P&O Cruises

This article is about P&O Cruises' United Kingdom operations. For P&O Cruises' Australian operations, see P&O Cruises Australia.

P&O Cruises

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Transportation
Predecessor	Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company
Founded	1837
Headquarters	Southampton, UK
Area served	United Kingdom
Key people	Carol Marlow (Managing Director)
Products	Cruises
Parent	Carnival Corporation & PLC
Website	P&O Cruises
References: P&O House Flag

P&O Cruises is a British-American owned cruise line based at Carnival House in Southampton, England, and operated by Carnival UK. Originally a constituent of the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company, P&O Cruises is the oldest cruise line in the world, having operated the world's first passenger ships in the early 19th Century. It is the sister company of, and retains strong links with P&O Cruises Australia. P&O Cruises was de-merged from the P&O group in 2000, becoming a subsidiary of P&O Princess Cruises PLC, which subsequently merged with Carnival Corporation in 2003, to form Carnival Corporation & plc. P&O Cruises currently operates seven cruise ships with a total passenger capacity of 14,970 and a 5% market share of all cruise lines worldwide^[1]. Its most recent vessel MS Adonia joined the fleet in May 2011.

History of P&O passenger services

Strathaird of 1932 at Fremantle Harbour c.1950

Oriana of 1960 at Vava'u, Tonga in 1985

Oriana of 1995 at Las Palmas, Gran Canaria in 2003

Aurora departing Helsinki, Finland in May 2007.

Azura docked at the Ocean Terminal in Southampton, UK on April 11, 2010

19th Century

P&O Cruises originates from 1822, with the formation of the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company, which began life as a partnership between Brodie McGhie Willcox, a London ship broker, and Arthur Anderson, a sailor from the Shetland Isles. The company first operated a shipping line with routes between England and the Iberian Peninsula, adopting the name Peninsular Steam Navigation Company.^[2] In 1837, the company won a contract to deliver mail to the Peninsula,^[2] with its first mail ship, RMS Don Juan, departing from London on 1 September 1837. The ship collected mail from Falmouth four days later, however it hit rocks on the homeward bound leg of the trip. The company’s reputation survived only because all objects including mail were rescued.

In 1840, the company acquired a second contract to deliver mail to Alexandria, Egypt, via Gibraltar and Malta.^[2] The company was incorporated by Royal Charter the same year, becoming the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. At the time, the company had no ships available to use on the route, so agreed to merge with the Liverpool based Transatlantic Steamship Company, acquiring two ships, the 1,300-ton Great Liverpool and the newly built 1,600-ton Oriental.

P&O first introduced passenger services in 1844, advertising sea tours to destinations such as Gibraltar, Malta and Athens, sailing from Southampton. The forerunner of modern cruise holidays, these voyages were the first of their kind, and have led to P&O Cruises being recognised as the world's oldest cruise line. The company later introduced round trips to destinations such as Alexandria and Constantinople and underwent rapid expansion in the later half of the 19th century, with its ships becoming larger and more luxurious. Notable ships of the era include the SS Ravenna built in 1880, which became the first ship to be built with a total steel superstructure, and the SS Valetta built in 1889, which was the first ship to use electric lights.

20th Century

In 1904 the company advertised its first cruise on the 6,000-ton Vectis, a ship specially fitted out for the purpose of carrying 150 first-class passengers. Ten years later the company merged with the British India Steam Navigation Company, leaving the fleet with a total of 197 ships. In the same year the company had around two-thirds of its fleet relinquished for war service. However, the company was fortunate and only lost 17 ships in the First World War, with a further 68 lost in subsidiary companies. A major event in the company’s history took place in December 1918, when P&O purchased 51% of the Orient Steam Navigation Company, which had been previously operating jointly with P&O on the Australian mail contract. During the 1920s, P&O and Orient Line took delivery of over 20 passenger liners, allowing them to expand their operations once again. Cruises began operating once again in 1925, when Ranchi’s maiden voyage was a cruise to Norway. During 1929, P&O offered 15 cruises, some aboard Viceroy of India, the company’s first turbo-electric ship.

The P&O Group left the Second World War with a loss of 156 ships including popular liners such as Viceroy of India, Cathay, Oronsay and Orcades. By the late 1940s commercial aviation was beginning to take hold of the industry so newer ships became larger and faster, allowing the sailing time to Australia to be cut from five to four weeks. In 1955 P&O and Orient Lines ordered what were to be their last passenger liners — the Canberra and Oriana. These fast ships bought the Australian run down another week to just three, with Oriana recording a top speed of just over 30 knots during trials.

P&O-Orient Lines

During 1961, P&O bought out the remaining stake in Orient Lines and renamed its passenger operations as P&O-Orient Lines. The decreasing popularity of line voyages during the 1960s and 1970s meant that cruising became an important deployment for these ships in-between line voyages. In 1971 the company reorganised its 100 subsidiaries and 239 ships into several operating divisions, one of which was The Passenger Division which began with 13 ships. The 1970s was a grim time for the passenger liner as many young liners were sold for scrap. Princess Cruises was acquired in 1974 which allowed the almost new Spirit of London to be transferred to the Princess fleet. This left Canberra and Oriana to serve the UK market on their own, with Arcadia deployed in Australia and Uganda offering educational cruises.

