New ship(s)

[emam]

I am not saying this is true. I have read on the other side that P&O are getting one or two new ships in 2026/27. They can't confirm if that is the order year or delivery. 

 

One of the replies to the post said they were told over a year ago that Aurora and Ventura would be about, for another four year's and they hope to build new ones the same size. This is down to emissions and green rules. 

 

Another reply was that Carnival had announced five new ships and two would be P&O.

 

I haven't fact tracked any of this so I don't know if their report's are true. Though a couple of people have searched for the last statement and not found anything.

[molecrochip]

Carnival have announced 5 new ships and they are all (currently) for Carnival. Deliveries range from 2027/8 through to 2033 at present.

 

Aurora and Arcadia are having investment in the ships to extend their current performance beyond 2030. Ventura is only 17 years old.

 

I would expect an order in 2026/27 but don’t expect delivery until 2033 onwards based upon current shipyard capacity.

 

However, things can change.

[molecrochip]

The biggest barrier to ordering new ships is technology. Any ships ordered now will be sailing through 2060.

 

The need to find cleaner power is stopping most major cruise lines ordering more ships.

[Selbourne]

I’d be surprised if P&O wanted any new ships as small as Aurora. The way that they have shifted their brand position over the past 10 years or so very much suits the much larger resort style ships, which also have the enormous benefit of economies of scale. Besides, the proportion of the retired population on gold plated pensions (who are a sizeable proportion of Aurora and Arcadia’s customer base) gets less and less every year, and judging by the likely life cycle that @molecrochip mentions, smaller ships with premium prices will probably only be cost effective on the premium lines. Just my thoughts though. I have no inside knowledge. 

[AlexMcSpot]

I've recently read a list of orders in "Ships Monthly" magazine, the October 2024 edition. I can't replicate on here as I would not want to infringe their copyright. But to condense the list:

Carnival have 7 ships on order, 1 for Princess, 1 for Adora and 5 for Carnival, Passenger sizes range from 4,600 to 600 and the ships are due from 2025 (Princess) to 2033 (Carnival). Nothing slated for P&O.

Of the rest MSC have 8 ships on order (2024 to 2028). I believe one of the ships, Explorer II, was due in Sept 2024. Royal Caribbean have 7 ships on order (2025 to 2028). Norwegian have 13 (2025 to 2036). Viking 7 ships on order (2025 to 2029) all relatively small with 998 passengers (suggesting river cruises). Disney have 8 ships on order (2024 to 2031) one of which, Disney Treasure, is due sometime in December.

[CCFC]

Cruise Critic has a new ships on order page, nothing for P&O currently showing.

 

New Cruise Ships on Order (cruisecritic.co.uk)

[AlexMcSpot]

I've made a typo in my post Carnival ships passenger sizes range from 4,600 to 6,000 - not 600 as I quoted. Sorry about that.

[Pirateguy]

So none for P & O in foreseeable future , I wonder if they would ever buy a second hand ship of a medium size??? 

[Selbourne]

17 minutes ago, Pirateguy said:

So none for P & O in foreseeable future , I wonder if they would ever buy a second hand ship of a medium size??? 

I doubt it very much. All their ships were bought new. There are other operators who do buy second hand though - Ambassador etc. Besides, as mentioned earlier, I fear that the current medium sized ships that P&O have will be their last. Going forward, the economics of smaller ships will only stack up for the premium operators.

[showingdiva]

20 minutes ago, Pirateguy said:

So none for P & O in foreseeable future , I wonder if they would ever buy a second hand ship of a medium size??? 

 

Unlikely, but there is always the chance that something could be transferred to the P&O brand from elsewhere in the Carnival Corporation, like Oceana and her then identical sister Adonia (started off as Ocean Princess and Sea Princess (she later went back to the name)) were.

