The publicity machine is cranking itself into gear for P&O’s new baby – the biggest cruise ship ever to be built for the British market.

As construction gathers pace in an Italian dry dock, the company has disclosed the team of senior officers who will command the ship.

The long-awaited announcement of the vessel’s name is expected to be made before the end of the month, and speculation is beginning to build.

The only certainty is that – in common with every other vessel in P&O’s fleet – it will end with an ‘a.’ Beyond that, predictions (or guesses) have veered from a revival of the much-loved Canberra to something new. My money was mischievously on Carolia – after managing director Carol Marlow – until it was announced she would be leaving the company.

Gerard Tempest, the chief commercial officer at parent company Carnival UK, told me in July that his boss, chief executive David Dingle, would have a big hand in selecting the name.

“David is a walking encyclopedia of shipping and of P&O,” said Tempest. “He knows exactly what has gone before and what the name for the new ship will mean in terms of the heritage of the business.

“Before we can make a final decision there’s the whole legal business of registering the name as a trademark and ensuring that we actually own the name.”

So it is interesting to see that within the past few weeks, Carnival UK has registered two trademarks with the UK’s Intellectual Property Office.

First to be filed, on June 12, was Olympia. It was followed on July 27 byBritannia.

If either of them is the chosen name, it will be an interesting selection. Britannia is, of course, the name of the Royal Yacht, now a tourist attraction in Leith, Scotland, rather than an active ship on Her Majesty’s service. Britannia was also the name of the first steamship built for Cunard’s Transatlantic mail service, in 1840.

Olympia has been used to name a previous P&O ship, albeit more than 100 years ago.

Both names have other historic echoes. Olympic and Britannic were sister ships to the Titanic, a name you may have heard of and which is guaranteed never to be revived.

Those crew names, by the way: Paul Brown and David Pembridge are to be captains.

Brown joined P&O in 1996 and was first promoted to captain in June 2007 on board Aurora. He then went on to be master on board Artemis, Oriana, Ventura and Azura.

Pembridge joined the company in 1976 and was first promoted to captain in October 2002 on board Pacific Princess. He then went on to be master on board Royal Princess, Sun Princess, Artemis, Oceana, Ocean Village 2, Oriana and Aurora.

Martin Allen and Hamish Sunter have been named as deputy captains, and Darljit Sharma and Keith de la Mare as executive pursers.