The latest luxury ship built for P&O Cruises UK arrived in homeport Southampton (England) ahead of her maiden voyage to the Canary Islands.
Dubbed the largest cruise ship ever designed for the United Kingdom's market, the 185,000 GT ms Arvia can carry ~5500 passengers plus 1500 crew.
Arvia is P&O Cruises' second LNG-powered liner (after sistership Iona) and will be homeported in Southampton although the official christening ceremony will take place in Barbados in 2023.
Paul Ludlow (P&O UK's President) was on the 345-m-long vessel as it sailed up Port Southampton after the journey from Meyer Werft (Germany). Mr Ludlow said it had been "a truly remarkable moment as, after the years of design and build, Arvia arrived in Southampton."
He added Arvia "embodies the newest trends in travel, dining and entertainment" and described her as "the epitome of a sunshine resort sailing year-round to the warmest climates." The "new and exciting" inside and outside spaces of Arvia "make the most of her deployment to the Caribbean and the Mediterranean".
"We cannot wait for our first guests to be on board this week to see the extraordinary attention to detail, design of the restaurants and bars, scale of the theatre, layout and new brands in the retail area, and the exhilarating top deck activities."