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Looking at the deck plans I notice two obvious changes. First, the main dinning room aft on Panorama Deck has had a separate restaurant carved out of it called "the Bistro". Secondly, forward on Leisure deck new cabins have been added- small, perhaps single cabins. This space used to be officers' quarters. I'm sure many other public spaces will be changed and redecorated, but these are the obvious structural changes to the ship's layout.
Sun Deck: The former observation lounge is now marked down as a combination gym and nightclub... Must be the most bizarre combination I've ever heard of .
Leisure Deck (Lido Deck on ARCADIA): New cabins added aft of the bridge in the former officer's quarters.
A Deck: The full suites forward have been divided up into much smaller balcony cabins, amusingly called "suites". They look to be half the size of the biggest "suites", which Princess called "mini-suites", and which were in fact just large cabins.
D Deck: New inside cabins have been added (cabin numbers ending in "A"). The former Library and Canberra Room are now a casino.
Panorama Deck (Promenade Deck on ARCADIA): The casino (Monte Carlo Club) and card room (Trumps) have been made into Connexions Bar. The Bistro has been carved out of the main restaurant.
H Deck: The Hideout (teen area) has been added. The gymnasium and aerobics areas have been annexed to the spa (oddly called Karma).
Of course most if not all of the public rooms now have different "trendier" names, and I imagine the onboard experience will be very, very different (more and different passengers, fewer crew = lower space ratio and lower crew/passenger ratio, plus change from "traditional" to "club ship" cruising).
quote: Originally posted by RobTheNetherland:and what is the name of the ship? Is it known under a former name?
She will be renamed OCEAN VILLAGE (very weird).
One question I have is Does anyone think this new brand will appeal to the British market? If it does, does anyone think Carnival/P&O Princess will another ship?
I could see Carnival/P&O adding another ship to Ocean Village- but I'm not sure what ship. Perhaps they will order a new ship similar in hull design and layout to the Aida ships- that would make sense as Aida's ships were designed for the club ship concept.
If they added a second ship I wonder what they'd name it? "Ocean Village 2". "Sea Village". "Ocean Community". "Ocean Hamlet." Ok, now I'm just getting stupid.
quote: Originally posted by Fairsky:I could see Carnival/P&O adding another ship to Ocean Village- but I'm not sure what ship. Perhaps they will order a new ship similar in hull design and layout to the Aida ships- that would make sense as Aida's ships were designed for the club ship concept.
Possibly transferring one of the Aida's ships over?
The "club ship" concept would not normally appeal to me - I am not a "resort" kind of guy - but I can still appreciate these ships and they look brilliantly designed... Far more creative than the dull stuff Princess puts out for the American market, even if it is aimed at a different segment (but increasingly not).
And if they have new ships? Hmm... They could do OCEAN VILLAGE I, II, III, and so on, but then they could also do what Aida did and go for OCEANVILLAGECARA, OCEANVILLAGEVISTA, OCEANVILLAGEAURA ...
At any rate, if they manage to pull it off with this particular ship, it will be quite a transformation, as she was designed for the exact opposite market segment (one which no longer seems to exist).
If this new cruise line fails, what brand do you guys think Carnival/P&O Princess will move this ship to?
[ 03-26-2003: Message edited by: Keitaro ]
quote:Originally posted by Keitaro:Does anyone know why P&O decided to move their ARCADIA to the new brand? I think they should have taken one of Aida's ships, which are already designed as a "club ship."
Aida is so successful, I imagine they want to add as much capacity as possible.
quote:If this new cruise line fails, what brand do you guys think Carnival/P&O Princess will move this ship to?
With all the refurbishing they're doing to this ship, it had better not fail... By the time they're done with her, they'd probably have to spend a decent amount of money to undo everything to the extent needed to send her back to one of the "traditional" brands.
The Australian operation might be a good choice. Probably not a bad market for a "club ship" anyhow...
[ 03-26-2003: Message edited by: cruiseny ]
quote:Originally posted by Captain Rhone:I think they might use Royal though.I can just picture what Royal would look like in AIDA colors though.She might be good for AIDA
ROYAL? I doubt it... In fact I really don't know where they'd send her.
Does anyone know how she's doing with Princess? At least when the "old" Princess was still alive, she was the most popular ship in the fleet, with a massive following, but she is suited for exotic itineraries that aren't doing all that well.
That said I think her place in the fleet is a bit less unsure now that they have non-PC dining on two more ships (the former R-ships).
Meanwhile REGAL is set to leave the fleet, as they go towards their apparent goal of total monotony...
How is A'ROSA doing by the way? I recall that they got off to a slightly bumpy start, and they are about to take on another 1,500 passenger vessel...
That is an interesting product, and with very interesting ships. A'ROSA BLU looks très chic (or should that be sehr Schick?)... I still wish they had left some part of The Dome though, as it was unique and interesting, except that it was probably too big to be just an observation lounge, and putting the Casino in it, well...
quote: Originally posted by Cruiseny:ROYAL? I doubt it... In fact I really don't know where they'd send her.
