A fan favorite of Britain’s P&O Cruises has a new home.
Last voyage from Southampton for the ship formerly known as Oriana. MV Piano Land off for a refit I guess. @ABPSouthampton pic.twitter.com/fc6pghsxxX
— Iain Gudgeon (@FatFishEvents) August 16, 2019
Back in February, it was announced that the 1995-built Oriana will leave P&O cruises as Carnival Corp. looks to modernize the fleet.
At the time, the buyer was reported to be a Chinese company referred to as Well Star Travel Cruise. Well that company, a join venture between China Travel Services (CTS) and Chinese container giant China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO), has been renamed to Astro Ocean Cruises. They currently have the one ship but according to their technical manager, they’re hoping to build up the fleet as soon as possible.
The ship has officially been transferred and has been renamed to Piano Land last week. In the photo above, we can see all signs of P&O have been removed. The funnel will stay blue it seems, but Astro will paint it with their logo. There may also be some additional lettering on the side, off the stern.