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Aurora entered service in 2000 and is owned and operated by P&O Cruises. She was built by Meyer Werft in Germany and has a Gross Registered Tonnage (GRT) of 76,152 tonnes and is 270 metres long, with a beam of 32.24 metres. Her draught of 7.9 metres means that she can enter and exit most commercial ports around the world without much difficulty. At full capacity, she can carry up to 1,900 passengers in 939 cabins and also carries around 900 crew.

She was one of the first British passengers ships to include a sliding magrodome that can be opened or closed to enable one of her three pools to become an inside pool during inclement weather. Electrical power is provided by four MAN B&W engines, generating 14,700kW each while power for propulsion is generated by two STN AEG engines generating 20,000kW each. This gives her a service speed of around 24.5 knots, even reaching 29 knots in trials.

After entering service in May 2000, the ship suffered several setbacks. When being christened on April 27, 2000, the champagne bottle did not break - a sign of bad luck among seafarers. She also suffered from engine problems during her maiden voyage, which was aborted after 18 hours. In March 2001, she was involved in a rescue of 11 Russian Seamen after their ship capsized and sank in the South China Sea. During the rescue attempt, her crew bravely battled horrendous weather in small rescue boats trying to rescue the Russian seamen and the vessel sustained propeller damage caused by floating debris. In July 2003, she suffered a crank case explosion in one of her engines while at anchor in the Mediterranean which was brought under control by her engineering officers equipped with fire fighting equipment. During a cruise around the eastern Mediterranean Sea in November 2003, about 1,000 passengers suffered stomach infections caused by the highly-contagious Norwalk virus. During the outbreak, the ship was denied docking at Piraeus, Greece ^[1]. On arrival in Dubrovnik, health inspector Ivo Miloglav boarded the vessel and ordered the sick passengers to remain in their cabins "as a precautionary measure." Those unaffected by the virus were allowed to leave the ship to visit the Adriatic port.

She then sailed to Gibraltar where she was allowed to dock on 3rd November, on the advice of Dr Kumar, Chief Medical Officer. A small number of passengers who were still recovering had to stay on board. Passengers who went ashore were required to leave their passports behind.

Aurora at the Gibraltar Terminal

One passenger had died from a heart attack, unrelated to the Norwalk virus.

The Spanish government decided to close the border between Gibraltar and Spain, on advice from its health ministry ^[2]. Spain complained it had received no comprehensive information from the UK Government on the outbreak. ^[3] The Gibraltar Chief Medical Officer visited Spain and informed Andalusian Government officials of the situation. The Spanish central government "does not deal directly with Gibraltar, only with Britain, the colonial power," as quoted in The Independent ^[4]. However, the UK Government does not have any responsibility for, or information about, health matters in Gibraltar.

The closure of the border by Spain led to an international row with Britain and generated almost as much media attention as the cruise ship itself. The border was closed at 7:30 a.m. and reopened 13 hours later, when the ship departed Gibraltar waters.

Some passengers complained that P&O Cruises' response was slow on stamping out the spread of the virus amongst them ^[5], with others describing it as Holiday from Hell. ^[6]

Passengers who came ashore praised the way that they had been looked after by the crew, and said that they would book another cruise on the Aurora. ^[7].

Following the stop, there was no outbreak of disease in Gibraltar, and checks on people crossing into Spain were abandoned after a few days when no trace of infection was seen. The disease is considered one of the most common causes of outbreaks and sporadic cases of gastroenteritis in individuals of all ages worldwide, including Spain. ^[8]

In January 2005, the Aurora was about to begin a 103-day world cruise with more than 1,700 passengers on board. Bound for Madeira, the ship repeatedly had problems with one of the propulsion motors. Unfortunately, the problem could not be solved quickly and sufficiently and hence reluctantly the decision was taken to abandon the world cruise. During her time waiting in Southampton, passengers had free drinks at the bars and were able to exit the ship at any time they felt, or even cancel their holiday. After P&O canceled the cruise, the line donated all of the food purchased for the trip to local charities around Southampton. Aurora set sail for a dry dock in Bremerhaven, Germany, where her damaged motor would be taken out and replaced with one destined for another ship under construction at the time. Her broken motor was taken apart and reconditioned and placed in another cruise ship; however, it is not known which ship received it. The planned world cruise hence affectionately became known as a voyage around the Isle of Wight or the largest ever Isle of Wight ferry.