All P&O Cruises ships by age and size (2024)

P&O Cruises currently has 7 cruise ships in its fleet. This post includes a list of P&O Cruises ships by age and size. This is a handy guide to help you decide which P&O ship is best for you.

List of P&O Cruises ships by age

The table below lists all P&O Cruises ships by age from oldest to youngest. It’s also useful to note when these ships were last refurbished.

Which is the newest P&O Cruises ship?

Arvia is the newest P&O Cruises ship and entered service in December 2022. Arvia offers itineraries in the Caribbean and Mediterranean. .

We took a 14-night Mediterranean cruise on Arvia in 2023 and were impressed with the amount of included dining options on board. This made a refreshing change with the addition of more casual restaurants.

This cruise ship is very different to most of the other, more traditional ship in the P&O fleet and the cruise line is definitely looking to attract a young audience. What this does mean is that it’s great for families.

During our cruise we spoke to many families on their first cruise. They said they were enjoying Arvia and would definitely consider booking another cruise on the cruise ship.

Overall, reviews of Arvia have been mixed. We think that this is mainly due to the change in focus to younger cruisers and the less formal approach that this ship is taking.

Personally, we did prefer the ship to Britannia as it had so much more choice in dining and entertainment.

Which is the oldest P&O Cruises ship?

MV Aurora is the oldest cruise ship in the P&O fleet and was last refurbished in April 2019. It is one of two adult-only cruise ships owned by P&O Cruises.

Recently, passengers have complained that this ship is now showing her age and the standards of food have dropped. Despite this, reviews indicate that the crew on board are helpful and friendly and the entertainment is a good standard.

List of P&O Cruises ships by size

The smallest ship in the P&O Cruises fleet is Aurora. Azura and Ventura are very similar in size and have the same passenger capacity. In comparison, the newest ship in the fleet, Iona, is the largest with a passenger capacity more than twice the size of Arcadia’s.

Which is the largest P&O Cruises ship?

Arvia is the largest P&O Cruises ship, it’s also the biggest cruise ship made for the British cruise market. The ship has 19 decks and can accommodate 5,206 passengers.

It is the second British cruise ship to be powered by liquified natural gas (LNG) making it one of the greenest ships in the P&O fleet.

Arvia is an Excel class ship and has a variety of new features such as the first rum distillery at sea and a high ropes course.

This ship is definitely designed with families in mind and is attracting a lot of new people to cruising. It has a more casual approach to cruising than P&O previously had.

One of the biggest things we noticed was that the traditional formal nights have been reduced in favour of Celebration Nights. In our opinion, we preferred it as we didn’t enjoy wearing full formal attire on our Caribbean cruise on Britannia.

Which P&O Cruises ship is the best?

This is very subjective, depending on what you enjoy. If you don’t want to cruise on a large ship, we would recommend booking on Arcadia, Azura or Ventura but be aware that these are the oldest in the fleet. One benefit of these ships is that the public areas and balconies are bigger than the newer ships.

If you prefer cruising exclusively with adults, Arcadia is the ship for you because the rest of the fleet is family-friendly.

Britannia is a Royal-class ship and sister to Royal and Regal Princess and remains the flagship. We really like this size of cruise ship but it does lack a variety of included dining options compared to Iona and Arvia.

To learn more about Britannia, you should take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Britannia.

The newest ships, Arvia and Iona, are much larger, with a lot of venues and restaurants to choose from. You can take a look at how Iona and Arvia compare to see which you should book.