Why are there TWO P&O Cruises? How come the two P&O’s are so different?!

A P&O Cruise in Australia is VERY DIFFERENT to a P&O Cruise in the UK! Although the two brands share the same name and same house flag, there are so many differences between the two P&O Cruise experiences.
These differences range from the interior style and decor of their cruise ships, to formality and the ambiance on board. And even the hull art and branding on the P&O cruise ships is different.
But why is this?
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From the late 1980s we start to see two distinct brands forming. P&O in the UK offered cruises with Canberra, expanding in the 1990s with the addition of Oriana, Victoria and Arcadia.
In the Southern Hemisphere, Fairstar was eventually replaced by the larger Fair Princess in 1997. When Sky Princess was transferred to the newly rebranded P&O Australia in 2000, she wore a new blue livery with distinctive yellow font on the funnel.
From here we see the two brands diverge further.
P&O Cruises UK received the bulk of the attention, with new build Aurora entering service in 2000. 2002 also saw Adonia and Oceana join the P&O UK fleet - having transferred from Princess.
The 2003 merger of Carnival and P&O Princess coincided with a boom in Australian cruising.
As such, the P&O Australia fleet expanded, with Pacific Sun and Pacific Star - two former Carnival Cruise Line ships - joining the fleet.
While P&O Cruises UK has had plenty of new builds in recent years; including both Ventura and Azura, P&O Australia has never yet received a purpose built cruise ship. For example, at its peak of 5 ships in 2015, the Pacific Dawn was the former Regal Princess, Pacific Jewel was the former Crown Princess, Pacific Pearl was the former Arcadia, while Pacific Eden and Pacific Aria were originally Statendam and Ryndam for Holland America Line!
Today, both brands still share the same name, and the same house flag. But the experience on the two P&O Cruises brands is worlds apart.
P&O Australia has a fleet of three ships - all former Princess Cruises vessels - but they’ve been treated to massive refits to “Australianise” them in preparation for cruising to resume in 2021.
On the other hand, P&O UK has a custom-built fleet of a six ships. This includes their brand new $950m flagship - Iona. And, there’s a second new build in the works - Arvia - due in late 2022.
Having sailed as a guest lecturer with both brands, I’d say that P&O Australia is fun, casual, welcoming and friendly. It’s a relaxing, stress free holiday and very, very local - nearly every guest on board lives in Australia or New Zealand.
The on board currency is Australian dollars and the ships are all home ported in Australia or New Zealand.
On the other hand, P&O Cruises UK ships are based in Southampton, offering year round voyages for the UK market. The brand offers a higher level of luxury and formality than its Aussie cousin; providing a more refined and a noticeably British experience, with the on board currency in British Pounds.
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[@ChrisFrameOfficial]

Have you cruise with P&O in UK or Australia? What did you think?

[@Mogamishu]

Ah yes, cruises, I remember those.

[@ChrisFrameOfficial]

Me too ... just!

[@VonChoker]

2 times with P&O Australia - Pacific Dawn and Pacific Aria out of Brisbane. Both were wonderful

[@anniemon]

Not yet Chris, but you make it sound very tempting! Love your old photos especially of Sydney.

[@glenedenborough1385]

P&O Australia has NO loyalty program. Very disappointed with that. My wife and I have sailed on every P&O and Royal Caribbean ship that has been in Australia in the last 10 years (Voyager of the seas being or favourite) We will never sail with P&O again until a loyalty program is introduced.

[@jacksonclavierproductions]

I liked the analogy that P&O Australia is like the little sister to P&O. That's probably the best way to put it.

[@ChrisFrameOfficial]

That's how it seemed to me :)

[@GardeningLadybug]

Agreed. Nice ships but never brand new.

[@zagan1]

I don't know. P&O Australia is the only Cunard company to have it's own Headquarters in the entire Cunard fleet of companies.

[@beatrice3506]

I honestly didn't know that they were 2 .. I just noticed the most of the old ship go to Australia

[@roberthamilton1301]

Thanks for the video Mate 👍🇦🇺

[@VonChoker]

Awesome video Chris, great job on defining the differences between the two cruise lines

[@wendykoek6757]

P&O Australia are good for their relaxed and friendly staff and environment can’t wait to get on Adventure next year I have been on Explorer and loved it too 1 year and 7 months ago

[@SteamboatWilley]

And then there's P&O ferries. With the sale of P&O Princess cruises to Carnival corporation (and the subsequent takeover of the P&O Nedlloyd container line by AP Moller Maersk), P&O Ferries is now a separate company from P&O cruises. P&O Ferries was itself bought by Dubai Ports world in 2006.

[@alexanderlucas4624]

Great video mate. Solid history and background.

[@ChrisFrameOfficial]

Glad you think so!

[@AcerDyan]

I’ve done 5 P&Os (British) and I’ve done Pacific Adventure as the Golden Princess

[@RCKodak]

This was brilliant.

[@simonchambers2321]

Love the photos and info

[@michaelrennie4589]

Interesting facts Chris !! Didn't realize this.

[@robertklein1497]

Technically, there is the '3rd' P&O, which is the original company that was left after the shippingbranch was sold to Carnival. Mainly an investor in real estate and Port infrastructure, which was beside shipping a large part of the P&O company from the 1970's onwards. They are now part of DP World after being snapped up by Dubai Ports and no langer use the name P&O as such. They are, however, running a P&O heritage part on their website.

[@ChrisFrameOfficial]

Yes, absolutely, and P&O Ferries!

