P&O Cruises

This article is about the British cruise line. For the Australian cruise line, see P&O Cruises Australia. For the separately-owned ferry line, see P&O Ferries.

P&O Cruises is a British cruise line based at Carnival House in Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. It was originally a subsidiary of the shipping company P&O and was founded in 1977.^[1] Along with P&O Cruises Australia, another former subsidiary of P&O, it has the oldest heritage of any cruise line in the world, dating to P&O's first passenger operations in 1837.^[3][4][5]

P&O Cruises

P&O House Flag
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Hospitality and transportation
Predecessor	P&O
Founded	1977 (1977)^[1]
Headquarters	Southampton, England, UK
Area served	Europe, Caribbean
Key people	Paul Ludlow (President, P&O Cruises) David Dingle (Chairman, Carnival UK)
Products	Cruises
Revenue	$1.032 billion (2018)^[2]
Parent	Carnival Corporation & plc
Website	www.pocruises.com

P&O Cruises was divested from P&O in 2000, subsequently becoming a subsidiary of P&O Princess Cruises,^[6] before coming under its current ownership in 2003, following a merger between P&O Princess Cruises and Carnival Corporation.^[7]

History

Origins

Main article: P&O (company)

In 1834, Brodie McGhie Willcox, a ship broker from London, and Arthur Anderson, a sailor from the Shetland Islands, formed an association with Captain Richard Bourne, a steamship owner from Dublin.^[8] In 1837, the trio won a contract and began transporting mail and passengers from England to the Iberian Peninsula, founding the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company.^[9][5] In 1840, the company merged with the Transatlantic Steam Ship Company and expanded their operations to the Orient, becoming the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O).^[10] In 1844, P&O expanded its passenger operations from transportation to include leisure cruising, operating sailings from England to the Mediterranean that were the first of their kind.^[5] By the mid-1900s, passenger shipping for the purposes of transportation was threatened by the increasing affordability of air travel.^[11] Consequently, in the 1970s, P&O dedicated its passenger operations entirely to leisure cruising and, in 1977, relisted its passenger ships under the new subsidiary P&O Cruises.^[1]

1977–1995: Early years

 

Canberra of 1961 in Ponta Delgada, Azores in 1984

Initially, P&O Cruises operated Oriana and Canberra from Southampton, serving the UK market,^[12][13] and Arcadia from Sydney, serving the Australian market,^[14] while Uganda operated educational cruises.^[15] All of these ships had previously operated for P&O and had been transferred to the new subsidiary. In 1979, Arcadia departed the Australian fleet^[14] and was replaced by Sea Princess, which had previously been Kungsholm for Flagship Cruises.^[16] In 1981, Oriana relocated to serve the Australian market,^[12] while Sea Princess relocated to serve the UK market in 1982.^[16] The same year, Canberra was requisitioned as a troopship during the Falklands War,^[17] while Uganda was requisitioned as a hospital ship.^[18] Uganda departed the fleet shortly thereafter, in 1983.^[18] Oriana departed the Australian fleet in March 1986,^[19] and Sea Princess departed the UK fleet in November 1986.^[16] With only Canberra remaining, serving the UK market,^[4] P&O diverged its Australian operations in 1988, acquiring Sitmar Cruises, which already operated a ship in Australia.^[12] This led to the formation of P&O Cruises Australia, which would oversee Australian operations, while P&O Cruises continued to oversee UK operations.^[3]

1995–2008: First newbuilds and changes of ownership

 

Oriana of 1995 at Las Palmas, Gran Canaria in 2003

In the 1990s, P&O Cruises commissioned its first newbuild, the second Oriana, which entered service in April 1995.^[20] Unlike the older ocean liners the company had inherited from P&O, which had been designed to transport passengers from one place to another, the new Oriana was a cruise ship, built purely for pleasure cruising. At 69,153 gross tons, she was one of the largest in the world.^[21] Sea Princess also returned to the fleet in 1995, under the new name Victoria.^[16] Canberra departed the fleet in 1997 and was replaced the same year by a second Arcadia, which had previously been Star Princess for Princess Cruises.^[13] In 2000, Aurora, a newbuild of similar design to Oriana, entered service for P&O Cruises.^[22] However, her service suffered an inauspicious start when she was forced to abandon her maiden voyage due to mechanical problems.^[22] The same year, P&O divested all its cruise operations and formed the independent company P&O Princess Cruises, which now owned P&O Cruises.^[6] In 2002, Victoria departed the fleet^[16] and Oceana joined, having previously been Ocean Princess for Princess Cruises.^[23]

