Astro Ocean Cruises kicked off a series of cruises departing from the Chinese port of Shenzhen earlier this month.

Marking Piano Land’s return to the homeport following a six-year hiatus, the deployment started on March 15, 2025.

The 1995-built ship is scheduled to offer four- and five-night itineraries to destinations in Vietnam, including Da Nang and Ha Long Bay.

A special ceremony was held in Shenzhen to celebrate the start of Piano Land’s operations from the homeport.

According to local media, the event was attended by senior leadership onboard, in addition to officials from the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports, as well as the local Transportation Bureau and the port authority.

The ceremony incorporated AI and new technologies and was highlighted by the introduction of the first full-size humanoid robot on a cruise ship.

The Piano Land is also the first ship to offer cruises departing from the Shenzhen International Cruise Homeport in 2025.

According to local sources, the vessel is expected to offer longer cruises departing from the port in the future, visiting destinations in the South China Sea.

Upon completing its schedule of cruises from Shenzhen, the 70,000-ton vessel is scheduled to reposition to Hong Kong in early April.

Originally built for P&O Cruises at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany, the Piano Land first entered service as the Oriana.

The 1,806-guest ship was acquired by its current owners in 2018, becoming the first vessel in Astro Ocean Cruises’ fleet in late 2019.

After entering an operational pause due to the pandemic in early 2020, the ship resumed guest operations in mid-2024.

As part of its return deployment, the Piano Land offered a series of short cruises to Japan and South Korea departing from the Shanghai Wusongkou International Cruise Port.