Royal Princess to HAL as the Royaldam?
quote:Originally posted by Keitaro:Royal Princess to HAL as the Royaldam?
LOL... She looks good actually!
My guess is that when Princess gets rid of ROYAL, she'll leave the Carnival group altogether, or else, be transferred to an "overseas" subsidiary... I doubt they'd shuffle her to HAL. I just don't know how well she'd fit in, though PRINSENDAM seems to be doing well as the "baby" of the fleet.
But how many ships does HAL really need?
Picture from Simplon Postcards
quote:Originally posted by CruiseNY:My guess is that when Princess gets rid of ROYAL, she'll leave the Carnival group altogether, or else, be transferred to an "overseas" subsidiary... I doubt they'd shuffle her to HAL. I just don't know how well she'd fit in, though PRINSENDAM seems to be doing well as the "baby" of the fleet.But how many ships does HAL really need?
I was actually thinking she and the Prinsendam would be a good match for doing the exotic itenaries for HAL. I doubt all 5 Vistas will go to HAL, since HAL had already gave one to Cunard for delivery in January 2005.
quote:Originally posted by Keitaro:I always thought this color scheme would be good for OCEAN VILLAGE (ex. ARCADIA, STAR PRINCESS)
Ugh. I still don't like that one! It was the original "new colors" from Sitmar, and the ship was actually partially painted that way too, while being built. The wonderful book "The Sitmar Liners and the V Ships" by Maurizo Elieso has a photo...
CROWN and REGAL PRINCESS were supposed to be painted that way as well... FAIRWIND (later DAWN PRINCESS, now ALBATROS) actually got that livery and the modified name SITMAR FAIRWIND for a time. STAR PRINCESS was supposed to be SITMAR FAIRMAJESTY - what an awful name! It was chosen by a travel agent poll, the same method HAL used to get PRINSENDAM, which I cannot believe the chose only because the previous one burned and sank in Alaska (the only thing she is remembered for).
quote:I was actually thinking she and the Prinsendam would be a good match for doing the exotic itenaries for HAL.
Except that PRINSENDAM is about 20% smaller but carries about 40% fewer passengers...
quote:I doubt all 5 Vistas will go to HAL, since HAL had already gave one to Cunard for delivery in January 2005.
I suppose that if Cunard's Vista (funny, CUNARD VISTA was what Cunard wanted to rename VISTAFJORD for a time) does well, the sixth one could wind up there, but I imagine HAL will get at least four and at present it is planned that they get five of them. A rather, um, big expansion plan I think...
quote:Originally posted by Cruiseny:FAIRWIND (later DAWN PRINCESS, now ALBATROS) actually got that livery and the modified name SITMAR FAIRWIND for a time.
WOW. I didn't know that. Do you have a picture of that?
quote:Originally posted by Keitaro:WOW. I didn't know that. Do you have a picture of that?
Not in color, but here's one:
From Cunard's Saxonia-class Sisters (Maritime World Online).
She looks positively ridiculous like that if you ask me...
Interestingly enough while STAR PRINCESS debuted in the comparitively dull Princess livery, the tradition that Sitmar almost started for brightly colored liveries has had a renaissance in Princess' corporate empire lately... They theoretically inherit the Sitmar heritage but it really is still all with the remaining company of Vlasov Group, V.Ships.
If you do a careful study of Ocean Village/Arcadia/Star Princess/FairMajesty's design you can see how this ship (largely the work of Boris Vlosov) has inflenced all future Princess ships- including the Grand-class. Though she does not resemble other Princess ships from the exterior, her interior layout reveals much.
quote:Originally posted by Keitaro1:One thing I noticed is the addtional child's facility on A Deck(aft) and the Children Pool, also on A Deck
Keitaro, that has always been there, just closed off and not used during her 'Adult Only' era. It's a netted play area to the port side too. All stairs to that deck had 'gates' on them. I'll dig out some pics if you want?
There's an item in This is Hampshire here, which states "One of the features on Arcadia is a special room that recalls Canberra and her historic role, when she earned the nickname of the Great White Whale as part of the Falkland Islands Task Force.A spokesman at P&O Cruises' Southampton headquarters said all the items in the exhibition will be taken off Arcadia and put in store. "Sad, there's a lovely model in that room. I suppose they don't think that those sailing on her in the 'Ocean Village' guise will be the least bit interested. In Store!!!
Pam
quote:Originally posted by PamM:[IMG] To keep on thread topic there are also some of Arcadia in the Mayflower Terminal at Southampton.Pam
That’s an interesting Canberra model!!!
It looks like an early concept model because Canberra never had that Name Block in front of the funnel and the top deck is shortened so that the backside of the base of the funnel continues on the deck below. I also notice the mast is moor sleeker and pointy then in reality.
Thanks a lot for posting the pictures Pam I really find them interesting. Do you know if these were concept models?
Best, Onno
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