P&O just marked an important construction milestone last week as it cut the first piece of steel for its newest ship.
The vessel has been built at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg and the steel cutting ceremony was attended by P&O Cruises senior vice president, Paul Ludlow; Carnival UK president Josh Weinstein and managing director of Meyer Werft, Tim Meyer.
Weinstein said: “This is the first time in 20 years that P&O Cruises has had a ship built by Meyer Werft and I’d like to thank everyone who has worked so hard to get us to the first stage in the life of this ground-breaking vessel.
Meyer Werft has an enviable track record of producing genuinely innovative ships which also deliver tremendous levels of operational efficiency and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership over the next couple of years to this ship’s completion in 2020 and beyond.”
The new ship will feature more than 15 dining options, including eight speciality restaurants, more than 10 bars and lounges, four pools, plus theatre and adults-only venues.
P&O will announce the name of the next vessel to launch on Thursday May 24th at 4pm on the company’s Facebook page.
The highly anticipated announcement will be a result of the competition the cruise line ran last year inviting members of the public to suggest a suitable name for the ship.
Over 30,000 submissions were received and a panel of experts will make the final decision.
Ludlow added: “This is a very exciting and momentous day. Our new ship will be the largest ship ever operated by the brand and the largest ever to be dedicated exclusively to the UK cruise industry.
It will also be the first ship in our market to be powered by LNG, the most environmentally-friendly power source yet for large-scale cruise ships.
With UK passengers numbers set to top two million for the first time this year, we are confident in cruising’s future and believe that there will be an exceptionally positive UK response to this ship and the innovations it will bring.
We also expect this ship to persuade many UK consumers to take that all-important first cruise.”
P&O has also ordered a second 5,200-capacity sister ship, which is set to be delivered in 2022.
What do you think of P&O’s news? What name did you vote for in our poll? Will you be sailing with the vessel or are you more interested in another one from the fleet? Leave us your comments below!
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