Thread: P&O owner Carnival orders 'largest UK cruise ship'

P&O Cruises owner Carnival has ordered a new 141,000 tonne cruise liner which it says will be the largest built specifically for the British market.

The liner, costing 559m euros ($807m; £489m) and scheduled to enter service in March 2015, will be built by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri.

The as-yet unnamed ship will be able to carry a maximum of 4,372 passengers.
Rival Royal Caribbean claims to have the world's biggest cruise ship, Allure of the Seas, weighing 225,282 tonnes.

The 16-deck Allure can carry 5,400 guests and went into service late last year.
Carnival said its new ship would "offer an innovative new design and unprecedented number of passenger facilities".

The company's chief executive Micky Arison said: "The UK continues to be a key growth market for Carnival and innovative vessels such as this new P&O Cruises ship - targeted specifically to British clientele - underscore our commitment to this important cruise region".

Miami-based Carnival operates almost 100 ships and currently has eight ships on order, including the new P&O liner.

Fincantieri boss Giusseppe Bono said the deal demonstrated the company's efforts to secure orders in what is a "particularly depressed market".

Source

So, let me guess, this is going to be the same ship and design as the new Royal Princess, eh? That's what they did with Ventura and Azura which has the same superstructure design as the Crown, Emerald and Ruby Princess.

That's what I'm thinking...the only major difference is, of course, the funnels. I also do not see the SeaWalk.

The thing that really struck me about this ship was the design of the funnels and forward mast - it has lead me to speculate.
The foremast antenna seems to be a copy of one from a Cunard ship (look at queen Elizabeth's of Victoria's for example) this is also apparent with the funnels, they only seem to need a small section added on to make them the Cunard design. We all Know Carnival plc has a reputation for using the same ship design across many of its lines - my point is could a new ship for Cunard be on the horizon - because the ship looks distinctively Cunard like to me, even in p&o colours.

I think you could well be correct! I belive this design might well be used for many of the Carnival Corp brands in the coming years, much like the VISTA class was.


The design also has quite a simlar design to Celebrity Cruises' Solstice Class and even more NCL's newest designs!

Definitely! It seems even the bridges of the all the recent ships have a similar design - so it must be one that's really working for them.

Another thing what I thought was a possibility was maybe the new p&o liner was originally intended to be a cunard ship... I mean the current p&o arcadia was supposed to be cunard lines queen victoria originally... maybe the same thing has happened here... either way, can't wait 'till it's built!

I think the forward upper deck areas is more of an outgrowth of the design of the Nieu Amsterdam or Eurodam as compared to the Norr, West, etc dams. It squeezes a few more cabins onto the ship in an area that can be somewhat exclusive.

Hmm...I've noticed every time Princess orders a new ship, P&O gets one like it later on. So I think that'a just happening here.

That would seem to be the case here...