P&O Cruises Adonia - - Profile, Photo Tour and Interview with Managing Director Carol Marlow

Adonia is one of eight jewel-like ships that were originally built for Renaissance Cruises. After Renaissance went bankrupt the eight were dispersed amongst various cruise lines and now after a period of nomadic wandering have settled with two being owned by Azamara Club Cruises, three by Oceania, two by Princess Cruises and one, Adonia, by P&O Cruises. Despite their difficult beginning, the eight have gone on to achieve a very good reputation amongst cruise connoisseurs.




I am not particularly partial to small ships. However, I thought the 30,000 gross ton Adonia was a charming ship when I first saw her back in the days when she was the Royal Princess of Princess Cruises.. With its wood paneling, cushioned furniture, and traditional art work, the interior has the charm of an English country house. The ship is nicely laid out as well. The designers were able to include most of the things one would expect on a modern cruise ship - - specialty restaurants, a spa, a pool, shops, bars and lounges, etc - - within a relatively small space.



When the ship was transferred from Princess to P&O Cruises earlier this year, very few changes had to be made. P&O serves the British market and the ship already had a British decor. Consequently, all that had to be done was modify a few public areas so as to include some of P&O’s signature venues. Of course, the existing specialty restaurants which were signature Princess restaurants, also had to be changed. For that task, P&O turned to celebrity chef Marco Pierre White to create a new restaurant for Adonia. The other specialty restaurant was developed in-house by P&O.



To mark Adonia’s arrival at P&O Cruises, I asked P&O Cruises’ Managing Director to give us her thoughts about the line’s new ship. She discussed how the ship came to P&O Cruises and what the line plans for the ship. That article is posted at: http://www.beyondships.com/PO-Adonia-Marlow.html



I’ve also created a Beyondships profile of Adonia that includes copies of daily programs, menus from the restaurants, and other information about the ship. http://www.beyondships.com/PO-Adonia-Profile.html. As always, there is a photo tour and commentary about the ship. http://www.beyondships.com/PO-Adonia-Tour-1.html

Profile and Photo Tour of P&O Cruises' Arcadia

P&O Cruises’ Arcadia is a unique ship.

Wait! Isn’t she a Vista class cruise ship and aren’t there Vista class ships in the fleets of Holland America, Costa, and (in a modified version) Cunard? Also, aren’t there six other ships in the P&O fleet?

Yes to both questions. However, Arcadia is unique because she is the only P&O Vista. Stepping aboard, one can see immediately that this ship is different from her Holland America, Costa and Cunard sisters. She has that clean, crisp contemporary British look that immediately tells one that they are on a P&O ship.

There are indeed other P&O ships. However, the P&O fleet is not a cookie-cutter fleet. While there is an overall atmosphere that unites the brand, there has been a conscious effort to have differences between the ships. Some are family-oriented, some are adults-only. Some have a two-tier dress code while others have a three-tier. As a result, each ship has its own character.

Arcadia has a very modern feel. Her interior design is quite contemporary but still restrained Her all white exterior shows off the lines of the Vista class design to their best advantage.

She is one of P&O’s adults-only ships. This lends itself to a more sophisticated atmosphere. In addition, the space that is normally devoted to children and teens is utilized to provide additional activities for adults.

Beyondships profile of Arcadia is at http://www.beyondships.com/PO--Arcadia-Profile.html The multi-page photo tour and commentary begins at http://www.beyondships.com/PO-Arcadia-Tour-1.htm

Inside Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas

Independence of the Seas has a lot going for it. She is currently the largest cruise ship in the world, a title she holds along with her sister ships Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas. She is full of entertainment and dining venues and has both traditional and innovative outdoor facilities such as a surfing simulator. Just as importantly, the crew is engaged in a near constant effort to entertain the passengers with parades, singing and dancing waiters as well as the usual set of shipboard activities such as trivia contests and bingo.

The ship follows Royal Caribbean’s style of cruising. This style was developed serving the American market. Consequently, the décor, the informality and the emphasis on activity all reflect the country where Royal Caribbean first achieved success.

Recently, however, Royal Caribbean announced that Independence of the Seas’ first summer season sailing out of Southampton, England had been so successful that the ship would be homeported there all year in 2010. What makes this so surprising is that the vast majority of passengers traveling on Independence have not been vacationing Americans but rather British.

When I was onboard Independence, I had the opportunity to talk with Captain Arnolf Remo, Hotel Director Darren Budden and Cruise Director Allan Brooks about Independence and her success in Britain. The resulting article appears at: http://beyondships.com/RCI-IOS-article-UK.html Also, to see what Independence of the Seas looks like, there is the photo tour beginning at http://beyondships.com/RCI-IOS-tour.html