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WORK on Britain's biggest and best-equipped cruise ship - the 116,000-ton Ventura - is due to start today.

The state-of-the-art vessel, which will carry more than 3,000 passengers in the height of luxury, will be 15 decks high and almost 300 metres long.

She is expected to be based in Southampton and is due to enter service in less than two years' time.

Weighing roughly the equivalent of 29,000 elephants, Ventura will boast five swimming pools, six boutiques and eight restaurants - plus a nightclub, a casino and the biggest theatre on a British ship.

In terms of size she will beat the previous UK record-holder Arcadia by 31,000 tons. However, she will be considerably smaller than Queen Mary 2, which is a transatlantic liner and, at 151,400 tons, is still the tallest, longest and heaviest passenger vessel in the world.

Ventura's keel-laying ceremony was due to take place at a shipyard near Trieste, Italy, today.

She will take to the water in June next year and is due to be delivered to her owners, Southampton-based P&O Cruises, in March 2008.

Ventura is due to depart on her maiden voyage in April 2008 but details will not be announced until early next year.

5:30am Tuesday 29th August 2006

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