P&O’s £500 million giant will be biggest cruise ship built for Britain

P&O is to have a new cruise ship for the UK – the biggest ever built specifically for the British market. Still to be named, the 141,000-ton vessel will carry 3,611 passengers and is expected to be launched in March 2015.
It will be about 22 per cent bigger than the fleet’s biggest ships, Azura and Ventura, but will carry only about 16 per cent more passengers.
Announcing the project today, managing director Carol Marlow said: ” She will offer ‘the best of the best,’ combining the favourite classic features of Oriana and Aurora, the choice and variety of Azura and Ventura, and a host of new ideas and concepts which together will deliver to our passengers the holiday of a lifetime, every time they travel with us.”
Micky Arison, chairman and CEO of parent company Carnival, who is backing the cost of approximately £500 million, said: “The UK continues to be a key growth market and innovative vessels such as this new P&O Cruises ship – targeted specifically to British clientele – underscore our commitment to leading the expansion of this important cruise region.
“With a progression of highly successful new ships introduced over the last 15 years, P&O Cruises is uniquely experienced in designing vessels to meet the specific needs and aspirations of British passengers.”
The ship will be built at the Monfalcone yard of Fincantieri, in north-east Italy, where work has already begun on an almost-identical ship for sister company Princess Cruises.
Carnival is expecting to add to its worldwide fleet of 100 by building two or three ships every year. It currently has seven on order with three due for delivery next year, two in 2013 and one in 2015.
Few details of the new P&O ship have yet been announced – although the artist’s impression (above) shows it will have two distinctive funnels in the trademark P&O colours. If it is to follow the example of the Princess version, every outside cabin – and that’s 80 per cent of the total – will have a balcony.
Final word, for now, to Carol Marlow. “This next-generation ship will deliver the ultimate P&O Cruises experience, with ‘sophisticated wows’ and new features to attract thousands of newcomers to our brand, and equally to resonate with existing P&O Cruises passengers by giving them the ‘P&O-ness’ they recognise and love.”