Naming Iona – a remarkable coincidence

With Iona’s naming ceremony taking place today, marking a very special occasion for P&O Cruises, our very own Matt Waugh, Senior Engineer, Carnival Corporate Shipbuilding, tells us of another special occasion for him, with some remarkable similarities… 

The date is 16 May, the location is Southampton, and the occasion is the naming ceremony for the latest addition to the family, Iona, though she is one year old by this point. But if we look back to the year 2015 at another occasion without celebrity guests, just some great friends, family and a barbeque, the centre of attention is not a magnificent cruise ship but my own daughter, Iona.

The remarkable coincidence in terms of name, date, and location between the naming ceremonies of both the latest addition to our P&O Cruises fleet and my own family certainly got our attention, which is why I wanted to share this short anecdote with you.

I met my wife, Clare aboard the Star Princess, where I was an Electro-Technical Officer and she was a Photo Manager. We married in 2010 and Iona was born in May 2014. Since she was born we had promised to take her to the Scottish island with which she shares her name, a place I visited many times as a child. And last August, even in spite of Covid, we made it to the Isle of Iona.

In 2018 when the name of P&O Cruises latest ship was released – until that point I’d simply known her as Hull S710 – this struck a special chord in our family, and our daughter was very excited that there was going to be a ship with the same name as her. Our naming ceremony for Iona was a very special day, and the same will certainly be true for her namesake when the MV Iona arrives in Southampton.