Following a £32m refit in Hamburg, the 76,152gt/2000 built Aurora (above) is the first ship in the operational P&O Cruises fleet to receive the bold new livery design. She departed Blohm+Voss in Hamburg on the morning of 16th December and arrived in Southampton two days later having spent 20 days with 1,200 contractors working to prepare for her Christmas and New Year cruise. Works included replacing 5km of pipes, laying 28,000 square metres of carpet, replacing over 3000 mattresses and of course her new paint work. 

The shade of blue used for the funnel takes a little getting used to and the rising sun emblem looks a little small but the union flag bow design is nowhere near as ‘shouty’ as other cruise ship paint jobs. The first P&O ship to meet the new look Aurora was the grand lady of the fleet, the 69,840gt/1995 built Oriana, at Southampton. The latter received her blue funnel at the turn of the year whilst away on a cruise and returned to Southampton with this partial new look on 11th January minus P&O markings and bow flag.

On board the Aurora feels like a new ship following her makeover. The writer spent a day aboard in January and was most impressed with how the ship looked. Changes included the introduction of the Sindhu restaurant for evening fine dining (replacing the library on deck 8) with an Indian fusion menu designed by Michelin-star celebrity chef Atul Kochhar. The Glass House restaurant and wine bar has replaced Café Bordeaux on deck 8 and the library has now moved to the former cyb@study internet café on Deck 13. A complete refurbishment of the buffet restaurant (Lido deck, deck 12) with new décor has been completed plus The Reef children’s clubs have received a complete revamp with room names changed to reflect Reef club names across the rest of the fleet. Freedom Dining has been introduced to the Medina Restaurant with more tables for two and Marco Pierre White dishes on gala evenings.

Other changes include a refurbishment of the Sidewalk Café and the introduction of Costa Coffee and brand new ‘Grab and Go’ counter, the Casino and Champions has been refurbished with a new open-plan design, new furniture and improved stage area for entertainment, live music and quizzes plus new soft furnishings are provided for all cabins plus new flat-screen TVs.