Don't think they really needed the extra spray! Glad to see some hardy folk got a few photos. I did set off from here before 7am, with the intention of greeting Arcadia, but 3 hrs later when I could reasonably have expected to have been in Southampton, I was still over an hour away with no guarantee of being there to see her arrive... rain, wind, rain, wind and yet more rain.. I gave up and went elsehwere. I wasn't the only one who didn't make it, and another net friend who did, got soaked through.

Weather looks a touch better from her cam today.

Pam

[ 04-07-2005: Message edited by: PamM ]

"SOUTHAMPTON'S new £200m superliner Arcadia even dwarfed the might of the US Navy as the world's latest cruise ship arrived in her home port today."

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"Even the giant American aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman, anchored off Arcadia's starboard bow on a visit to the UK, looked small in comparison as the cruise ship headed towards Cowes and made a tight turn into Southampton Water at Calshot." See the Daily Echo.

THE gleaming white hull of Arcadia - Britain's newest, biggest, allegedly most stylish cruise liner - loomed suddenly out of the .bleakness of the Force Seven gale blowing in the English Channel.

'We have had fantastic weather for a week and now we get here and it's raining,' said the veteran P&O captain Steve Burgoine as he surveyed the drab coastline of the Isle of Wight.

Just after Christmas, this was an all-too-familiar scenario for the 1,374 passengers languishing on Arcadia's ill-fated sister ship, Aurora.

But yesterday Arcadia came sailing to P&O's rescue; The £200million ship was handed over by its builders at the Fincantieri yard in Venice last week and after a stop-off in Southampton she will set off on her maiden voyage to the Mediterranean on April 14.

And it will be a voyage with a difference - there will be no children on board. 'We are aiming at a slightly different market than we normally would,' said P&O Cruises managing director David Dingle. 'We are targeting people in their 40s and early 50s whose children have left home and who want to find out what it's like to treat themselves as a couple again.

'Some of our liners are family-friendly, but this one will be adults only in response to passenger demand. Passengers are becoming younger both in mind and body and are looking for a different kind of experience - one that doesn't include children.'

The ship will carry 1,952 passengers, each paying between £2,419 and £6,729 for their 16 nights on board.

On the 11 decks, which house 976 cabins, 14 bars, six restaurants, two swimming pools, a spa, a three-tier theatre, a cinema, a casino, a night club and an art gallery, members of the 869 crew are already on board.

Having no children on board will hopefully safeguard the £2miUion worth of sculptures, paintings and tapestries that loom at finger's knockdown reach in every corner.

There are so many that the ship is organising conducted art tours, along with other diversions such as a golf driving range and lectures by garden designer Dermot Gavin and celebrity chef Gary Rhodes - who has a restaurant named after him on board.

The ship has its own bakery, produc ing 10,000 bread rolls a day. Its 14 bars are stocked with 49,000 bottles of spirits, 45,400 beers and 13,900 bottles of wine and champagne.

Although Arcadia's understated tones have so far escaped the panning given to the garish decor on the Queen Mary II, launched last year, the ship still does have its less attractive areas, notably the gleaming chrome of fruit machines and swirly mauve and yellow carpets in the casino.

There is also a 'them and us' feel to the accommodation down the long corridors, where cabin doors open on one side to balconies and sea views and on the other to curtains which pull back to reveal nothing more than a wall.

The cheapest fares are for the 218 'inside' cabins, while £6,729 buys a suite with balcony and loungers. All the passengers may be relieved to know that Arcadia does not rely on

German motors. Her sister ship Aurora's round-the-world cruise ended in farce after 11 days tootling about off the South Coast when engineers failed to repair vibration faults with a 180-ton motor.

While Aurora is still skulking in a German shipyard, Arcadia has Finnish 'pods' that will propel her 936ft hull and allow her to manoeuvre in maiden destinations including Barcelona, Monte Carlo and Naples.

On the bridge yesterday Captain Burgoine, 56, who started with P&O as a 16-year-old cadet, was glad of the power as the ship, virtually an 11-storey floating block of flats, coped with 40-knot winds in The Solent. 'It was quite challenging, but she has been handling extremely well,' he said. 'We put into two ports, Malaga and La Coruna, on the way here for manoeuvring practice. She is very responsive.'

Arcadia will be named by Dame Kelly Holmes on April 12, with P&O chiefs praying that she does not suffer the same fate as Princess Anne, who failed to smash the champagne bottle at Aurora's naming ceremony in May 2000.

Aurora herself will slip back into Southampton next month to take on passengers again. Her first trip? A two-night excursion to Belgium.

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Originally posted by Noordam:
Any interior shots yet?

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The up close exterior shots available on Ship Spotting aren't quite as flattering as some of the first photos we saw.

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On the bridge yesterday Captain Burgoine, 56, who started with P&O as a 16-year-old cadet, was glad of the power as the ship, virtually an 11-storey floating block of flats, coped with 40-knot winds in The Solent. 'It was quite challenging, but she has been handling extremely well,' he said. 'We put into two ports, Malaga and La Coruna, on the way here for manoeuvring practice. She is very responsive.'

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Who says a block of flats isn't responsive!

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It's ARCADIA leaving the Fincantieri shipyard at Marghera (Venice) with her Vista-class (three-quarter sister) NOORDAM in the background. Photo Henry Veringa.

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Pam you're right in what you say about not needing any more spray - I was already soaked by the rain and then got a drenching from the tugs because the wind caught the spray from their display and soaked everyone standing on Town Quay! It was a case of stuff my camera under my jacket and cringe! My car was white with salt, but luckily it rained again - there was a brief cessation as the ship passed us - and washed it off.

Now if only she was more available to Canadian and other North American cruisers. So far it seems difficult to book P&O from Canada. Paying in British pounds is very expensive and they don`t offer any air connections/combinations from Canada (her so-called rival Cunard does).

Why do ships sail with the side doors either side of the bow open. Arcadia had her doors open while sailing with all he spray from the tug ect..

Is there a logical reason why most ships do this.

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Originally posted by Stevie2020:
There are some interiour pictures from Cruise News Daily which I'm always reading.

Arcadia Pictures

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Originally posted by Keitaro:

Thanks Stevie2020 for the link. I gotta say her atrium is very dull! Is that carpet in the atrium? The purple in the atrium and the show lounge seems to have came from HAL...

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