P&O Cruises has confirmed Oceana will be leaving its fleet at the end of the month. The ship has been sold and the handover will be complete at the end of July.
According to Maritime website TradeWinds, the vessel is believed to have been sold to Greek buyers.
Whilst we and many of our guests will miss Oceana, her departure will allow us to focus on our remaining ships in the fleet, as capacity expands with the delivery of Iona later this year followed by her sister ship, scheduled for 2022.
During this pause in our operations we need to fit the fleet for the future and ensure we have the right mix of ships once we resume sailing.
Paul Ludlow, President, P&O Cruises
All customers who have booked a future holiday on Oceana will be offered a 125% Future Cruise Credit or 100% refund of the money they have currently paid.
Built in 2000, Oceana is one of P&O Cruises older ships, alongside Aurora. P&O Cruises has also confirmed there are no plans on removing any other ships in the fleet stating ‘Aurora and Arcadia are much loved mid-sized ships and will remain in the P&O Cruises fleet. We are selling Oceana in order to fit our fleet for future growth and focus on our other mid-sized ships Arcadia and Aurora as well as the three larger ships and our new flagship Iona as well as her sister ship, scheduled for delivery in 2022.’
Cruise Capital documented Oceana’s final arrival into Southampton under the P&O Cruises brand, when it arrived just before midnight on Sunday 5 July 2020.
Oceana was originally due to remain in Newcastle until September, where the ship had been laid up since the start of June, but rumours relating to her future began circulating upon the sudden decision to sail the ship back to Southampton.