Carnival UK boss David Dingle believes it is crucial for P&O Cruises to put stake in the ground as “the cruise brand for Britain”.
Speaking to Travel Weekly in the build-up to the naming of new ship Britannia on Tuesday, Dingle said it was time the brand starting shouting about its Britishness more.
He said the brand had been “grappling with the idea of Britishness” for some time but that now was the right time to highlight it.
He added: “With 178 years of heritage we are one of the country’s great household brands and we have been so for a long time. This brand is Britain’s cruise brand and it is time we made that clearer than we have ever done before.”
Dingle believes new ship Britannia will get the seal of approval from the British public.
He claimed that the British line was the only cruise company which could stake claim on being the ‘”best of British and best for British”.
He said the new vessel was the line’s “most vibrant ship yet”, and added: “The moment of truth will be when we show the ship to the British public. We’re confident we have the ship for the British public of tomorrow and obviously we need to get the feedback that we’ve succeeded.
“That’s what we’re looking forward to but we really are very confident that this ship strongly delivers everything we set out to achieve.
“This is the most vibrant ship that we have ever built and we think it reflects the vibrancy that we have in Britain today. Britain is an incredibly different place from when my first ship – Oriana – was built 20 years ago.
“No other cruise company has permission to be the Britain of today and that is what we are.”
Throughout this week the line will welcome close to 3,000 travel agents on board and Dingle said it was extremely important that agents get to experience the product first hand.