Cruising News Magazine Cruising News June 2018 | Page 12

First Steel Cut & Named A Month Later
P&O Cruises marked the first
construction milestone for its newest
ship with the steel cutting ceremony
in Germany on 25 April 2018. The
ceremony at the Meyer Werft shipyard
in Papenburg was attended by P&O
Cruises senior vice president, Paul
Ludlow; Carnival UK president Josh
Weinstein and managing director of
Meyer Werft, Tim Meyer.
Josh 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.”
Paul 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.”
And then on Thursday May 24
the name for this new ship was
announced. This highly anticipated
announcement comes as a result of
a competition that P&O Cruises ran
last year when it invited members of
the public to suggest a suitable name
for the ship. Over 30,000 submissions
were received with a panel of experts
making the final decision. The new ship
will be called Iona.
It will be the biggest-ever ship built
specifically for the U.K. at 180,000 tons
and 5,200 passengers. Features include
a giant glass dome, a massive Atrium
with triple-deck glass windows; 17
eateries – including seven speciality
restaurants – 12 bars, 13 entertainment
venues, four pools and 16 whirlpools.
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SE45.2
*
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Issue 25