I feel sorry for the gang on the P&O ship Aurora World Cruise... after setting off after 10 days sitting in Southampton while repairs were underway they set off last night..... to have the trip cancelled and they are heading back to Southampton.
The BBC report read:
"The troubled £200m luxury liner Aurora is returning to England after P&O cancelled its ill-fated world cruise.
Hundreds of passengers, who paid up to £41,985 each for the 103-day trip, are heading back to Southampton after work failed to fix its propulsion problems. They have spent 10 days on the cruise ship, which was due to take in 23 countries but got no further than the Isle of Wight.
P&O said passengers would be refunded and offered money off another cruise.
Aurora is expected to be back in Southampton by midnight on Thursday and the passengers will disembark on Friday morning.
Apology
She was en-route to the Portuguese island of Madeira when P&O announced it had been cancelled. Overnight tests on the repairs showed that the vessel could not "achieve the required speed to complete the Grand Voyage". A spokeswoman for P&O's parent company Carnival, said that the cancellation of the cruise was likely to cost the company around £20m.
P&O apologised to passengers after cancelling the world cruise
The company said: "P&O Cruises apologised for the disappointment this has caused passengers and offers its assurance that everything possible was done to get Aurora's Grand Voyage under way before this difficult but unavoidable decision was taken."
It said that passengers would be refunded their full fare and receive "cruise credit" worth 25% of the amount they paid for their holiday if they booked another cruise holiday before the end of January 2007.
Free drinks
More than 1,750 passengers were booked on the trip of a lifetime, which had been due to depart on 9 January to take in 23 countries and 40 ports of call.
Of the 1,752 passengers booked on the cruise, 385 chose to leave because of the delays.
Those who remained were treated to free drinks and entertainment while the ship was stuck in port.
The German-built ship, launched in 2000, has suffered bad luck since it was named by the Princess Royal and the champagne bottle did not smash, which is considered a bad omen.
P&O said the Aurora was likely to be out of action for a month while repairs are being carried out in either the UK or Germany. "
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