Photos of P&O UK Aurora in Auckland

[Kiwi_cruiser]

Here are these photos I took of the P&O UK Aurora in Auckland on 13th February 2012.

 

 

 

 

 

[Kiwi_cruiser]

Sailing past the Aurora on the ferry home:

 

 

 

 

Edited August 10, 2014 by Kiwi_cruiser

[Kiwi_cruiser]

 

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely looking ship, not too big or too small. What is she like to travel on?

 

Steve.

[erewhon]

Thanks for posting the photos.

[Kiwi_cruiser]

Lovely looking ship, not too big or too small. What is she like to travel on?

 

Steve.

 

Don't know, have never been on her before, Sorry :o

[BuzzBuzzen]

Got a bit of Sea Princess looks about it with the balcony cut outs . Thanks for the photos.

[KarateMan]

Its an outstanding ship to sail on. It is larger dimensionally than the Sun, Dawn and Sea Princess yet carries a little less passengers so the feel is very relaxed with no crowding anywhere. It has a sliding roof over the middle pool giving indoor swimming in heated pools.

 

The ship has its own large theatre and separate movie cinema. The space of the public rooms is much larger than you are used to with the Sun Princess class.

 

It is one unique ship and sadly there are not more like it. It is a large ship but has under 2000 passengers and that kind of comfort is rare these days with ships exceeding 3000 or 4000 passengers.

 

I have nothing but good memories from cruises on that ship.

[shieldsboy]

We have sailed on 4 segments of her World Cruise and have thoroughly enjoyed each voyage.

We particularly like the design of her stern with no aft cabins and wings at the end of each deck.

Also she has a very wide wrap-around promenade deck, a very pleasant lounge (The Crows Nest) high up at the front of the ship (where most ships have the Spa!), and the cinema is also ideal for concerts.

Activities are well organised and there is often a touch of humour from the bridge.

We would happily sail on her again.

Don

[Gnomey]

Thankyou for your replies folks, she is firmly on my "to sail on" list now. I can see a world cruise leg coming up soon!

 

Steve.

[NSWP]

Great pics. I actually just today, booked Aurora for next year, Canada/New England, from/to Southampton, 25 days. She looks a lovely ship. I secured a good midships outside cabin on F deck.

 

She goes in for a £25 million refit this year, new livery and everything.

Edited August 14, 2014 by NSWP

[dancinman66]

She is a lovely ship indeed with an old world feel about her

I liked her and prisms actually

 

 

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[Kiwi Kruzer]

Great pics. I actually just today, booked Aurora for next year, Canada/New England, from/to Southampton, 25 days. She looks a lovely ship. I secured a good midships outside cabin on F deck.

 

She goes in for a £25 million refit this year, new livery and everything.

 

Because she , and Oriana, were "one offs " and built so well , she will come up looking like a completely new ship.

[BuzzBuzzen]

I took this picture of Sea Princess when we were in Auckland on a 13 night round NZ cruise , I hope you can see what I meant when I said the Aurora reminded me of the Sea Princess, cheers, Buzz.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

I took this picture of Sea Princess when we were in Auckland on a 13 night round NZ cruise , I hope you can see what I meant when I said the Aurora reminded me of the Sea Princess, cheers, Buzz.

 

Yes ...It does have similar lines and features. Its quite interesting to follow the evolution of cruise ships and cruise ship design.If one comes out with a feature that is popular, everyone else seems to follow suit.

When Aurora and Oriana were built they were commissioned by P&O who wanted ocean going liners that could circle the globe, not flat bottomed blocks of apartments that floated from one Caribbean Island to another.

On one cruise we were on, Lord Sterling, the then Head of P&O , gave a talk on the building of the 2 ships. They could have been built a lot cheaper, but that was not what they wanted. You would never see a stern like those 2 on todays ships.....nowadays they fill the stern up with balcony suites and charge like wounded bulls for them.:D

 

 

[KarateMan]

I don't think the Aurora looks anything like the Sun Princess class of ships including the Sea Princess. There are many major design differences. The balcony cabins on Aurora are much larger than the ones on the Princess ships and unlike the Princess ships on Aurora the entire row of cabins on "B" deck is floor to ceiling and they are not the box type.

 

Aurora is an evolution of Oriana. If you look at Oriana, that ship has balconies on "B" deck but the rest of the ship is windows. On Aurora the design was repeated but improved for more balconies.

 

The whole bow is entirely different. The bow on Aurora is much longer and more sleek with the intention of high seas sailing. The bow on the Princess ships is shorter, more snub and blunt with cabins further forward with a design in mind that it would be sailing in calmer sheltered waters.

 

The stern is entirely different altogether.

[dancinman66]

Also they are more streamlined with less at now and stern to help lift in a sea and narrower at the top for stability

Same sort of thing as qm2

 

Live them. Love their layout too

They have that old ship feel none of the others have xxx

 

 

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[BuzzBuzzen]

Karateman I was just giving my opinion , obviously the stern is entirely different , well spotted.

[NSWP]

I will let you know how she handles the North Atlantic when I cross the pond and back next year. Long bow and all. She still only has 25 foot draught, much the same as other ships of her size. But then she is not too tall in the water, unlike some of the floating blocks of flats we see these days.

 

We are on F Deck, midships, right near the Purser Desk, so here's hoping.

Edited August 16, 2014 by NSWP

[BuzzBuzzen]

Thanks Les it will be very interesting to read what you have to say about her.

[KarateMan]

Karateman I was just giving my opinion , obviously the stern is entirely different , well spotted.

 

So was I. There are major structural differences between the ships. The Oriana and Aurora have a very unique design unlike any other cruise ship in existence. The only ships to look similar are some operated by Star Cruises or probably Norwegian Cruise lines now that were built in the same yard and feature the same tiered stern.

 

There is no way the bow or side of the Aurora looks anything like the Sun class Princess ships. There are far too many differences.