P&O Cruises Australia
Subsidiary | |
Industry | Transportation |
Headquarters | Southampton, UK |
Area served | Australia & New Zealand |
Products | Cruises |
Parent | Carnival Corporation & plc |
Website | www.pocruises.com.au |
Footnotes / references House flag 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 Carnival UK. It currently operates three 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 on July 11, 2014 as the Pacific Eden and Pacific Aria, it is still not known which name will go to which ship.[6] A major event to unite all five ships of the P&O Australia fleet in Sydney Harbour is scheduled for 25 November 2015.
Fleet
Current fleet
Ship | Built | Builder | Entered service for P&O Australia | Gross Tonnage | Flag | Notes | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pacific Dawn | align="Center| 1991 | Fincantieri | 2007 | 70,285 GT | United Kingdom | Previously Regal Princess. | |
Pacific Jewel | align="Center| 1991 | Fincantieri | 2009 | 69,845 GT | United Kingdom | Previously Crown Princess, A'Rosa Blu, AIDAblu and Ocean Village Two. | |
Pacific Pearl | align="Center| 1989 | Chantiers de l'Atlantique | 2010 | 63,500 GT | United Kingdom | Previously Star Princess, Arcadia, and Ocean Village. |
Future fleet
Ship | Built | Builder | Enters service for P&O Australia | Gross Tonnage | Flag | Notes | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pacific Aria | 1993 | Fincantieri | Nov 2015 | 55,451 GT | United Kingdom | Currently sailing as Statendam for Holland America Line.[5] | |
Pacific Eden | 1994 | Fincantieri | Nov 2015 | 55,819 GT | United Kingdom | Currently sailing as Ryndam for Holland America Line.[5] |
Former fleet
Ship | Built | Builder | Entered 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, Atlantic Star, Mona Lisa II. Sold for scrap in 2013. | |
Pacific Sun | align="Center| 1986 | Kockums Varv | 2004–2012 | 47,262 GT | Malta | Previously Jubilee, Pacific Sun, Sold to Chinese Company HNA Tourism as Henna. | |
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
- ↑ "History - P&O Cruises". Pocruises.com.au. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
- ↑ "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.
- ↑ "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.
- ↑ Stephen Jones (2011-12-19). "Carnival sells Pacific Sun". Travel Weekly. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Ryndam and Statendam to P&O Australia as AU Growth for Carnival Corp. Continues". Cruise Industry News. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
- ↑ http://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/11323-new-pao-australia-ship-names-aria-and-eden.html
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to P&O Cruises Australia. |
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