P&O Cruises profile

Very much British cruise line with more than 150 years old tradition in passenger vessels operation. Offering worldwide no repeating itineraries with vast number of ports. The company is catering mostly to British passengers, plus a considerable amount of Americans, Australians and New Zealanders, basically people loyal to traditional British cruising and manners. That fact should be considered by potential crew members, as well.  

Arthur Anderson, the founder of U.K.-based P&O Cruises, came up with the concept of cruising for pleasure about 170 years ago. The company began in the 1880s as a combination of Orient Line and North of Scotland, and was later taken over by P&O. In 1904, P&O offered its its inaugural cruise holiday tour - a first class-only cruise with shore excursions organized by Thomas Cook. The company thrived between the World Wars and beyond. Like most cruise lines, however, after the onset of the jet liner - which basically trumped the need for passengers to make a crossing in order to travel between the U.S. and Europe (and beyond) - P&O was forced to adapt. P&O abolished the multi-class system on its ships. It acquired Los Angeles-based Princess Cruises in 1974 and Sitmar Cruises in 1988, which P&O chose to merge. Even more expansion followed for its Princess Cruises subsidiary. The mid-1990s marked a time of radical change for P&O. The company introduced Oriana, its first purpose-built modern cruise ship (as opposed to ocean liner), followed by the near-identical Aurora. P&O Cruises benefited from sister cruise line Princess Cruises a few years later when that line's Sea Princess and Ocean Princess were transferred; they became known as Adonia and Oceana, respectively. In October 2000, the company underwent another major change: P&O's parent company was acquired by Carnival Corporation and is now known as P&O Princess Cruises. Beyond P&O Princess U.K., other cruise lines falling under the parent company's umbrella include P&O Cruises Australia; Swan Hellenic Cruises; Ocean Village Cruises; and the German A'Rosa Cruises. An appropriate short description of the company would be something like: old money plus new money and a lot of both...

Fleet and itineraries:

Arcadia: British registered, built 2005, 83.000 gross tons, 1.952 passengers, 869 crew members. Itineraries: Caribbean, Mediterranean, Panama Canal, Mexican Riviera.

Aurora: British registered, built 2000, 76.000 gross tons, 1.850 passengers, 785 crew members. Itineraries: Caribbean, Mediterranean, Northern Europe, World Cruise.

Oceana: British registered, built 2000, 77.000 gross tons, 1.950 passengers, 850 crew members. Itineraries: Caribbean.

Oriana: British registered, built 1995, 69.000 gross tons, 1.800 passengers, 760 crew members. Itineraries: Africa, Mediterranean, Scandinavia/ Russia, Black Sea, Western Europe, Caribbean, Panama Canal, World Cruise.

Artemis (Ex-Royal Princess): British registered, built 1984, 45.000 gross tons, 1.196 passengers, 537 crew members. Itineraries: Caribbean, South America, South Pacific, Australasia, New Zealand, Europe.