P&O Cruises

Origins

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. 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. 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). 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. By the mid-1900s, passenger shipping for the purposes of transportation was threatened by the increasing affordability of air travel. 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.

1977–1995: Early years

Initially, P&O Cruises operated Oriana and Canberra from Southampton, serving the UK market, and Arcadia from Sydney, serving the Australian market, while Uganda operated educational cruises. All of these ships had previously operated for P&O and had been transferred to the new subsidiary. There were several changes over the following years. In 1979, Arcadia departed the Australian fleet and was replaced by Sea Princess, which was formerly Kungsholm for Flagship Cruises. In 1981, Oriana relocated to serve the Australian market, and in 1982, Sea Princess relocated to serve the UK market. The same year, both Canberra and Uganda were requisitioned to assist in the Falklands War, with the former becoming a troopship and the latter a hospital ship.

More ships departed the fleet in the following years; Uganda in 1983, Oriana in March 1986 and Sea Princess in November 1986. With only Canberra remaining, serving the UK market, P&O diverged its Australian operations from its UK operations in 1988, acquiring Sitmar Cruises, which already operated a ship in Australia. This ultimately led to the formation of P&O Cruises Australia, which would oversee Australian operations, while P&O Cruises focused on UK operations.

1995–2008: First newbuilds and changes of ownership

In the 1990s, P&O Cruises commissioned its first newbuild, the second Oriana, which entered service in April 1995. Unlike the older ocean liners the company had inherited from P&O, which had originally 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 cruise ships in the world. Sea Princess also returned to the fleet in 1995, now renamed Victoria. Canberra departed the fleet in 1997 and was replaced the same year by a second Arcadia, formerly Star Princess for Princess Cruises. In 2000, Aurora, another newbuild of similar design to Oriana, entered service, although she suffered a disappointing start when she was forced to abandon her maiden voyage due to mechanical problems.

The ownership of P&O Cruises changed twice in the early 2000s. In 2000, P&O divested its cruise operations and transferred them to the new independent company P&O Princess Cruises, and in 2003, P&O Princess Cruises merged with Carnival Corporation to form Carnival Corporation & plc.

Fleet rotations continued. Victoria departed for the final time in 2002, Oceana, formerly Ocean Princess for Princess Cruises, joined the same year and Arcadia departed in 2003. Adonia, formerly Sea Princess and a sister to Oceana, replaced Arcadia the same year, before being replaced by a newbuild Arcadia in 2005. The new Arcadia had originally been intended for Holland America Line and later Cunard Line, but was allocated to P&O Cruises by Carnival during construction. Arcadia was joined by Artemis, formerly Royal Princess for Princess Cruises.

2008–present: Expansion and modernisation

The fleet expanded and modernised with the addition of the 116,017-ton newbuild Ventura in 2008 and her sister Azura in 2010. Artemis also departed the fleet in 2011 and was replaced by a second Adonia, which like Artemis had formerly been Royal Princess for Princess Cruises.

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 – at that point consisting of Adonia, Arcadia, Aurora, Azura, Oceana, Oriana and Ventura – was assembled in Southampton.