The 76,132 gross ton Aurora has become the first ship in the fleet of P&O Cruises to display the new livery of the company following a three week refit, the company said in a statement.

"Following a £32 million refit in Hamburg, Aurora is the first ship in the P&O Cruises fleet to receive the bold new livery design. She left Hamburg this morning and will arrive in Southampton on Thursday evening having spent the last 20 days with 1,200 contractors working to make ready for her Christmas and New Year cruise. Works included replacing 5km of pipes, laying 28,000 square meters of carpet, replacing over 3000 mattresses and of course her new paint work,." P&O Cruises said.

Launched in 2000 Aurora now leads the way for the fleet sporting a contemporary version of the union flag on her bow and a new blue funnel with illuminated rising sun design. This is the only second time the company has introduced a new livery for its ships in its history that dates back to 1837.

The white hull and superstructure plus yellow funnel that remains in use by the other six ships of the company until they next subsequent refits was introduced in 1931 with Strathaird and Strathaird, two 22,500 gross ton liners employed on the UK to Australia service. Prior to this, P&O ships displayed black hull, mustard yellow superstructure and black funnels.

P&O Cruises is part of Carnival Corp & plc, the world's largest cruise shipping group. It will introduce its eight ship, the 143,000 gross ton Britannia, in March next yerar.