Z – Industry Comment: P&O’s Azura – Send in the Clones

Sorry to be negative, but I just cannot get excited about P&O’s forthcoming ‘Azura’ which will enter service in April 2010. In fact I did not get excited about her sister ‘Ventura’, which entered service in 2008.

Now I’ve not cruised on ‘Ventura’ but I only tend to cruise on ships that excite me.   I’m sure that there is nothing wrong with these two big new modern ships.  In fact a decade ago I was complaining that nearly all the ships operating from UK ports were older/smaller ships. Now I have nothing against older/smaller ships, in fact they excel in terms of charm and intimacy. However it is nice to have a choice of some shimmy modern ship with a full range of facilities.

So what’s my problem with the new P&O ships, you may ask?  I suppose this is the point at which we can separate the ‘cruising-public’ from the ‘ship-nuts’.  In short, both ‘Azura’ and ‘Ventura’ lack originality.  They are both based on Princess’s ‘Grand Class’ design.  The main difference is the décor and the onboard atmosphere; a British one.  If I wanted to cruise on this type of ship, I could have done so ten year sago on Princess ‘Grand Princess’ and her sisters, ever since.

I’m also concerned how high P&O’s fares can be, considering that they are essentially a mass-market cruised line, but aimed almost exclusively at Brits.

Of course P&O are not alone with their ‘clones’, many of the Carnival brands (Carnival Cruises, P&O, Cunard, Costa, HAL) share ship designs.  For example Cunard’s Victoria and forthcoming ‘Queen Elizabeth’ are very similar to P&O’s Arcadia, which in turn are similar to Carnival, Costa, and HAL ships.  The internal décor and funnel styles are the main differences. Only P&O’s ‘Oriana’ and ‘Aurora’ are original designs, specially commissioned exclusively for them.

In contrast, I can get very excited about Celebritiesnew  ’Solstice’ class, RCI’s ‘Oasis’ class and NCL’s ‘Norwegian Epic’, because they are all original innovative designs and not ‘remoulds’.

But hey, what does it matter if you are having a great cruise on a brand new ship and there happens to be some similar ships a few thousand miles away. Well, it doesn’t really matter at all, unless you are a ship nut!

Malcolm Oliver, 2009