P&O Cruises

In 1977, P&O re-branded its passenger division, creating P&O Cruises and P&O Cruises Australia. In February 1979 Kungsholm, a former Swedish American Line vessel, was acquired from Flagship Cruises and after a major refit was re-named Sea Princess. Operating out of Australia, she replaced Arcadia that was then sold to Taiwanese ship breakers. In spring 1982 Oriana replaced Sea Princess in Australia, leaving Sea Princess to be transferred to the UK. When Canberra returned from the Falklands War, Sea Princess was switched to the Princess fleet in 1986 leaving just the Canberra for the UK market. With Canberra's withdrawal becoming ever more imminent, P&O ordered its first new ship for the British market, the Oriana, with her being delivered in 1995. Canberra ran alongside her for two years until she was scrapped in 1997, replaced by Star Princess that was renamed Arcadia.

Arcadia became the first ship in the P&O fleet to be dedicated for adults only, commencing a trend that was followed by the second Sea Princess, renamed as Adonia. The Adonia has since transferred back to Princess Cruises, when replaced in 2005 by the new Arcadia, an original Vista class design. The previous Arcadia was transferred to the new "Ocean Village" brand and was renamed Ocean Village.

In April 2000 Aurora, a half-sister ship to Oriana entered service for P&O. Although externally Aurora is similar to her half-sister Oriana, internally she is much different. Aurora also has a larger Gross Tonnage partly due to the fact that she has an enclosed centre swimming pool.

Oceana (ex Ocean Princess), a sister ship of Sea Princess, transferred to P&O at the same time as Adonia, and remains in the P&O fleet. Another former Princess ship, Artemis, joined P&O in 2005, and left the fleet in 2011 and was been replaced by the former Royal Princess and was renamed Adonia, she is even smaller than the Artemis at 30,000 gross tons and is the smallest in the fleet.

P&O Cruises announced in June 2011 that it will expand its fleet with a 141,000-ton cruise ship, built by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri, scheduled to enter service in 2015.^[3]

P&O Princess Cruises PLC

Main article: P&O Princess Cruises PLC

In February 2000, it was announced that all cruise ship operations, including P&O Cruises, were to be de-merged from the P&O group, forming a new independent company, P&O Princess Cruises PLC. The company operated the P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises Australia, AIDA Cruises and later A'Rosa Cruises and Ocean Village fleets, before merging with Carnival Corporation to form Carnival Corporation & plc in 2003.

Golden Cockerel

MV Oriana holds the Golden Cockerel trophy for the fastest ship in the P&O fleet. Previously held by SS Oriana it passed to SS Canberra on retirement of the first Oriana in 1986. On Canberra's final cruise in 1997 the Golden Cockerel was handed over to the new Oriana when both ships were anchored off Cannes and sent boats out to perform the handover.

Current fleet

Ship	Built	Entered service for P&O	Gross Tonnage	Flag	Notes
Adonia	2001	2011	30,277 GT	Bermuda	ex-Royal Princess with Princess Cruises.
Arcadia	2005	2005	86,799 GT	Bermuda	Originally ordered as Queen Victoria for Cunard Line, transferred to P&O during construction
Aurora	2000	2000	76,152 GT	Bermuda
Azura	2010	2010	115,000 GT	Bermuda [4]
Oceana	2000	2002	77,499 GT	Bermuda[5]	ex-Ocean Princess with Princess Cruises
Oriana	1995	1995	69,153 GT	Bermuda[5]
Ventura	2008	2008	116,017 GT	Bermuda

Future fleet

On 1 June 2011, Carnival Corporation & plc announced an order from Fincantieri for a new 141,000 ton cruise ship for P&O.^[3] The ship, unnamed at the time of the announcement, is to have a capacity of 3,611 people, and will enter service in 2015.^[3]

Ship	Will enter service for P&O	Gross tonnage	Notes
TBA	2015	141,000 GT	Largest cruise ship to be built for the UK market.[3]

References

1. ^ "2012 World Wide Market Share". Cruise Market Watch. 2011-11-20. http://www.cruisemarketwatch.com/blog1/market-share/. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} A Brief History of P&O
3. ^ ^{a b c d} "USA: Fincantieri Receives Order from Carnival Corps to Build New Cruise Ship". Shipbuilding Tribune. 2 June 2011. Archived from the original on 2 October 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/6299g6upW. Retrieved 3 October 2011. 
4. ^ Azura vessel details
5. ^ ^{a b} "Shipping News 2006". Maritime Matters. 2008-11-23. Archived from the original on 2007-12-13. http://web.archive.org/web/20071213023907/http://www.maritimematters.com/shipnews2006e.html. Retrieved 2008-03-19. 

• P&O:The Fleet - Miles Cowsill, John Hendy, William Mayes 2000 ISBN 1 871947 54 5
• Cruise Ships - William Mayes 2005 ISBN 0 9547206 1X
• Artemis Last Cruise

External links

	United Kingdom portal
	Nautical portal

• P&O Cruises Official Website
• P&O Cruises North America Website
• P&O Cruises at Fakta om Fartyg (in Swedish)
• The Last Ocean Liners (trade routes and ships of P&O-Orient Lines in the 1950s, 60s and 70s)