P&O Cruises, the UK focused contemporary market unit of Carnival Corporation & plc, will axe the 2000 built Oceana, the company said in a statement.

“P&O Cruises can confirm that Oceana will leave the fleet from July this year,” the company said.

The ship started life as Ocean Princess of sister company Princess Cruises and was transferred to P&O Cruises in 2003. It is a unit of the Sun Princess class and has a gross tonnage of 77,449.

P&O Cruises president Paul Ludlow said in the statement: “Whilst we and many of our guests will miss Oceana, her departure will allow us to focus on our remaining ships in the fleet, as capacity expands with the delivery of Iona later this year followed by her sister ship, scheduled for 2022. During this pause in our operations we need to fit the fleet for the future and ensure we have the right mix of ships once we resume sailing.”

Carnival group said a few weeks ago that six ships would leave its combined fleet of about 100 vessels in the subsequent 90 days and additional disposals could be expected.

The 1996 built Costa Victoria of Costa Crociere became the first disposal of the group when the vessel was acquired by an Italian company for recycling earlier this summer.