Cruise Talk: Canberra/Oriana

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»	Cruise Talk » Ocean Liners and Classic Cruise Ships » Canberra/Oriana

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Topic: Canberra/Oriana

NAL
First Class Passenger
Member # 1102

posted 05-23-2000 05:28 PM

Can anyone explain the decision by P&O to
retire Oriana 1 long before Canberra??

I had always heard that Oriana was the far
more reliable ship mechanically.

Does anyone know if she's still in good
shape as a hotel ship?

Posts: 2243 | From: Watsontown, PA | Registered: Feb 2000 | IP: Logged

wendymike_uk
First Class Passenger
Member # 1302

posted 05-23-2000 06:33 PM

I have often wondered the same thing and would be really interested to know the answer. Having sailed on both ships I do have say that Canberra was my favorite.

Posts: 21 | From: England | Registered: May 2000 | IP: Logged

Grant
First Class Passenger
Member # 1000

posted 05-25-2000 02:15 AM

I've often heard that Oriana's plumbing and wiring were the weakness. Anyone know for sure? (Great question!)

Posts: 834 | From: Victoria, BC, Canada | Registered: Jan 2000 | IP: Logged

gohaze
First Class Passenger
Member # 586

posted 05-25-2000 05:45 AM

Hi...I think you have to look at the time, both ships were built for the liner run to Australia and were overtaken by the jet age, as were the North Atlantic ships, but a bit later. P&O got rid of a lot of ships in a fairly short period and the all year cruise market out of the UK at that time was just not big enough to support them both. Even the Sea Princess was transferred to Princess for a while as he was more suitable for the North American market.
Let's face it they were expensive ships to run in the cruise trade and I doubt if the Canberra would have lasted as long if it hadn't been for the Falklands, the millions spent on her afterwards, and not least of all, the sentiment attached to the 'Great White Whale'
A big drawback for using them for the North American market was the cabins...too many inside, too small, and the big thing, too many without bathrooms, and that's where the money was.
So, I guess they just ran out of people to go on them both and one had to go, why they kept the Canberra is an interesting question....peter

Posts: 1909 | From: Vancouver.BC | Registered: Sep 99 | IP: Logged

Terry
First Class Passenger
Member # 448

posted 05-25-2000 07:56 AM

ORIANA’S Withdrawal

I think Peter is right, by 22nd July 1985 when P&O announced that ORIANA would be withdrawn the UK cruise market could only support a single ship, i.e. CANBERRA. In 1985 only 92,000 Brits took a cruise, compared to well over 150,000 in the early seventies. [This year it is expected to be over 800,000]. Therefore ORIANA had to stand or fall on the Australian market alone.

The problem was P&O faced stiff competition in Australia, not only from Sitmar with their highly successful FAIRSTAR but increasingly from the heavily subsidized Soviet cruise ship fleet. Together these caused ORIANA’S profits to dwindle to vanishing point. On top of this, the ship was by then 25 years old and maintenance was becoming increasingly expensive, also at the same time international exchange rates turned against the pound and forced the entire P&O Australian operation into the red.

ORIANA’S final cruise left Wharf 13, Pyrmont, Sydney on 14th March 1986 at 7.20pm to a rousing send off. She visited Noumea, Vila, Suva, Lautoka and Auckland and returned on 27th March. She was laid up at Number 21 Wharf, Pyrmont until Thursday 29th May 1986 when she departed under tow for Japan.

It seemed an end of an era for P&O in Australia, after this their only representatives in the market were to be the ISLAND PRINCESS from October 1986 for the Southern summer and any calls by CANBERRA or SEA PRINCESS on world cruises.

In the event P&O took over Sitmar and thus gained the FAIRSTAR and the dominant place in the Australian market they still have. Witness their seeing off of ‘CAPRICORN’ recently.

I think the choice of which ship to retire was more to do with positioning than anything else. If CANBERRA had been in Australian waters she might well have gone. If the company had tried to bring ORIANA back and scrap CANBERRA they would have faced the expensive and difficult task of promoting the ‘new’ vessel to the dwindling number of very loyal and sceptical CANBERRA cruisegoers. I speak with the authority of being one of them.

Terry

Posts: 391 | From: Brandon, Norfolk, UK | Registered: Aug 99 | IP: Logged

NAL
First Class Passenger
Member # 1102

posted 05-25-2000 11:37 AM

Thanks guys for all your valuable input. It
seems it basically boils down to profits
and the fact CANBERRA was more popular with
UK cruisers.

I took one cruise on CANBERRA from NYC during
the summer of '73 or '74 when she was being
used for a short time in the US market. I
think those cruises lasted but a very short
time. I always wanted to cruise on ORIANA,
but never did.

Posts: 2243 | From: Watsontown, PA | Registered: Feb 2000 | IP: Logged

nzmike
First Class Passenger
Member # 1308

posted 05-26-2000 01:05 AM

Although Canberra and Oriana were built at about the same time, they were significantly different in design. Canberra's layout was far more conducive to being adapted to a one class cruise ship - whereas Oriana was far more difficult to navigate around and was laid out more like a traditional liner than a cruise ship. Both ships suffered the usual mechanical maladies in later years, but Oriana did have more plumbing and wiring problems than Canberra during the mid eighties. Combined with Canberras popularity, the decision was relatively simple.

Posts: 186 | From: Auckland, New Zealand | Registered: May 2000 | IP: Logged

NAL
First Class Passenger
Member # 1102

posted 05-26-2000 04:42 PM

Thanks guys for even more info.

Interestingly, back in June or July of 1966
on a crossing of the Rotterdam, westbound,
I heard talk that Holland America was very
much interested in acquiring the Canberra
from P&O.....did anyone else ever hear that?
I never heard of it afterward....was it a
shipboard rumor?????

Posts: 2243 | From: Watsontown, PA | Registered: Feb 2000 | IP: Logged

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