P&O Cruises

P&O Cruises

Type	Public (Owned by Carnival Corporation)
Founded	1840s as the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company
Headquarters	Southampton, UK
Area served	United Kingdom
Industry	Transportation
Products	Cruises
Website	http://www.pocruises.com/

P&O Cruises is a United Kingdom-based cruise line that currently operates six cruise ships, with a seventh under construction. Based in the United Kingdom it is one of the many cruise lines operated by Carnival Corporation & plc. P&O Cruises was a part of the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company until 2003 and as such it was the first cruise line in the world, having operated the world's first cruises in the 1840s.

History of P&O passenger services

19th Century

The company’s first mail steamer, Don Juan, departed from London on 1 September 1837, collecting mail from Falmouth four days later. Unfortunately, the ship fell afoul of rocks on the homeward bound leg of the trip. The company’s reputation survived, however, as all passengers, crew, mail and cargo were rescued. In 1839 the company won the contract to carry mail between Falmouth and Alexandria via Gibraltar and Malta. At the time, the company had no ships available to use on the route, nor any capital to invest in new tonnage. Therefore a merger was agreed to with the Transatlantic Steamship Company of Liverpool, which bought two ships, the 1,300-ton Great Liverpool and the newly built 1,600-ton Oriental into the company. P&O invented cruising in 1844 when it advertised tours to destinations such as Gibraltar, Malta and Athens by sea, sailing from Southampton. Consequently, round trips were offered to destinations such as Alexandria and Constantinople. During the second half of the nineteenth century, their ships became larger and luxurious as their routes expanded. Ravenna of 1880 became the first ship to be built with a total steel superstructure, and Valetta was the first ship to use electric lights.

20th Century

Strathaird of 1932 at Fremantle Harbour c. 1950.

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 1940’s 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.

Oriana of 1960 at Vava'u, Tonga, 1985.

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 1960’s and 1970’s 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 1970’s 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

P&O Passenger Division was re-named P&O Cruises in 1977. 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.

Aurora departing Helsinki, Finland in May 2007.

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, it is currently the smallest member of the P&O fleet.

In February 2000, it was announced that P&O Cruises was to be demerged into a new company, P&O Princess. This meant that the company was no longer part of the P&O group, instead operating independently under the P&O Princess name. Talks were with Royal Caribbean and Festival Cruises in 2001 over a possible merge. However, shareholders eventually voted for to merge with Carnival Corporation, who demerged P&O Princess back into separate companies.

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
Arcadia	2005	2005	86799 GT	Bermuda	Originally ordered as Queen Victoria for Cunard Line, transferred to P&O during construction
Artemis	1984	2005	44348 GT	Bermuda	ex-Royal Princess with Princess Cruises. To leave P&O Fleet in April 2011.
Aurora	2000	2000	76152 GT	Bermuda
Oceana	2000	2002	77499 GT	Bermuda[1]	ex-Ocean Princess with Princess Cruises
Oriana	1995	1995	69153 GT	Bermuda[1]
Ventura	2008	2008	113000 GT	Bermuda

Ships under construction

References

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009)

• 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

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: P&O Cruises

• 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)