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Arcadia

P&O Cruises · Cruise · In service · built by Fincantieri

Arcadia was ordered as Cunard's Queen Victoria, transferred to P&O mid-build, and entered service in 2005 as an adults-only ship carrying some 3,000 works of art.

Length overall289.9 m
Beam32.2 m
Gross tonnage84,342 GT
Passengers1,952
Speed22 kn
Delivered2005
Our numbers

Derived metrics

Computed by ships.fyi from the core specification — see how we calculate these.

Passengers per metre#111 of 116
6.7 pax/m passengers (double occupancy) ÷ length overall
Length-to-beam ratio#14 of 142
9.00 length overall ÷ beam
Sense of scale

How big is it, really?

The Arcadia's length overall, against things you already know the size of.

Arcadia289.9 m
Eiffel Tower (height)330 m
Titanic269.06 m
Football pitch105 m
Boeing 747-876.3 m
Blue whale25 m
You (probably)1.75 m

The 747-8 held the longest-airliner record for over a decade, until Boeing's 777-9 took it by about 19 inches (76.72 m) — our sibling site aircraft.fyi measures everything that flies the same way.

One Arcadia = 1.08 Titanics · 2.8 football pitches · 12 blue whales · 3.8 Boeing 747-8s laid end to end.

Plan a sailing on Arcadia

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Specification

The numbers

Length overall289.90 m
Beam32.20 m
Draught8 m
Gross tonnage84,342 GT
Passengers1,952 (regular) / 2,094 (max)
Crew≈866
Decks11
Installed power51,840 kW (6 × Wärtsilä)
Speed22 kn
Entered serviceApril 2005

Last verified: 2026-07-15 · Spot an error? business@luck.fyi

The story

What makes it different

Arcadia has the most confusing paperwork in the P&O fleet. She was ordered from Fincantieri as Queen Victoria for Cunard, and reassigned to P&O partway through construction — Cunard's actual Queen Victoria was then built separately and delivered two years later, larger and to a revised design.

What P&O got was a Vista-class hull, the platform Fincantieri also built for Holland America, finished as an adults-only ship. She carries around 3,000 works of art, glass-fronted lifts on the ship's exterior, and a layout aimed at longer voyages rather than short Mediterranean runs.

At around 84,000 gross tons she is the second smallest ship in the fleet and does the work that suits that: world cruises and long-haul itineraries where a smaller hull reaches more ports and a quieter ship is the selling point.

The class

The Arcadia line

Vista class
Built on the Vista-class hull shared with Holland America and Cunard. Ordered as Cunard's Queen Victoria and reassigned to P&O during construction; Cunard's Queen Victoria was subsequently built as a separate, larger ship delivered in 2007.
Adults only
One of two adults-only ships in the P&O fleet with Aurora. Carries around 3,000 works of art and glass-fronted external lifts.
Operators

Who operates the Arcadia

All 1 operator of record, verified 2026-07-15. Figures marked ≈ are approximate.

POP&O CruisesWorld cruises and long-haul itineraries from Southampton; adults only.1
Quick answers

Arcadia, asked and answered

How long is the Arcadia?
289.9 m (951 ft) length overall — the #122 longest of the 142 ships on ships.fyi, and 2.8 football pitches end to end.
How big is the Arcadia compared to the Titanic?
The Arcadia is 1.08× the Titanic's length — 289.9 m against her 269.06 m. By volume the gap is starker still: 84,342 GT against Titanic's 46,328 GRT — roughly 1.8 times the tonnage, measured across two different rule eras.
Who operates the Arcadia?
P&O Cruises. Current status: in service.
Does the Arcadia fit through the Panama Canal?
Not the original locks — but yes through the 2016 Neopanamax locks: at 289.9 m by 32.2 m on a 8 m draft she clears the 366 × 51.25 × 15.2 m expanded gauge.