20. P&O CRUISES – The Ships – click here to see them all. Iona, Britannia, Azura, Ventura, Arcadia

Carnival have ordered four Excellence Class ships, two are on their way to P&O, one is off to Costa. The first will be named Iona. These will be 5200 guest capacity ships. However, we ask has one already arrived? The Helios Class at Aida has been floated out. The AidaNova. You might consider the Hyperion Class an equal class to the Royal Class, and if so, the Helios Class might give clues to the Excellence Class. The Helios offers up to 6,000 guests over 20 decks, 337 meters long, 42 meters wide which is daily standard for many ships, 184,000 GT. There are 23 bars and 17 restaurants, a casino, a water park, rock climbing walls, a gym and spa. The ship has a tropical theme. It will have the Pepper Robot to assist guests, that speak three languages. Go VIP in the two-storey penthouse suites with floor-to-ceiling windows.

The Chat site for P&O IONA – share the new news – Click Here

The Royal Class ships a Carnival ship, essentially operated by Princess Cruises. The lead ship is the Royal Princess and they have been hugely successful but it is unlikely there will be more of these as Carnival have now moved to a larger class of ship. The Excellence Class will become their main class of new family cruise ships across the brands although their are still two being built.

• Royal Princess (2013)
• Regal Princess (2014)
• Britannia (2015)
• Majestic Princess (2017)
• Sky Princess (2019)
• The Enchanted Princess will be in service 2020 and
• the Final Princess in 2022

Britannia was built by Fincantieri at its shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy. They are all 330 meters long, have 15 decks and carry 3,600 guests weighing approx 143,000 GT.

Launched in 2015, the Britannia has a cookery club, and unlike her sister ships a nightclub on deck 5 called The Limelight. On the main promenade deck there is a theatre at the front, night club at the back and a small ballroom in the middle called the Crystal Room. Below on deck 6 there is a casino and pub. See our film guides below.

Join the Britannia community – CLICK HERE FOR The Chat site for the cruise ship Britannia

The Grand class is a Princess / P&O class for Carnival. The class has developed and therefore has sub classes but they are essentially the same ship. In the main they have been built by Fincantieri in Monfalcone and Trieste, Italy.

They are essentially 290 meters long, they have 17 to 19 decks, with 13 to 15 decks as passenger decks. Capacity carries from 2,600 to  first vessel, the Grand Princess, entered service in 1998.

• Grand Princess (1998)
• Golden Princess (2001)
• Star Princess (2002)
• Diamond Princess (Gem sub class) 2004
• Sapphire Princess (Gem sub class) 2004
• Caribbean Princess (Caribbean sub class) 2004
• Crown Princess (Crown sub class) 2006
• Emerald Princess (Crown sub class) 2007
• Ruby Princess (Crown sub class) 2008
• Ventura (Ventura sub class) 2008
• Azura (Ventura sub class) 2010

Join the Azura community – CLICK HERE FOR The Chat site for the cruise ship Azura

Join the Ventura community – CLICK HERE FOR The Chat site for the cruise ship Ventura

This was a popular class of ship built between 2001 and 2010 and comes in may forms, from the Arcadia to the Queen Victoria at Cunard. The class being lead by the H&A ship MS Zuiderdam in 2002. The Spirit and Radiance class ships are similar. What varies is the inside which the Arcadia and Queen Victoria together can show. When the Arcadia was being built it had no central ballroom, which is why is was moved away from being the Queen Victoria and another was ordered with the ballroom interior. Amazing how the same ship can be so different. They are all around 290 meters, 1850 to 2350 guests, these are Panamax cruise ships, almost liners. To confuse matters Carnival now have a new Vista Class (Carnival).

1. 2002: MS Zuiderdam
2. 2003: MS Oosterdam
3. 2004: MS Westerdam
4. 2005: MS Arcadia
5. 2006: MS Noordam
6. 2007: MS Queen Victoria
7. 2008: MS Eurodam
8. 2009: Costa Luminosa
9. 2010: MS Queen Elizabeth
10. 2010: MS Nieuw Amsterdam
11. 2010: Costa Deliziosa

The fifth Vista Class ship as ordered by Holland and America, the contract was switched to Cunard. She was meant to become the Queen Victoria, but there were concerns about the ballroom design which was of huge importance. The Arcadia as she is known now, ended up with no ballroom, 83,781 tons. 2,384 guests. 866 crew and exclusively for adults. The Arcadia had a huge refurbishment in 2017. Powered by Six Wärtsilä diesel engines, she attains nearly 52kw of power and 22 knots.The Arcadia has a theatre at the front, the middle of the ship sees the art gallery in widened corridor share the other side with a night club. That is used for classical recitals on many days at around 5pm. Marco Pierre White has his Ocean Grill on board. See our ship tour in the film section. The Arcadia is famous for its approx 99 day world cruise every year.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE ARCADIA COMMUNITY ON FACEBOOK.  The Chat site for the cruise ship Arcadia where you can share and stay in touch 

Sun Class ship the Oceana was originally called the Ocean Princess. They are all around 261 meters, hold just over 2,000 guests and can travel at 21 knots.

1. Sun Princess (1995)
2. Pacific Explorer (1997) P&O Australia
3. Sea Princess (1998)
4. Oceana (2000) P&O

The Chat site for the cruise ship Aurora – – where you can share and stay in touch – Click Here