Carnival Corporation took delivery of its eighth LNG-powered cruise ship, the last of which was delivered four years ago. It was also the thirteenth cruise ship to be delivered with LNG as the cruise industry continues to embrace LNG.
DNV estimates that by 2028, as many as 27 more LNG-powered cruise ships will have been delivered. There has been a rapid transition to using LNG as a power source in the cruise sector.
Several cruise lines have either introduced or are planning to introduce LNG-fuelled vessels. These include Carnival’s AIDA brand, Costa, P&O, Carnival, Disney Cruise Line, MSC Cruises, and now Royal Caribbean Group, which has its first LNG-fuelled ships under construction. Havila and Ponant have both implemented LNG on their smaller vessels.
The 185,000-gross-ton Arvia was built by Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany, as part of the Excel platform developed by the shipyard and Carnival Corporation and was the most recent LNG cruise ship to be delivered.
Meyer Werft, which also constructs vessels for the lines AIDA and P&O, has now delivered its fourth LNG-powered cruise ship from Papenburg. Another vessel, Carnival Jubilee, is being built on the same platform and is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. Four LNG-powered cruise ships for Carnival Corporation’s Carnival Cruise Line and Costa Cruises have been built at the group’s sister shipyard in Turku, Finland.
The Arvia, which will make its debut voyage for P&O on 23 December from England to the Canary Islands, is the sister ship of P&O’s Iona, which debuted in 2021; combined, the two vessels are the largest in the United Kingdom. The Arvia can carry almost 5,200 passengers in its 2,659 staterooms, despite being just 1,132 feet long.
It has a variety of amenities, including huge sports and entertainment areas and 30 onboard dining and drinking choices.
“Arvia, as the latest evolution in the P&O Cruises experience, embodies the newest trends in travel, dining, and entertainment and is the epitome of a sunshine resort sailing year-round to the warmest climates,” said Paul Ludlow, president of P&O Cruises, during the handover event on 15 December in Bremerhaven. “Arvia is a clear symbol of hope for the future of the cruise industry.”
The Papenburg building hall was the site of the cruise ship’s construction once the first steel was cut in February 2021. In August of 2022, the cruise liner was floated from the construction hall and transported on the Ems to the port of Bremerhaven for sea testing and final fittings.
“Jan Meyer, the shipyard’s managing director, has said that supply constraints and material shortages in light of the current severe global scenario present obstacles to the construction of such sophisticated cruise ships. But the team’s efforts paid off, and we can hand over a ship up to Meyer’s usual high standards today.”
Construction of several vessels now in the cruise industry has been slowed by these problems. Although the first voyage of the Arvia had been planned for 9 December, P&O indicated in the summer that it would be postponed owing to supply chain issues.
Recently, Meyer told Carnival Cruise Line that the delivery of their next major cruise ship, the Carnival Jubilee, would be delayed. The new Carnival ship was scheduled to make its first voyage on 23 October 2023. On 16 March 2023, P&O will host a historic naming ceremony for the Arvia on the beach in Barbados, the first of its kind.
