THIS is the first official sight of Southampton’s next luxury cruise ship, Azura.

The Daily Echo can today reveal exclusively that the latest addition to P&O Cruises’ fleet of citybased vessels is due to arrive from the Italian shipyard, where she is now taking shape, in spring next year.

A sister-ship to the 116,000-ton Ventura which began service in Southampton in 2008, Azura represents the latest generation of ships currently fuelling demand from the UK’s rapidly expanding cruise sector.

Once in service together, Azura and Ventura, will be the two largest ships ever built for P&O Cruises and dedicated to British passengers.

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Soaring nearly 195ft – almost as high as Southampton’s Civic Centre clock tower – above the waves, Azura, longer than two football pitches, will be able to accommodate up to 3,100 passengers and 1,200 crew members.

One of P&O Cruises’ firsts on board will be a series of staterooms, on deck six, designed specifically for passengers travelling on their own.

On-board passenger facilities will include 1,557 staterooms, of which more than 900 boast private balconies, 11 different restaurants and 12 bars.

There will also be a two-tier West End-style theatre, three dancefloors, four pools, an outdoor cinema screen, an art gallery, casino, library, hi-tech gym and extensive spa together with a fully equipped medical centre.

Among the restaurant choices will be Sindhu, created by the renowned Atul Kochtar, the first Indian chef to be awarded a coveted Michelin star.

As well as an award-winning eaterie in London, Atul has a restaurant near Wickham.

Azura will undertake worldwide voyages with itineraries that will visit the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, the Baltic, the Caribbean and the Canary Islands.

Workers at Fincantieri’s Monfalcone shipyard near Trieste, are at present assembling 50 different sections and several additional interconnecting steel blocks to construct Azura.

It will take to the water for the first time when she is floated out of the dry dock this summer, before her delivery to P&O Cruises in spring 2010.