Ocean Village (ship)

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The Ocean Village

Arcadia leaving Station Pier, Melbourne

Ocean Village, (formerly Sitmar FairMajesty, Star Princess and Arcadia) is a cruise ship operating for the Ocean Village brand of P&O Cruises. For other ships with these names see Arcadia (disambiguation) and Star Princess.

1 History
2 Refit
3 Ocean Village Today
4 External links
5 References

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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]

[edit] Ocean Village Today

Ocean Village is informal and setting allowing people to wear what they want. There is a restaurant which operates a smart casual dress code called 'The Bistro' with menus made by the celebrity chef James Martin.

There is a restaurant on board open 24/7 with buffet dining called 'Plantation Restaurant'. There is a restaurant called 'Waterfront Restaurant' that is open for Breakfast and Dinner and features similar food. There is an Italian restaurant called La Luna and an Ice cream bar called Sunweaver.

Evening entertainment includes tribute acts, shows, pantomimes etc.