Aurora heads for Germany

P&O?s cruise liner Aurora, which recently suffered serious propulsion problems causing the abandonment of its world cruise last week, is heading for the German shiprepair yard of Lloydwerft in Bremerhaven to have repair works carried out. These are likely to take twice as long as the four to five weeks first thought.

But today a company spokeswoman said the repairs would take “about 10 weeks”, meaning the ship, which sailed for Germany yesterday evening, will not be back at its Southampton home until early April. “Aurora had been due back from her world cruise on April 27 and we are still hoping to arrange a cruise before reverting to the planned post-April 27 itinerary,” said the P&O spokeswoman.