New 76,000 gt cruise liner built by MEYER WERFT

Papenburg, 18.02.2000 - Papenburg, February 2000 - The river passage of the new cruise liner built by the MEYER WERFT shipyard of Papenburg/Germany will be presented live in the Internet on Saturday, 19 February. On MEYER WERFT´s homepage www.meyerwerft.de the vessel´s transit can be viewed among other perspectives from the wheelhouse. Aurora, the new 76,000 gt cruise vessel for the British shipping company P&O Cruises, is scheduled to leave the shipyard on Saturday and travel down the river Ems to the port of Eemshaven in the northern part of the Netherlands from where she will start for extensive sea trials in the North Sea. With a length overall of 270 meters and a breadth of 32.20 meters Aurora is capable of carrying 1,878 passengers in 939 cabins. 406 of the 653 outside cabins have private balconies. The total installed power on board is 79,900 horsepower providing the new luxury cruise liner with a speed of more than 24 knots. Time schedule for the River Ems passage, subject to alteration due to weather and tidal conditions: Saturday, 19 Feb. (CET, approx.) 10:50 h Passage dock gate 12.45 h Passage Bridge "Friesenbrücke" at Weener 14:20 h Arrival at "Leerort" 15:20 h Ship moored at "Leerort" 23:00 h Passage Bridge "Jann-Berghaus-Brücke"

Sunday, 20 Feb. 02:00 h Passage Emden Eastern Breakwater 04:00 h Arrival Eemshaven, ship moored The yard´s captain will be Friedhelm Husemeyer who has many years of experience in handling the river Ems transits. There will be four more watch captains and pilots on board to assist him. The whole team was trained on a computer based simulator to be perfectly prepared for the river transit and to be able to manage even very difficult passages such as the "Friesenbrücke" bridge at Weener. The cruise liner will be assisted by four tugs: the tugs "Rotesand" (3,300 horsepower) and "Arion" (2,400 horsepower), and for stand-by and auxiliary services the tug "Hillerdine Wessels" (1,900 horsepower) and the yard´s own tug "Rolf Willm" (1,040 horsepower). During the river passage the vessel´s speed will be approximately 7 km/h. Aurora´s British style interior was designed by MEYER WERFT in cooperation with the shipowners and their architects. Delivery of Aurora to P&O Cruises will be in mid-April 2000. The vessel is intended to operate worldwide cruises. Aurora´s maiden voyage will start on 1 May 2000 to the Mediterranean. Her home port will be London. At present under construction in the yard´s covered building dock is the cruise vessel Radiance of the Seas for Royal Caribbean Cruises, USA. The vessel is scheduled to be delivered in the spring of 2001. Aurora - Main Particulars