P&O Cruises plc

Title: P&O Cruises plc Category: P Clicks: 0 Listing added: Mar 1, 2009 PageRank: 6/10

P&O’s beginnings go back to the 1837 when as the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company began passenger conveyance. Novelist William Makepeace Thackeray made a "Mediterranean cruise" -- a Grand Tour by sea aboard a series of P&O ships in 1844, and published his enthusiastic memoirs in "Notes of a Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo." The company to this day has remained a British-based shipping line and in its heyday served the British Empire.

In the 1880s the Orient Line and the North of Scotland company, both later to be taken over by P&O, pioneered modern-style cruises, and in 1904 P&O offered its first program: First Class only with shore excursions arranged by Thomas Cook, using the 23-year-old liner Rome, renamed Vectis in her new role as a "cruising yacht." Between the wars cruising became more popular, often using the newest ships in the fleet rather than the oldest. Tourist class cruises began in the early 1930s and Pacific cruises from Australia a few years later. In 1960, the company merged with the Orient Line to form P&O-Orient Lines

P&O's last ship built for scheduled line voyages, Canberra, was delivered in 1961, but by the 1970s, jet airlines had taken over the company's traditional passenger trades while the container ship packed up liner cargoes. Forced to concentrate on the leisure side of sea travel, P&O abolished passenger classes, acquired Los Angeles-based Princess Cruises in 1974, and Sitmar Cruises in 1988. Sitmar cruises was then merged with Princess Cruises.

In 1999, P&O entered Continental Europe with the acquisition of a majority stake in AIDA, and the following year acquired the remainder of AIDA and Seetours, a company specializing in the German cruise and riverboat sector. That same year, the company demerged from the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company and became known as P&O Princess Cruises. In July 2001 A'ROSA, a new premium destination-oriented brand catering exclusively for German-speaking customers was launched. In 2003, P&O Princess Cruises plc merged with Carnival Corporation, to become Carnival & plc.

SHIPS:
Aurora 1,874 p UK Registry

Oriana 1,822 p UK Registry

Arcadia 1,475 p UK Registry

Oceana 1,950 p UK Registry

Adonia 2,010 UK Registry

Arcadia* 1,952 p UK Registry

Artemis* 1,203 p UK Registry

* Debuts 2005

ADDRESSES:
UK Home Office :
Richmond House
Terminus Terrace
Southampton
SO14 3PN UK
Reservations: 0845 3 555 333:
Fax: 023 8065-7030

US Office address:

7 Princess Tours
2815 Second Avenue
Suite 400
Seattle Washington 98121 - 1299
Tel. 1 206 728 4202
Tel. 1 206 727 3199
Fax. 1 206 336 6100