Biggest EVER cruise ship built for the UK to be delivered to P&O by 2020

The biggest cruise ship ever built for the UK will be delivered to P&O in 2020.

Powered by clean, green liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel, the 180,000 gross tonnage ship is designed to carry 5,200 passengers and will dwarf the current flagship,

Britannia, which holds 3,647.

Two more ships of a similar design have been ordered for sister brand Carnival Cruise Line.

They are scheduled for launch in 2020 and 2022.

P&O Cruise’s new vessel will be “family-friendly” (some of the company’s ships operate adult-only sailings) but it is unlikely to incorporate features such as dodgems and sky-diving simulators introduced by competitors such as Royal Caribbean.

P&O’s senior vice president Paul Ludlow promises “evolution not revolution” for the design and said: “We are uniquely experienced in designing ships to meet the specific needs and aspirations of British passengers.”

He added: “The ship will be the largest in the P&O Cruises fleet, will have a striking new exterior and interior design. Innovative guest experiences will be announced soon.”

Giving away little about what the ship will look like, P&O have issued an illustration showing only the front third of the vessel.

P&O watchers are left guessing as to whether it will emulate the twin funnel configuration of Britannia, launched in 2014 and christened by The Queen.

Biggest it might be, but it will not feel like the roomiest. The ship’s passenger-space ratio, calculated by dividing the gross tonnage by the capacity, works out at 34.6, compared with 38.7 for Britannia and 42 for Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas, which sails from Southampton each summer.

Not all P&O aficionados welcomed the announcement and many took to social media to bemoan the trend to bigger and bigger vessels.

“This is not the way we wanted P&O to go,” said one.

"After Britannia I was hoping they might build a smaller one. Obviously much more profit to be made from the big ‘uns.”

Another, however, summed it up perceptively when she wrote on Facebook that it would be full of passengers complaining that it’s too big.

“Why do people book big ships and then say it’s too big for them?” she asked. Quite.

@CaptGreybeard

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