New P&O ship named Britannia

New P&O ship

Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves. Well, the new P&O ship may very well rule the waves when it comes into service in spring 2015 as it looks pretty cool to us.

The name of the super liner was revealed this morning by CEO David Dingle, who said: “Britannia is a most fitting name for the newest addition to P&O, which, with its long and famous heritage, remains Britain’s favourite cruise line. Britannia will capture both the contemporary spirit of P&O Cruises and the spirit of Britain today.

“Today’s Britain is a place of increasing style and sophistication, optimism and excitement. Britannia will reflect that feeling and will mark a new era of growth and success for the cruise industry. It will be a modern classic, a ship for this and future generations offering authentic travel by sea in an enduringly contemporary setting.”

At 1,082 feet long, Britannia will carry more than 3,600 passengers and at 141,000 tons will be 25,000 tons larger than P&O Cruises previous newest ship. The ship will be designed to attract many thousands of newcomers and tempt back existing passengers. New technology and entertainment will be on board and dining will reflect British cooking.

Fast facts: There have been two previous ships named Britannia connected to the company. The first entered service in 1835 for the General Steam Navigation Company, which went on to become The Peninsular Steam Navigation Company. The second, which entered service in 1887, was one of four ships ordered by the company to mark the Golden Jubilee of both Queen Victoria and P&O itself. This Golden Jubilee class ship carried 250 first-class passengers and 160 second-class passengers and had a cargo capacity of approximately 4,000 tons. The young Winston Churchill sailed on this Britannia with his hussar regiment to Bombay in 1888 and then went on to fight on the North West Frontier.

See www.pocruises.com