[Selbourne]

8 minutes ago, showingdiva said:

 

Unlikely, but there is always the chance that something could be transferred to the P&O brand from elsewhere in the Carnival Corporation, like Oceana and her then identical sister Adonia (started off as Ocean Princess and Sea Princess (she later went back to the name)) were.

Ah yes, I forgot about those. I think I’m right in saying that all the current ships were built new though, although I know that Arcadia was initially destined for Cunard but was diverted to P&O before entering service. 

[showingdiva]

31 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Ah yes, I forgot about those. I think I’m right in saying that all the current ships were built new though, although I know that Arcadia was initially destined for Cunard but was diverted to P&O before entering service. 

 

Arcadia was indeed, and why she has a "Cunard funnel" compared to the rest of the P&O fleet.  I'm sure that I also read that the original plans for her were for Holland America, who also now have Vista class ship variants in their fleet, and of course, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth of Cunard.

 

Edited Tuesday at 01:42 PM by showingdiva

[terrierjohn]

7 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I’d be surprised if P&O wanted any new ships as small as Aurora. The way that they have shifted their brand position over the past 10 years or so very much suits the much larger resort style ships, which also have the enormous benefit of economies of scale. Besides, the proportion of the retired population on gold plated pensions (who are a sizeable proportion of Aurora and Arcadia’s customer base) gets less and less every year, and judging by the likely life cycle that @molecrochip mentions, smaller ships with premium prices will probably only be cost effective on the premium lines. Just my thoughts though. I have no inside knowledge. 

As Moley says, things may be changing, environmental demands may well mean that smaller ships, like Cunards pinnacle class Queen Anne, could be the way forward for the future of multiple port voyages, leaving the big ships to increase their floating resort type cruises, where the ship and an island resort stop are the norm.

[Son of Anarchy]

Apologies if it has already been mentioned and everyone already aware.  Was told by a P&O Chief Engineer earlier this year that Queen Anne is the last diesel powered ship that Carnival will be buying.   Though I do understand that the gas giants can and do still use diesel in some circumstances.

[Selbourne]

12 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

As Moley says, things may be changing, environmental demands may well mean that smaller ships, like Cunards pinnacle class Queen Anne, could be the way forward for the future of multiple port voyages, leaving the big ships to increase their floating resort type cruises, where the ship and an island resort stop are the norm.

Having been on Queen Anne I wouldn’t describe her as small! I think she’s approaching Britannia in size? I was meaning that they won’t want new ships as small as Aurora or Arcadia, and perhaps not even as small as Ventura and Azura! 

[Megabear2]

21 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Having been on Queen Anne I wouldn’t describe her as small! I think she’s approaching Britannia in size? I was meaning that they won’t want new ships as small as Aurora or Arcadia, and perhaps not even as small as Ventura and Azura! 

QA is 113,000 gross tons, 322.1m long and has a beam of 35.60. Max passengers 3,000

 

Britannia is 143,730 gross tons, 330m long and has a beam of 38.4Max passengers 3,647

 

There was an interesting discussion on the Cunard board where people were saying they'd be happy for Arcadia to be rebranded and refitted as a Cunard vessel rather than have another new ships.  

[GOQ]

8 hours ago, molecrochip said:

The biggest barrier to ordering new ships is technology. Any ships ordered now will be sailing through 2060.

 

The need to find cleaner power is stopping most major cruise lines ordering more ships.

I wonder if the next stage in the evolution of cruise ships will be hydrogen powered ships. There are already hydrogen powered buses and trains. I have even seen proposals for off shore wind farms directly generating hydrogen fuel rather than cabling electricity back to the mainland.

Just think your cruise ship in 10 to 15 years time might dock alongside a windmill in the middle of the ocean for a few million litres of liquid hydrogen. No pollution then, only water vapour. 

[terrierjohn]

2 minutes ago, GOQ said:

I wonder if the next stage in the evolution of cruise ships will be hydrogen powered ships. There are already hydrogen powered buses and trains. I have even seen proposals for off shore wind farms directly generating hydrogen fuel rather than cabling electricity back to the mainland.

