The oldest ship of P&O Cruises, mv Oriana, is to leave fleet in August 2019.
The 1,880-guest vessel joined the UK cruise company in 1995 and has since been marketed as offering “traditional cruising at its best”.
However, a 50-night Caribbean, Mexico & US voyage was canceled in January 2018 due to “technical maintenance”.
The disposal of the 69,840 GT ship follows P&O selling small ship mv Adonia to rival Royal Caribbean to be operated under the name Azamara Pursuit for destination-focused Azamara Cruises from August.
The departure of the smallest in the fleet Oriana follows P&O Cruises ordering a pair of large 5,200-passenger vessels. The first one, named Iona, is scheduled for delivery in 2020 and will run on LNG. The 2nd as yet unnamed 180,000 GT ship is set to join P&O fleet in 2022, providing a 50% hike in line's capacity in 5 years.
Meanwhile, P&O Aurora will be refurbished next spring, before being relaunched as a cruiser exclusively for adults.
A special final trip by Oriana will be soon announced.