In 2003, the ownership of P&O Cruises changed once again when P&O Princess Cruises merged with Carnival Corporation to form Carnival Corporation & plc.^[7] Thereafter, Arcadia transferred to the new Ocean Village brand.^[24] Adonia, previously Sea Princess and a sister to Oceana, replaced Arcadia but returned to Princess Cruises in 2005.^[25] Adonia was replaced the same year by a newbuild Arcadia, which was allocated to P&O Cruises after having originally been intended for Holland America Line and thereafter Cunard Line.^[26] Arcadia was joined by Artemis, previously Royal Princess for Princess Cruises.^[27]

2008–present: Expansion, modernisation, and COVID-19

 

Britannia of 2015 in Rotterdam, Netherlands in 2019, bearing the company's post-2014 livery

The fleet expanded and modernised with the addition of the 116,017-ton newbuild Ventura in 2008,^[28] and her sister Azura in 2010.^[29] Artemis departed the fleet in 2011^[30] and was replaced by a second Adonia, which like Artemis had previously been Royal Princess for Princess Cruises.^[31] In 2012, P&O Cruises celebrated the 175th anniversary of the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company by staging a 'Grand Event', in which the entire fleet was assembled in Southampton.^[32] In 2014, the company introduced a new livery, based on the Union Jack, to emphasise its British heritage,^[33] and in 2015, the 143,730-ton newbuild Britannia joined the fleet.^[34] Adonia transferred to Carnival's new Fathom brand in 2016,^[35] returned in 2017,^[36] and then departed the fleet permanently in 2018.^[37] In 2019, the company's first newbuild, Oriana, also departed the fleet.^[38]

In March 2020, P&O Cruises joined every other cruise line worldwide in suspending passenger operations as a precaution against the emergent COVID-19 pandemic.^[39][40] This led to the departure of Oceana in July 2020, as Carnival sold multiple older ships across their fleets in order to increase liquidity.^[41] It also delayed the arrival of the 184,089-ton newbuild Iona from May 2020 to October 2020.^[42][43] Iona was the UK's first ship to be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) rather than fuel oil, which was intended to make her more environmentally friendly.^[44] The company resumed passenger operations in June 2021, after fifteen months, with Britannia being the first of the fleet to sail,^[45] followed by Iona in August 2021.^[46]

In March 2022, P&O Cruises suffered a public backlash following a mass firing of staff by P&O Ferries, another former subsidiary of P&O.^[47] They subsequently embarked on an advertising campaign in national newspapers and on social media in order to clarify their separate ownership.^[47]

Arvia, a sister ship to Iona, joined the fleet in December 2022.^[48]

Golden Cockerel

P&O Cruises awards the company's Golden Cockerel trophy to the fastest ship in its fleet.^[13] The trophy is currently held by Aurora, which achieved a speed of 25.7 knots in April 2019.^[49] It was previously held by the first Oriana until her retirement in 1986,^[13] Canberra until her retirement in 1997,^[13] and the second Oriana until her retirement in 2019.^[50]

Fleet

Current fleet

Ship	Built	Builder	Entered service	Gross tonnage	Flag^[51]	Notes	Image
Aurora	2000	Meyer Werft	2000	03 76,152	Bermuda	Has held the Golden Cockerel trophy since 2019^[49]
Arcadia	2005	Fincantieri	2005	05 84,342	Bermuda
Ventura	2008	Fincantieri	2008	07 116,017	Bermuda
Azura	2010	Fincantieri	2010	06 115,055	Bermuda
Britannia	2015	Fincantieri	2015	143,730	United Kingdom
Iona	2020	Meyer Werft	2020	184,089	United Kingdom
Arvia	2022	Meyer Werft	2022	185,206	United Kingdom	Joint largest cruise ship ever built for P&O Cruises and the UK market^[52] Originally planned for the first half of 2022,^[53] but delayed to December 2022 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic^[54] Construction started on 22 February 2021^[55]^[56]

