P&O Cruises Australia

P&O Cruises Australia
Subsidiary
Industry Transportation
Headquarters Sydney, Australia
Area served
 Australia & New Zealand
Products Cruises
Parent Carnival Corporation & plc
Website www.pocruises.com.au
Footnotes / references

P&O House Flag
Carnival House in Southampton, headquarters of P&O

P&O Cruises Australia is a British-American owned cruise line with corporate headquarters at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operational headquarters in North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The sister company of P&O Cruises in the United Kingdom, it was previously a constituent of the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company and has a direct link in history to the world's first passenger ships. As such, it is one of the oldest cruise lines in the world, and now forms part of the Carnival Corporation & plc, under the executive control of Holland America Line. It currently operates five ships, sailing from various ports in Australia and New Zealand.

History

P&O Cruises Australia originates from the passenger division of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, a UK shipping company which operated the world's first passenger ships in the early 19th century. P&O subsequently became the first company to operate passenger routes to Australia, with the first of these voyages occurring in 1932.[1] These voyages eventually developed into the cruise holidays we recognise today and so P&O adopted the brand name P&O Cruises, with the specialist Australian service becoming known as P&O Cruises Australia.

In 2000, after various changes in the organisation of the P&O Group, the company de-merged all of its cruise ship operations. A new company was created, P&O Princess Cruises, which was independent of P&O and consisted of P&O Cruises, P&O Cruises Australia, Princess Cruises, AIDA Cruises and later A'Rosa Cruises and Ocean Village. Later in 2003, P&O Princess Cruises merged with Carnival Corporation to form Carnival Corporation & plc, the world's largest cruise company, with a portfolio of eleven cruise lines, including P&O Australia.

The Pacific Sky joined the P&O Australia fleet in 2001 and was sold to Pullmantur Cruises in 2006, becoming their Sky Wonder. In 2004 the Pacific Sun joined the fleet. It was followed by Pacific Star in 2005. In October 2007, the oldest ship of Princess Cruises' fleet, the Regal Princess, was transferred to P&O Australia. After one month of refurbishment, she entered service as the Pacific Dawn. The Pacific Star was sold to Pullmantur Cruises in March 2008. She underwent refurbishment in Singapore and has started sailing as Ocean Dream from 11 May 2008.

On 30 October 2008, Carnival Corporation & plc announced the closure of their United Kingdom-based Ocean Village brand. Coinciding with this closure, both Ocean Village ships were transferred to the fleet of P&O Cruises Australia. Ocean Village Two joined the P&O Australia fleet in December 2009 as Pacific Jewel. Ocean Village followed in late 2010 as "Pacific Pearl".[2]

In October 2009, P&O Cruises offered assistance to the Red Cross in relief efforts for earthquake and tsunami victims in the South Pacific by donating 740 pillows with the promise of mattresses, more pillows and hundreds of light bulbs to be given a later date.[3]

In December 2009, the Pacific Dawn was moved from Sydney to its new home port at Brisbane. This was done to allow the Pacific Jewel and after its acquisition the Pacific Pearl to be based in Sydney. The Pacific Sun was moved to Fremantle for part of the year to carry out Asia cruises prior to being sold in July 2012.

In December 2011, P&O announced The Pacific Sun would make its last journey for the company on 1 July 2012. In 7 years with P&O it carried more than half a million passengers.[4]

In May 2014, Carnival Corporation announced that the Statendam and Ryndam would be transferred from Holland America Line to the P&O Cruises Australia fleet in 2015 after being refurbished to tailor them for Australian and New Zealand passengers.[5] The names for the two ships were revealed in July 2014 as the Pacific Eden and Pacific Aria.[6]

In October 2015 it was announced that the Dawn Princess would move from the Princess Cruises fleet to the P&O Australia fleet.[7] In December 2015 a new ship was ordered at Fincantieri for delivery in 2019.[8]

In March 2016, it was announced that the Pacific Pearl would be transferring out of the fleet in March 2017. Having completed 294 cruises for P&O, carrying more than half a million passengers over five years.[9]

Fleet

Current fleet

Ship Built Builder Entered service
for P&O Australia 		Gross Tonnage Flag Notes Image
Pacific Dawn 1991 Fincantieri 2007 70,285 GT  United Kingdom Previously Regal Princess.
Pacific Jewel 1991 Fincantieri 2009 69,845 GT  United Kingdom Previously Crown Princess, A'Rosa Blu, AIDAblu and Ocean Village Two.
Pacific Pearl 1989 Chantiers de l'Atlantique 2010 63,500 GT  United Kingdom Previously Star Princess, Arcadia, and Ocean Village. Will be transferred to Cruise & Maritime Voyages in March 2017.
Pacific Eden 1994 Fincantieri 2015 55,819 GT  United Kingdom Previously Statendam
Pacific Aria 1993 Fincantieri 2015 55,451 GT  United Kingdom Previously Ryndam

Future fleet

Ship Built Builder Enters service
for P&O Australia 		Gross Tonnage Flag Notes Image
Pacific Explorer[10] 1997 Fincantieri May 2017 77,499 GT  United Kingdom Currently sailing as Dawn Princess for Princess Cruises.[5]
TBA 2019/2020 Fincantieri 2019/2020 135,500 GT  United Kingdom First ever newly build for P&O Cruises Australia.[11]

Former fleet

Ship Built Builder In service
for P&O Australia 		Gross Tonnage Flag Notes Image
Pacific Sky 1984 La Seyne-Sur Mer 2000–2006 46,087 GT  United Kingdom Previously FairSky, Sky Princess, Pacific Sky, Sky Wonder, and Atlantic Star. Sold for scrap in 2013.
Pacific Sun 1986 Kockums Varv 2004–2012 47,262 GT  Malta Previously Jubilee, Pacific Sun, and Henna. Sold for scrap in 2016.[12]
Pacific Star 1982 Aalborg Shipyard 2005–2008 35,109 GT  United Kingdom Previously Tropicale, Costa Tropicale, Pacific Star, Ocean Dream. Currently sailing for Peace Boat

References

  1. ↑ "History - P&O Cruises". Pocruises.com.au. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
  2. ↑ "New tonnage to increase P&O Cruises Australia's presence in Fremantle, Brisbane and Auckland". Cruise Business Review. Cruise Media Oy Ltd. 2008-10-31. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
  3. ↑ "P&O Cruises assists Samoan relief effort". ETB Travel News. Etravelblackboard.com. 6 October 2009. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
  4. ↑ Stephen Jones (2011-12-19). "Carnival sells Pacific Sun". Travel Weekly. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
  5. 1 2 "Ryndam and Statendam to P&O Australia as AU Growth for Carnival Corp. Continues". Cruise Industry News. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  6. ↑ http://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/11323-new-pao-australia-ship-names-aria-and-eden.html
  7. ↑ "CARNIVAL AUSTRALIA ANNOUNCES LOCAL FLEET CHANGES AS AUSTRALIAN DEMAND FOR CRUISING CONTINUES TO GROW". pocruises.com.au. 8 October 2015. Retrieved 2015-10-08.
  8. ↑ http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=6736
  9. ↑ http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=6855
  10. ↑ https://www.pocruises.com.au/cruises/search#?s=&sort=dpa&page=1
  11. ↑ http://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/13433-carnival-announces-newbuilds-for-costa-princess-and-pao-australia.html
  12. ↑ http://www.tradewindsnews.com/weekly/762175/hna-cruiseship-henna-on-last-trip-to-breakers-yard
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