- Launched
- April 2005
- Gross tonnage
- 83,781 GT
- Passengers
- 2,388 (max), 2,016 (double occupancy)
- Crew
- 886
- Length
- 285 m
- Home port
- Southampton
Arcadia entered service in April 2005 as an adults-only (18+) mid-size ship and is the ship most commonly deployed on P&O's long-haul programmes — world cruises, Grand Voyages, and unusual itineraries such as the Amazon and Far East.
Arcadia carries a deliberately more traditional cruise product than the family flagships: a two-tier main dining room, resident string quartet, extensive lecture and enrichment programme, formal dress-code evenings, and — critically — no children on board. The onboard atmosphere is closer to Cunard than to Iona.
The ship's smaller footprint reaches ports the family flagships cannot: exotic mid-size ports across the Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Amazon Basin. Her annual world cruise is one of the fastest-selling British-market circumnavigations.
For couples who want a genuinely quiet cruise on an all-adult ship, Arcadia is one of only two P&O options and consistently retains the strongest repeat-guest loyalty in the fleet.
Highlights
Adults-only (18+)
No children on board — one of only two adults-only ships in the modern British-market fleet.
World-cruise flagship
P&O's most-deployed ship for annual world circumnavigations and Grand Voyage sectors.
Classic onboard product
Two-tier main dining, resident string quartet, formal-dress evenings, lecture programme — closer to Cunard than to the Excel-class flagships.
Mid-size access
Smaller footprint reaches Amazon, Indian Ocean, and Far East ports the family flagships cannot enter.
Also in P&O Cruises
Other ships in the fleet
Launched 2020
Iona
P&O's first LNG-powered flagship — a Norwegian Fjords and Northern Europe specialist sailing exclusively from Southampton.
Launched 2022
Arvia
P&O's Caribbean-tuned Excel-class sister — SkyDome, Altitude Skywalk rope course, and P&O's most complete fly-cruise product from Barbados.
Launched 2015
Britannia
P&O's modern national flagship — the ship named by the Queen and the platform that repositioned the brand as a genuine large-ship operator.
Launched 2008
Ventura
P&O's original modern family flagship — refurbished mid-life and still one of the fleet's core round-Britain family ships.
Launched 2010
Azura
Ventura's sister — refurbished, family-oriented, and P&O's second Caribbean fly-cruise ship alongside Arvia.
Launched 2000
Aurora
The smallest and most classic ship in the P&O fleet — adults-only, port-intensive, and the closest thing to a traditional ocean liner in modern British cruising.
Available on this ship
Onboard experiences
Cruise line
Explore the brand
P&O Cruises
The UK-sourced British-market leader — Southampton-departing, sterling-priced, and split between family flagships and adults-only classics.
Carnival Corporation & plc (parent group)
Carnival Corporation is the world's largest cruise operator by fleet and passenger volume, parent of nine cruise brands spanning contemporary to ultra-luxury — including Carnival, Princess, Holland America, Cunard, Costa, AIDA, Seabourn, and Britain's P&O Cruises.
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