Luxury Liner Spends Day At Anchor In Lyttelton

Press, Volume C, Issue 29702, 21 December 1961, Page 9

Luxury Liner Spends Day At Anchor In Lyttelton

A luxury hotel steamed around Banks Peninsula at 28 knots on Tuesday night and dropped anchor in Lyttelton Harbour about four miles out from the Lyttelton wharf. The hotel was the S.S. Oriana, 41323-ton pride of the P. and 0.-Orient lines. Over her bridge she wears the enviable sign of the golden cockerel showing that she has broken all Pacific, Tasman and London-Australia records, and she is loaded with Australian, Canadian and American tourists. She arrived from Hobart via Foveaux Strait at 8 a.m. and all day 10 of the liner’s 22 huge lifeboats ran a shuttle-service to the port for passengers and visitors. They were watched from vantage points around the hills by people from Lyttelton and from the city who came to marvel at the vast ship lying still in the harbour. From the shore the Oriana’s most notable features are her size—she is 800 ft long and 138 ft high—and her Spanish galleon style stern ringed with balconies. Berthing Aid But it is the fact that she can move sideways that amazes anyone inquiring about her capabilities. Transverse propulsion is the technical name for it, and it is accomplished with two transverse thrust units each of 500 h.p. These units draw water through a shaft running across the ship and expel it at the other side with the combdred effect of a powerful tug. They enable the Oriana to manoeuvre in confined waters and to come alongside in port with ease. They are controlled from the ultra-modern bridge where all navigational controls are grouped together in a console. It is the complete luxury of the ship—unmatched by even the best tourist hotels in New Zealand—that overwhelms the unprepared visitor.

The whole ship from paintshop to ballroom is air-con-ditioned; wherever practicable all floor spaces are deeply carpeted; and modern furniture, drapes, murals, paintings, etchings and specially commissioned sculptures adorn the public spaces. High on the stadium deck is the penthouse suite—in effect a luxury apartment, with double bedroom, bathroom, shower and toilet, a sittingroom, dining-room, pantry and refrigerator. The penthouse is the “car-riage-tradie” accommodation on the Oriana, and is unique among the ship’s cabins. Like all flrest-class cabins it has a telephone connected with the ship’s telephone exchange—for which a telephone-book has been printed—and it also has a television set. Television Sets There are television sets to all lounges and bars and they tune to at sea on the ship’s closed circuit programmes. A cinema with dress circle and stalls serves both first and tourist class, and a radio service gives a choice of two programmes. In keeping with the Oriana’s modern design there is even an automatic babysitter. This is the “tele-phone-nurse” system which listens for unattended children crying in cabins. Children have a club of their own which is divided in two—for the quiet and the noisy. They have an open deck with sand-pits, paddling pools and childproof climbing frame. A good idea of the size of the Oriana is given by a notice on the promenade deck telling strollers that there and back along the deck seven times is equal to one mile. Every possible provision is made for the comfort and relaxation of the passengers —and the crew, too. There are three swimming pools for passengers and one for the crew, as well as libraries, spacious tennis courts, a restaurant, a charcoal grill and a cocktail bar. Each morning the passen-

gers receive with their tea a copy of the "Oriana News.” printed by the ship’s own presses. It includes the day’s programme of films, television, dancing and games, as well as a worldwide news coverage. Most of the Oriana’s 1609 passengers managed to tear themselves away from those attractions yesterday to board the dozens of buses from every available source which plied back and forth all day, jostling for positions on the hill roads with taxis from Lyttelton and the city. They went on special tours, excursions, shopping expeditions and scenic flights. Many of them were not aboard when the ship- sailed at 8 pm. yesterday, and they will tour around a little before boarding her again at Picton or Wellington. The Oriana’s master, Captain C. Edgecombe, expects the ship to be off Norfolk Island on Christmas Day and at Lord Howe Island on Boxing Day. From the islands she sails back to Sydney to end the Christmas cruise before returning to Southampton.