P&O Cruises has announced that its new 141,000 tons cruise ship, scheduled to enter service in spring 2015, will be named Britannia.

Speaking today in London, P&O Cruises & Carnival UK chief executive officer David Dingle said: “Britannia is a most fitting name for the newest addition to P&O Cruises, which, with its long and famous heritage, remains Britain’s favourite cruise line. Britannia will capture both the contemporary spirit of P&O Cruises and the spirit of Britain today.

“Today’s Britain is a place of increasing style and sophistication, optimism and excitement. Britannia will reflect that feeling and will mark a new era of growth and success for the cruise industry.

“Britannia will underpin P&O Cruises unique commitment to building ships specifically designed to anticipate the tastes of today’s Britain. It will be a modern classic, a ship for this and future generations offering authentic travel by sea in an enduringly contemporary setting.”

Britannia will boost P&O Cruises capacity by 24%.  With a length of 1,082 feet, it will carry over 3,600 passengers and at 141,000 tons will be 25,000 tons larger than P&O Cruises previous newest ship.

Britannia will offer the best of British contemporary design, with an unprecedented number of passenger facilities.  It is being designed throughout by London-based Richmond International, creating “flowing” interiors which have a coherent feel while each area will have an individual identity, look and feel through shape, space and soft furnishings.

The ship will be designed to both attract many thousands of newcomers and also resonate with existing passengers. It will offer the “best of the best”, combining favourite classic features of ships such as Oriana and Aurora, the wide choice and contemporary variety of Ventura and Azura as well as many yet to be announced new concepts in technology and entertainment. Dining options will reflect the inexorable rise of British cooking on the world stage.

Following travelling trends and customer research it will also have more single cabins than any other cruise ship, many of them with balconies.

“At the same time, the ship will be our greenest yet and will be designed to deliver much greater levels of operational and environmental efficiency.  A new hull form will reduce unit fuel consumption by up to 20%.

Dingle continued: “Whilst the name Britannia has great historical resonance with P&O Cruises, most importantly, the ship will celebrate the forward-looking Britain of today and the future.”