Previous fleet

Ship	Built	Builder	In service	Gross tonnage	Flag	Notes	Image
Arcadia	1954	John Brown & Company	1977–1979	29,734	United Kingdom	Arcadia for P&O from 1954 to 1977 Scrapped in 1979
Uganda	1952	Barclay Curle	1977–1983	14,430	United Kingdom	Uganda for the British India Steam Navigation Company from 1952 to 1972, P&O from 1972 to 1977, and the Royal Navy from 1983 to 1985 Scrapped in 1992
Oriana	1960	Vickers-Armstrong	1977–1986	41,910	United Kingdom	Oriana for P&O from 1960 to 1977 Floating hotel and museum from 1986 to 2004 Capsized in 2004 and scrapped in 2005 Held the Golden Cockerel trophy until 1986^[13]
Canberra	1961	Harland and Wolff	1977–1997	49,073	United Kingdom	Canberra for P&O from 1961 to 1977 Scrapped in 1997 Held the Golden Cockerel trophy from 1986 to 1997^[13]
Sea Princess /Victoria	1965	John Brown & Company	1979–1986 (as Sea Princess), 1995–2002 (as Victoria)	27,670	United Kingdom	Kungsholm for Swedish America Line from 1966 to 1975 and Flagship Cruises from 1975 to 1978 Sea Princess for Princess Cruises from 1986 to 1995 Mona Lisa for Holiday Kreuzfahrten from 2002 to 2006 Oceanic II for Louis Cruises in 2007, Pullmantur Cruises in 2007, and The Scholar Ship from 2007 to 2008 Mona Lisa for Lord Nelson Seereisen in 2008, Peace Boat from 2008 to 2009, and Lord Nelson Seereisen from 2009 to 2010 Scrapped in 2016
Arcadia	1988	Chantiers de l'Atlantique	1997–2003	63,500	United Kingdom	Star Princess for Princess Cruises from 1989 to 1997 Ocean Village for Ocean Village from 2003 to 2010 Pacific Pearl for P&O Cruises Australia from 2010 to 2017 Columbus for Cruise & Maritime Voyages from 2017 to 2020 and Seajets from 2020 to 2021 Scrapped in 2021^[57]
Adonia	1998	Fincantieri	2003–2005	77,499	United Kingdom	Sea Princess for Princess Cruises from 1998 to 2003 and 2005 to 2020 Charming for Foresee Cruises since 2020^[58]
Artemis	1984	Wärtsilä	2005–2011	44,348	Bermuda	Royal Princess for Princess Cruises from 1984 to 2005 Artania for Phoenix Reisen since 2011
Adonia	2001	Chantiers de l'Atlantique	2011–2016, 2017–2018	30,277	Bermuda	R Eight for Renaissance Cruises from 2001 to 2003 Minerva II for Swan Hellenic from 2003 to 2007 Royal Princess for Princess Cruises from 2007 to 2011 Adonia for Fathom from 2016 to 2017 Azamara Pursuit for Azamara Club Cruises since 2018
Oriana	1995	Meyer Werft	1995–2019	69,153	Bermuda	Piano Land for Astro Ocean since 2019^[59] Held the Golden Cockerel trophy from 1997 to 2019^[50]
Oceana	2000	Fincantieri	2002–2020	77,499	Bermuda	Ocean Princess for Princess Cruises from 2000 to 2002 Queen of the Oceans for Seajets since 2020^[60]

