Yesterday Andrew and I were very pleased to be able to launch our new book on Oriana & Aurora at the new Sea City museum in Southampton. The city was busy with the Boat Show opening that day, as well as three cruise ships in port - Azura, Celebrity Eclipse and Oriana.
Our first customers were Richard and Anthony from Boston, USA, who had flown over to join Oriana on her cruise to the Canaries. As ship enthusiasts, they wanted to sail on a traditional cruise ship while there are still a few around! They will be taking the first copy of the book on board the ship!
And when Oriana returns, I will be lucky enough to be joining her on her voyage to the Caribbean.
Talking of my cruises- since my post about booking a cruise on Ocean Countess, CMV have sold her and are replacing her with Discovery. I suppose I was both disappointed and pleased at the same time. Disappointed not be sailing on the original Cunard Countess but pleased to be trying the original Island Princess. We will just have to wait and see what her winter refit brings though !
Finally, after what seems an age since we sent the completed text, we have a launch date for our new book on Oriana & Aurora - the last two cruise ships built for P&O before it was taken over by Carnival UK, and the ships that took the company (and its passengers) into the new millennium! Sadly I doubt if their ilk will ever be built again, as it seems that new ships grow ever larger. For me, around 2000 passengers is a perfect size - large enough to be stable and offer plenty of facilities (including dedicated cinemas, mostly lacking on new ships) but small enough to get to know people and not to have long queues at the buffets or if tendering.
It's hard nowadays to realise quite how innovative and spectacular Oriana was when she was launched in 1995, but she was yet another P&O ship that influenced all future new-builds for the company. Intended to replace the much-loved Canberra, in fact they sailed alongside each other for some years and it was Aurora that finally replaced the Great White Whale as Canberra became affectionately known.
The book is packed full of beautiful photos and should make a great souvenir for anyone who loves these two traditional ships. We are launching it at Sea City Museum in Southampton on Saturday 15th September beetween 11 and 2 if anyone wants to come along and say hello.
