Among the celebrities on board - who included Top Gear's Louise Brady, Coronation Street's Tracie Bennett and Casualty's Sarah Manners - was Alan Thomson, managing director of Fourth Phase London. Working for Unusual Services, Fourth Phase supplied lighting design, equipment and crew for a 25-minute dance show, which took place on the covered swimming pool on board the 63,524-ton liner. Lighting designer Paul Cook used MAC 500s and 600s, plus colour scrollers on ETC Source Fours, to fill the venue with colour and movement.
After the naming ceremony - which Ulrika dutifully carried out in the traditional manner, with a bottle or two of champagne - fireworks filled the Southampton sky. Fourth Phase's Alan Thomson said: "Despite the choppy weather during the fit-up on the Sunday night (it's not ideal working outdoors on the 14th floor of a ship in the dark!), and a drizzly evening on the Monday for the party, all went well. Everyone was very pleased with the overall effect."
At the ceremony, P&O's managing director, Nick Lighton, said: "Ocean Village marks the beginning of a new generation of cruise ships for the young. It's all about giving cruising a real shot of adrenalin, and I think that such a lively, exciting naming ceremony simply provides a taste of things to come."
(Lee Baldock)