References

1. "From Liners to Leisure". P&O Heritage. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
2. "2018 Worldwide Cruise Line Market Share". Cruise Market Watch. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
3. "History of Our Fleet". P&O Cruises Australia. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
4. Coulter, Adam (21 December 2017). "P&O Cruises History". Cruise Critic. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
5. "History of P&O". P&O Cruises Australia. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
6. Bennett, Neil (23 July 2000). "P&O reshapes cruise float". Telegraph. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
7. "Carnival cruises towards P&O deal". BBC. 25 October 2002. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
8. "Men of Steam". P&O Heritage. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
9. "First Mail Contract". P&O Heritage. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
10. "Royal Charter". P&O Heritage. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
11. "The Threat from Above". P&O Heritage. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
12. Goossens, Reuben. "From Birth to Breakers". SS Maritime. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
13. Goossens, Reuben. "SS Canberra – Times Are 'a' Changing". SS Maritime. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
14. Messinger, Nick. "P&O ss Arcadia 1954". The Old Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
15. "Educational cruise ship service". SS Uganda Trust. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
16. Goossens, Reuben. "From P&O's Sea Princess, Victoria, Mona Lisa, Oceanic II and Hotel Veronca to the breakers in 2015". SS Maritime. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
17. "South to the Falklands". P&O Heritage. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
18. "SS Uganda Trust Home Page". SS Uganda Trust. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
19. "Ship Fact Sheet: Oriana (1960)" (PDF). P&O Heritage. November 2009. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
20. "P&O Oriana – Cruise Ship". Ship Technology. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
21. . Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
22. "Super-liner limps back to port". BBC. 3 May 2000. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
23. Boyle, Ian. "Oceana – Ocean Princess". Simplon Postcards. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
24. "CMV Columbus". CruiseMapper. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
25. Boyle, Ian. "Adonia – Sea Princess of P&O Princess Cruises". Simplon Postcards. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
26. Williamson, Jeannine. "Arcadia Review". Cruise Critic. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
27. Vass, Jacqueline (12 June 2004). "A great sea change". Telegraph. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
28. Archer, Jane (17 April 2008). "Helen Mirren's mission on the Ventura". Telegraph. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
29. Archer, Jane (23 November 2009). "Darcey Bussell named Godmother of Azura". Travel Weekly. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
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33. "P&O Cruises reveals new Union Flag livery". Travel Weekly. 16 January 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
34. Thompson, Nigel (27 February 2015). "See inside P&O Cruises' new flagship Britannia and discover why it really is such a big deal". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
35. Sampson, Hannah (4 June 2015). "Carnival launches fathom, a new "social impact travel" brand". Miami Herald. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
36. Davies, Phil (24 November 2016). "Fathom to lose only ship as Adonia rejoins P&O fleet". Travel Weekly. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
37. "P&O Respond And Apologise To Guests After News Of Selling Ship". Cruise. 27 September 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
38. Davies, Phil (29 June 2018). "Oriana to leave P&O Cruises fleet in August 2019". Travel Weekly. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
39. Sullivan, Isabella (16 March 2020). "Coronavirus: P&O Cruises and Cunard Are Latest Lines to Suspend Operations for 30 Days". World of Cruising. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
40. Amos, Owen (20 April 2020). "Coronavirus journey: The 'last cruise ship on Earth' finally comes home". BBC News. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
41. Kalosh, Anna (10 July 2020). "Carnival Corp. to sell 9 ships, just 5 of 9 newbuilds due 2020/21 will come by end 2021". Seatrade Cruise News. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
42. "New Iona Delivered to P&O Cruises". Cruise Industry News. 12 October 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
43. Spencer, Kerry (30 March 2020). "P&O Cruises Reveals Maiden Voyage of New Ship Iona Will be Delayed". Cruise Critic. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
44. "Carnival Corporation to Build Three New LNG-Powered Cruise Ships with Meyer Werft and Meyer Turku". Carnival Corporation & plc. 6 September 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
45. "P&O Cruises Welcomes First Guests as Britannia Sails". Cruise Industry News. 27 June 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
46. Clark, Katie (8 August 2021). "P&O Cruises Iona leaves Southampton on maiden voyage". Daily Echo. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
47. Blake, Elly (31 March 2022). "P&O Cruises takes out adverts to make clear it is not related to disgraced P&O Ferries". Evening Standard. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
48. Coulter, Adam (18 February 2021). "P&O Cruises Reveals Name of New Ship, Arvia". Cruise Critic. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
49. Ludlow, Paul (22 August 2019). "The passing of the P&O Cruises 'Golden Cockerel' trophy, from one captain to another". Twitter. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
50. "Oriana leaving P&O Cruises fleet" (PDF). Tom's Cruise Blog. 29 June 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
51. "Vessel Database". FleetMon. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
52. "P&O Orders New Ship for 2022 Delivery". Cruise Industry News. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
53. "Building Overview MEYER Group" (PDF). Retrieved 29 November 2020.
54. "P&O Updates Newbuild Delivery Schedule". 4 August 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
55. Coulter, Adam (22 February 2021). "P&O Cruises Cuts Steel For New Cruise Ship, Arvia". Cruise Critic. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
56. "Schwimmteil für Kreuzfahrtschiff verlässt Meyer-Werft-Dock" (in German). 25 October 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
57. "CMV's Former Columbus is Latest Cruise Ship Headed to Indian Scrappers". The Maritime Executive. 23 March 2021. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
58. "New hull art added to the former Sea Princess by the new operator Foresee Cruises". Crew Center. 2 February 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
59. "Astro Ocean Takes Over Piano Land as Ship Sails for China". Cruise Industry News. 17 August 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
60. Bailey, Jordan (22 July 2020). "P&O's Former Oceana Acquired By Greek Ferry Operator". Cruise Capital. Retrieved 23 July 2020.

External links

•  United Kingdom portal
•  Transport portal

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to P&O Cruises.

• Official website  
• P&O Cruises Australia
• The Last Ocean Liners (trade routes and ships of P&O-Orient Lines in the 1950s, 60s and 70s)