P&O Cruises has announced its senior management team for its new 141,000-tons cruise ship. Captains Paul Brown and David Pembridge will alternately lead the shipboard team, supported by deputy captains Martin Allen and Hamish Sunter and executive pursers Darljit Sharma and Keith de la Mare. The team will take the new build from Fincantieri shipyard in Trieste to its launch in spring 2015.
Captain Brown will be joining the head office in Southampton early in 2014 as the project starts to gain considerable momentum, with the rest of the team joining at different times prior to launch.
Paul Brown joined the company in 1996 and was first promoted to captain in June 2007 on board Aurora. He then went on to be master on board Artemis, Oriana, Ventura and Azura.
David Pembridge joined the company in 1976 and was first promoted to captain in October 2002 on board Pacific Princess. He then went on to be master on board Royal Princess, Sun Princess, Artemis, Oceana, Ocean Village 2, Oriana and Aurora.
The largest ship in P&O Cruises fleet, and the largest ever built specifically for British cruisers, it will offer a stylish and innovative new design, with an unprecedented number of passenger facilities together with many iconic signatures of the P&O Cruises brand. 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 and a host of new concepts which will include yet-to-be-announced “sophisticated wows”.
In delivering the ultimate P&O Cruises experience, the ship will be designed to both attract many thousands of newcomers and resonate with existing passengers, by delivering the sense of ‘P&O-ness’ for which the brand is held in such high regard. At the same time, the ship will be designed to deliver much greater levels of operational and environmental efficiency.