Carnival Corp has confirmed that a ship recently sold by P&O Cruises is headed to the Chinese market.

Last Friday, Carnival’s UK subsidiary P&O Cruises announced it had concluded a deal to sell the 69,800-gt Oriana (built 1995) to undisclosed interests, with the ship scheduled to be handed over to its new owner in August 2019.

Well-placed cruise industry insiders were this week pointing fingers at China Travel Service (CTS), a large state-owned travel conglomerate that for the past year has been indicating its intention to enter the cruise game in a big way, as a likely buyer.