Ocean Village (ship)

"For other ships with these names see Arcadia (disambiguation)#ships and Star Princess."

"Ocean Village," (formerly "Sitmar FairMajesty", "Star Princess" and "Arcadia") is a cruise ship operating for the Ocean Village brand of P&O Cruises.

History

The "Sitmar FairMajesty" had been launched and named but was still being fitted out when Sitmar was taken over by P&O in 1988. She was subsequently renamed as "Star Princess" when she commenced operating for P&O's Princess Cruises division in 1989. In 1997 she was transferred to P&O's Southampton based UK fleet as a replacement for the "Canberra", which was scrapped that year. Appropriately, she was refitted for her new role at Harland and Wolff, the shipyard in Belfast that built the "Canberra".

She was renamed "Arcadia", in honour of an earlier P&O liner of the same name that served the UK- Australia route, and a new Princess Cruises ship took the name Star Princess.

In 2003 P&O inaugurated its Ocean Village brand of cruises aimed at young people and families. The "Arcadia" was renamed "Ocean Village" to undertake these cruises, and a new ship named Arcadia entered service with P&O Cruises.

Arcadia to Ocean Village Refit

Arcadia was repainted as part of the refit to Ocean Village and now features a more colourful livery featuring a vivid purple, yellow and red swoosh on the front. The whole of the ship's interior had a lighting revamp to make all areas more bright and appealing.

The library was taken away and was replaced with a gym and a nightclub called 'Bayside'.The refit work was carried out between the 28th of March and the 17th of April 2003 at Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven. [1]

Ocean Village Today

Ocean Village is now one of two ships within the Ocean Village fleet, a brand of Carnival UK. It is aimed at 30-50 somethings who prefer casual "dress-down" cruising. The ship following a brief re-fit in October 2007 is now sailing from Jamaica to Central and Southern America countries in the winter, Greece and East Med in the Summer.

Onboard features include a 3-storey atrium incorporating shops, a performance space, coffee and cocktail bars. A 2-storey show lounge featuring tribute acts and dance/show routines from the onboard cast. A second smaller lounge is used for comedy and light entertainment. A traditional English Pub with occasional sports shown on TV, a nightclub, cinema, 2 swimming pools, 4 jacuzzis, a kids-club/sega Village, 2 Gyms, a sports net area and a health Spa. Food is provided in two buffet style restaurants, one of which is open 24hrs, and two waiter service restaurants for which supplements are charged.

During the transformation from Arcadia to Ocean Village, a large steel arch was fitted over the lido deck, and this is used for acrobatic shows, for which the ship has to be slowed to around 5-8 knots.

External links

* [http://www.oceanvillageholidays.co.uk Ocean Village site] website
* [http://ships.galutschek.at/ocean_village/ A video clip of Ocean Village arriving in Rhodos]

References

*"P&O- Port Out, Starboard Home", David L. Williams, Ian Allen Publishing, 2002
* [http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/PO-Arcadia-PCs.html Simplon Postcards site] website
* [http://www.lloydwerft.com/e/auftraege/abgeschlossen/o_vilage.htm] Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven's Ocean Village Page