.
They have set up a new branch in China to support this and are the first shipmanager to do so in China. Of course V-Ships has an impressive legacy in the cruise industry when it comes to managing passenger ships and are the perfect company for the job.
Piano Land was christened by Ni Chao, who is director of the Xiamen Municipal Committee and also the Free Trade Commission on 26 September 2019.
Immediately, Piano Land was refurbished by her new owners in September 2019 resulting in new shops at the 2-level shopping mall (situated on decks 6-7) and a choice of premium brands is on offer specializing in high-end products like leather goods, designer bags, fashion clothing, perfumes, sunglasses, watches, tobacco, alcohol etc.
In April 2020, with their ship out of service because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided to send her to the COSCO-yard in Zhoushan for some further upgrades during a month long refit. A new class of luxury suites will be added with their own dining area, similar to other examples seen more often on large cruise ships, where passengers live in their own luxury “bubble”, like for example Norwegian Cruise Line’s The Haven.
To encourage families cruising with Piano Land, specific staterooms will get a third berth, encouraging family travel, according to Astro Ocean. Also, the ship’s shopping area, which had already been expanded in her 2019 refit, will now triple in size offering over 100 international brands .
Regarding to COVID-19, several measures were taken, for example specific staterooms will be set up and reserved for any medical emergencies, and if Piano Land will return to service, all interior staterooms will remain empty to lower the number of guests on board, Finally, a new HVAC system is installed allowing frequent circulation of fresh air, coming close to 100 percent fresh air.
She is homeported in Xiamen, China and started sailing in October 2019. In 2020, Astro Ocean Cruises planned to introduce an itinerary from Shanghai and Zhoushan to ports in Japan (Naha-Okinawa) and China (Ningbo), but the COVID-19 pandemic has cut her season short. Astro has firm plans to add more ships as soon as possible to strengthen its position in the Asian cruise industry.
