P&O Cruises has announced Her Majesty The Queen, accompanied by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, will official launch the new P&O Cruises vessel Britannia.

The naming ceremony will take place at Ocean Terminal, Southampton on Tuesday March 10th.

Carnival UK chairman David Dingle said: “We are honoured and proud that Her Majesty will name Britannia almost 20 years after she named the P&O Cruises ship Oriana.

“Britannia, a ship for the nation, will be the embodiment of contemporary Britain, and with her Union Jack livery she will fly the flag for Britain across the Globe.”

The biggest ship designed exclusively for Britain, Britannia is P&O Cruises’ latest ‘modern classic’, heralding a new era of holiday choice.

Chief among her features are her restaurants, bars and cafes, with menus and culinary experiences created by P&O Cruises’ ‘Food Heroes’; James Martin, Marco Pierre White, Atul Kochhar, and Eric Lanlard, as well as wine expert Olly Smith and cheese expert Charlie Turnbull.

The new Epicurean restaurant is a multi-sensory cooking experience with touches of molecular gastronomy to complement the more traditional dishes, while the Limelight Club will combine a supper club with contemporary entertainment.

Britannia’s bar highlights include the Great British Gin Menu with 20 artisan gins in the Crow’s Nest cocktail lounge and the Great British Beer Menu with 70 UK bottled beers, ales and ciders in Brodie’s pub.

P&O Cruises will also uphold its celebration of all things British by selecting sparkling wine from the Wiston Estate Winery in Sussex for the bottle smash moment at the naming ceremony.

A nebuchadnezzar of the quintessentially British Brut NV will be used for the ceremony itself while thousands of bottles of Brut NV and Rosé Vintage 2011 will be enjoyed during the various inaugural events that are scheduled to take place around the launch.