P&O UK receives newbuild
P&O Cruises UK will receive a second newbuild, after its parent company Carnival Corporation signed a deal with shipbuilder Meyer Werft. Set to join the fleet in 2022, the new vessel will have capacity for 5,200 passengers and will be the sister ship to another newbuild to join the P&O UK fleet in 2020. At 180,000 gross tonnes, the new cruise ship will be the largest to be specifically built for the British market.
P&O’s new vessel will be powered by Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) both while in port and at sea, reducing air emissions. The addition is part of Carnival’s agreement with German and Finnish shipbuilders Meyer Werft and Meyer Turku to build eight LNG-powered ships by 2022 for its various brands.
Aurora’s “Aussie stamp”
Aurora Expeditions has plans to put an Australian stamp on an entire industry” with the debut of its newbuild in Oct 2019.
The 80-passenger vessel will be the first passenger vessel to debut Ulstein’s X-bow, which will provide greater stability and speed in rough seas, which it will put to good use when crossing the Drake Passage.
The ship will be named the Greg Mortimer after Aurora’s co-founder, and will be able to accommodate more than double the number of guests of the 50-passenger Polar Pioneer which Aurora Expeditions currently charters for its polar cruises.
“Building a new ship, the first of its type as passenger vessel in the world, is a big deal for a little Australian company and so that’s inordinately exciting,” Mortimer said.
APT’s new ship
The newly built Queen Eleganza has been chartered by APT and its partner Noble Caledonia to sail in Croatia in 2019.
APT said it will offer adventures which incorporate coastal cruising with evening land trips using the 36-passenger vessel. The Queen Eleganza was designed to sail the Adriatic Sea and visit the small islands and coves unreachable by larger ships.
The vessel will be deployed on a full 2019 APT season after completing its maiden voyage with Noble Caledonia in the spring of 2018.
