THE COST of scrapping last month's world cruise of P&O's ill-fated Southampton vessel Aurora has dramatically risen, it was revealed today.

P&O's parent company, Carnival, originally said that the cancellation of the 103-day cruise, because of propulsion problems, would hit earnings by around £22 million. However Carnival now say the estimated bill would rise by anything up to a further £6million taking the total impact to between £26 million and £28 million.

Carnival say the estimate has gone up because the 76,152-ton Aurora, pictured above, would not now be used for any replacement cruises following its current ten-week repair in a German shipyard before her next scheduled cruise begins in Southampton on April 22.

"We are playing it safe and we want to ensure that everything is OK for the next scheduled cruise,'' said a Carnival spokeswoman.

Aurora should have started the world cruise on January 9 but the propulsion problems meant that passengers only sailed around the Isle of Wight for the first few days.

The vessel finally set sail on January 19, but after Aurora had sailed for 110 miles and just reached a point off the Devon coast, it was decided that the repair work would not allow the vessel to go at sufficient speed to complete the world cruise. Passengers have been promised refunds and money off future cruises.

Aurora, now being repaired by German company Lloydwerft in Bremerhaven, was launched in 2000 but at her naming ceremony by the Princess Royal the champagne bottle did not break as the vessel was blessed which was considered a bad omen.

On her maiden voyage, the ship broke down in the Bay of Biscay and had to return to Southampton and passengers were compensated to the tune of £6 million.

In 2003 the highly contagious Norovirus bug affected many passengers and crew during Mediterranean voyage.