[@dancerjono]

@@ChrisFrameOfficial I was also going to mention p&o ferries. I'm from the UK and we go on holiday to France every summer and have travelled with p&o ferries a few times along with some other ferry companies

[@gandjconway30]

Another great video Chris, thank you. However, I would refer to P&O Australia as the poor cousin! Tips for Travellers ranks Australians as the 5th largest cruisers in total numbers (UK 4th) and largest per capita. And yet the two cruise fleets are chalk and cheese. The average age of the UK fleet is 11 years and they haven’t had a “hand-me down” in over 20 years. The Australian fleet, even with the 2 “new” arrivals this year, is half the size and will have an average age of 22 years! P&O Australia only gets the ships the US market no longer wants. I think Carnival / P&O Australia owes the Australian market an explanation.

[@dlgregory35]

Thats a question for Carnival answer.

[@TheLT704]

Very good informative video.. it's clearly obvious that P&O Australia needs a new swank updated ship in order to sail the Pacific..with Covid putting a hold on things only time will tell..it would be lovely to either work aboard this ship or even better..go on board as a guest..

[@ChrisFrameOfficial]

Fingers crossed!

[@danielintheantipodes6741]

Thank you for the video!

[@dancerjono]

Brilliant video, it's so nice to hear about the history. I have booked to go on my first cruise next year and it's with p&o uk, sailing on the Ventura

[@geoffeastwood5352]

There are three in fact- P&O Ferries in the UK which was not spun off to Carnival and is now, I think, owned by Dubai Ports. To me it's just a low rent brand of Carnival, in Australia sadly. The name used to evoke British ships with British crews and scrubbed teak decks.

[@ChrisFrameOfficial]

You’re absolutely right about the Ferries. And there’s P&O Heritage too so I guess there’s 4 😀

[@glypnir]

Interesting that air conditioning comes up in connection with Australia. Reminded me of the experiences of the Queen Mary on voyages to Australia and other warm spots. How about a video on the history of air conditioning on passenger ships? You could add other comfort technologies like stability control, elevators, and so on.

[@ChrisFrameOfficial]

Thanks for the idea!!

[@glypnir]

@@ChrisFrameOfficial no problem. I want to hear the story. I remember riding on the MS Venus from Bergen to Newcastle in 1966. The postcard mentioned “with stabilizers, or with paravanes, or something”. I remember hearing the she was formerly known as “the vomiting Venus”

[@glypnir]

@@ChrisFrameOfficial the KZbin algorithm gave me a video about climate control on the USS New Jersey. Apparently during the Vietnam war they cut unauthorized holes through watertight bulkheads and installed window air conditioners through them, just dumping the heat into the compartment on the other side of the bulkhead.

[@Robyn19fnq]

OMG! I am so old, I remember one of my parents' friends saying they were going on the Oriana, and then later some of my friends cruising on the Fairstar. Both look so insignificant now in comparison to today's cruise ships. I'm going on my first P&O cruise later this year, after a disastrous Princess cruise in 2017, when I swore off cruising for life. I hope I was wrong to do that.

[@dlgregory35]

HAL, Princess, Cunard and more are all separate lines but just like P&O they are still owned by the same outfit Carnival and controlled by the Carnival Corporation.

[@merilynp-j294]

I'd never go on a P&O cruise just because of the type of cruisers it attracts

[@anne-mariepopieul4203]

❤️❤️

[@seltaeb3302]

Well Chris, Ambience has sailed off on its maiden voyage to Hamburg & we are getting passengers videos & oh dear the standard of the cabin is poor & what 25yrs old decor & cabin furniture, chipped wood, stained sink, sockets not properly finished off, handles missing from drawers. It's like bedsit quality. I may cancel & lose my deposit but nearly £5000 & that's the best they've done? Not good enough in this day. Staff are lovely tho. I don't know what to do. It's a bit squalid really.

[@GardeningLadybug]

Love both of them 💕

[@markgoddard5386]

P&O is just a brand name, the company names are P&O cruises, owned by carnival and a long way away from what was P&O cruises of decades ago.

[@dlgregory35]

A very very long way thats for sure.

[@susantokles5042]

Isn't there a ferry company by same name?

[@ChrisFrameOfficial]

Yes that’s correct. I did a video about that too: Why P&O Cruises is NOT P&O Ferries? kzbin.info/www/bejne/mISWYXaeYquIpcU

[@bradreeves9728]

...and then there was one.

[@ChrisFrameOfficial]

😢

[@jimspc07]

Why spent time in unairconditioned ships when you can travel by air in jets? In 1959, the time you say jets were staring up, most P&O and also Orient passenger ships were air conditioned.

[@ChrisFrameOfficial]

Hi Jim, the pre WWII Orient Line Orion had partial air conditioning in public rooms. Post WW2 Australian run ships had full air conditioning added during refits - Himalaya 1960 refit. Orcades during 1958 refit. Arcadia during April 1959 refit. Iberia during January 1961 refit. Oronsay during 1959 refit. Orsova during 1960 refit. Oriana and Canberra were fully air conditioned when built. There were plenty of other P&O liners that ran occasional voyages on the AU service that were not air-conditioned in 1958 when jet airliners took off following the success of the B707.

[@jimspc07]

Your time table above supports what I said. Also the Australian service and the Japan service as separate service entities became non existent about this time as all the older liners such as the Straths were withdrawn and the newer liners went everywhere and sometimes spent time cruising in single or multiple cruise blocks from end of section ports. Or even three way runs across the pacific. The Cathay and Chiteral being purchased and filling in where the larger ships now passed through on the orient run@@ChrisFrameOfficial

[@tommowh6202]

THEY ARE WORLDS APART IN SERVICE FOOD AND ENTERTAINMENT IF YOU WANT A CHEAP( SORT OFF ) WITH VERY POOR FOOD AND SERVICE THEN SAIL ON P&O AUSTRALIA . HAVE DONE 0VER 30 CRUISES ONE ONCE ON P&O AUSTRLIA NEVER AGAIN