The world's newest cruise ship arrived in Southampton for her international debut in a riot of colour.

Weighing in at nearly 92,000 tons, Norwegian Dawn make a spectacular impression as she sailed up Southampton Water with her hull covered in distinctive artwork.

Norwegian Cruise Line's choice of Southampton for the official unveiling of the superliner underlines the importance of the city as the UK's number one centre for the nation's multi-million-pound cruise industry.

Southampton now dominates this vital port trade with more than 200 separate cruise ship calls already booked with the city's docks for 2003.

Splashed across the whole expanse of Norwegian Dawn's hull are colourful designs and images depicting the vessel's future voyages.

Starboard shows dolphins playing in waves representing the Caribbean cruises that the ship will undertake out of Miami, while the port side carries an image of the Statue of Liberty to highlight the voyages the ship will make to the Bahamas and Florida from New York.

The hull also features reproduced signatures of the Impressionist artists Renoir, Matisse, Van Gogh and Monet as well as pop art icon Andy Warhol.

These signatures highlight the four original masterpieces that are on display in one of the ship's restaurants and the collection of pop art featuring signed pictures by Andy Warhol elsewhere on the ship, which will be based in America.

Norwegian Cruise Line's latest addition to its fleet is expected to arrive during the morning in the Eastern Docks for a two-day stay before leaving on Saturday for an inaugural shakedown transatlantic voyage to New York. While in Southampton hundreds of guests from the shipping and travel industries have been invited to tour the ship while she is alongside the Queen Elizabeth II passenger terminal at 38/9 berth.

Among the ship's passenger facilities are a total of ten restaurants, which means guests can eat at a different spot every night of the voyage, together with more than a dozen bars and lounges, the largest indoor swimming pool on any cruise ship and a casino.