P&O Cruises has announced that Captain Robert Camby will lead the team responsible for on board operations for its newest LNG-powered ship Arvia, which will enter service in December 2022.

Camby will bring out Arvia from the Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany to the home port of Southampton, from where the ship will sail its inaugural winter cruises before repositioning to Barbados for its first series of Caribbean cruises.

Arvia, similar to its sister ship Iona, will be the next in P&O Cruises’ Excel-class. The ship is currently being built at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg.

Camby joined the P&O Princess Cruises Cadet programme in 1995 and started his studies as a deck cadet at South Shields Nautical College.

His first ship was SS Canberra, before gaining his masters ticket in December 2003.  In November 2005, Camby was appointed as navigator on Cunard’s flagship Queen Mary 2, where he remained working up to the rank of deputy captain in June 2008.

In December 2011, he was promoted to captain taking his first command of Oriana in January 2012. Since then, he has commanded Azura, Arcadia, Aurora, Oceana, Ventura, Britannia, Queen Victoria, Queen Mary 2 and most recently Iona.

Camby said: “After 26 years with the company I feel so privileged to command Arvia and to be working alongside the most talented and experienced team.

“Arvia will underpin all the innovative and environmental credentials of Iona and will create even more aspirational and desirable guest experiences and itineraries specifically for British guests.”

Supporting Camby on Arvia will be Captain Paul Brown, Andy Foote and Archie Kennedy as deputy captains, Robert Long as chief engineer, and Helen Kimber and Daljit Sharma as hotel general managers.

Other members of the senior management team will be announced shortly, P&O stated.