MV Aurora
Aurora is a cruise ship owned by P&O cruises. It was put into service in May 2000, but the ship suffered from several setbacks. When the ship was christened on April 27th, 2000, the champaign bottle did not break - among seafarers a sign of bad luck. Eventually, the Aurora had engine problems until now (the maiden voyage was aborted due to technical problems after 18 hours), and the ship was even afflicted by about 1000 passengers having a stomach infection (caused by the Norwalk virus) during a cruise in the eastern Mediterrenean Sea (November 2003). During the epidemy, Greece didn't allow the ship to land; it was forced to sail to Gibraltar. Then, the Spanish government decided to close the border between Gibraltar and Spain to prevent passengers from delivering the disease to the Spanish mainland, a move which led to international rows. In January 2005, the Aurora was about to begin a 103-day world cruise having more than 1700 passengers on board. Bound for Madeira, the ship had a propeller defect. The planned world cruise turned into a voyage around the Isle of Wight; the passengers are said to be fully compensated for the damage. |
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