Just think your cruise ship in 10 to 15 years time might dock alongside a windmill in the middle of the ocean for a few million litres of liquid hydrogen. No pollution then, only water vapour. 

I have always thought that Hydrogen was the ultimate environmentally friendly fuel, and offshore windfarm generated electricity would be the ideal method of production.

[Selbourne]

18 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

QA is 113,000 gross tons, 322.1m long and has a beam of 35.60. Max passengers 3,000

 

Britannia is 143,730 gross tons, 330m long and has a beam of 38.4Max passengers 3,647

 

There was an interesting discussion on the Cunard board where people were saying they'd be happy for Arcadia to be rebranded and refitted as a Cunard vessel rather than have another new ships.  

Thanks. I thought that she felt a similar length to Britannia, which she is, but I was too lazy to look it up 😂 

[jeanlyon]

• Actually if you look at Cruise Mapper you wouldn't think there would be room for any more cruise ships.  

[d@711]

Had a questionnaire to fill out from P&O about a month ago all about preferred cabin layout. Lots of images of different layouts, ie walk in wardrobe areas like Britannia, Conservatory cabins, bed by balcony doors or sofa by doors etc, asking which preferred most and what would entice me to book that type of cabin. Did wonder at the time if a new ship was on the cards as they can’t easily alter any existing layouts.

[john watson]

5 hours ago, showingdiva said:

 

Unlikely, but there is always the chance that something could be transferred to the P&O brand from elsewhere in the Carnival Corporation, like Oceana and her then identical sister Adonia (started off as Ocean Princess and Sea Princess (she later went back to the name)) were.

If P&O (UK) were given a ship from other Carnival brands I think the most likely candidates would be Azura/Ventura sisters from Princess. They transferred older Grand class ships from Princess to P&O Australia but subsequently P&O Australia is being merged with or taken over by Carnival cruise line

 

.

Regards John

[showingdiva]

7 hours ago, showingdiva said:

 

Unlikely, but there is always the chance that something could be transferred to the P&O brand from elsewhere in the Carnival Corporation, like Oceana and her then identical sister Adonia (started off as Ocean Princess and Sea Princess (she later went back to the name)) were.

 

And it was only after I read that she unfortunately had a coastguard medivac off Plymouth today that I remembered that Artemis ("Arty Mouse") started off as Princess' Royal Princess before being transferred to P&O.   Now sailing as Phoenix Reisen's Artania.

[emam]

10 hours ago, AlexMcSpot said:

I've recently read a list of orders in "Ships Monthly" magazine, the October 2024 edition. I can't replicate on here as I would not want to infringe their copyright. But to condense the list:

Carnival have 7 ships on order, 1 for Princess, 1 for Adora and 5 for Carnival, Passenger sizes range from 4,600 to 600 and the ships are due from 2025 (Princess) to 2033 (Carnival). Nothing slated for P&O.

Of the rest MSC have 8 ships on order (2024 to 2028). I believe one of the ships, Explorer II, was due in Sept 2024. Royal Caribbean have 7 ships on order (2025 to 2028). Norwegian have 13 (2025 to 2036). Viking 7 ships on order (2025 to 2029) all relatively small with 998 passengers (suggesting river cruises). Disney have 8 ships on order (2024 to 2031) one of which, Disney Treasure, is due sometime in December.

 

Wow, that's a lot of big ships. Especially when there's lots of places complaining about the ships stopping at their Countries.

[john watson]

20 hours ago, showingdiva said:

 

And it was only after I read that she unfortunately had a coastguard medivac off Plymouth today that I remembered that Artemis ("Arty Mouse") started off as Princess' Royal Princess before being transferred to P&O.   Now sailing as Phoenix Reisen's Artania.

 

Artania, at least it's not called Artanic.

 

Regards John