The story of
P&O Cruises
It all began in 1837 when life on the ocean waves was quite different from the experience we enjoy today. But even in the times when liners were designed for cargo passage rather than holidaymakers, the movement we now know as ’cruising‘ had begun.
Although the partnership of P&O’s founding fathers, Arthur Anderson and Brodie McGhie Willcox, began some years earlier, the offi cial birthday of the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company is documented as 1st September 1837, when the company was awarded the British Government contract for a weekly mail service to the Iberian Peninsula. On the 4th September the company’s wooden paddle steamer, the “Don Juan” set off for Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, Cadiz and Gibraltar. Three years later, in 1840, a second mail contract extended the company’s services to the East and ‘Oriental’ was added to the name - creating P&O.
These services were quickly followed by routes to Egypt, India, Greece, China, and later to Australia - extending the company’s knowledge of the world’s oceans and seas. And P&O gained a reputation for effi ciency, becoming Britain’s premier shipping company and affectionately known as the Empire Line.
As well as carrying mail, passengers could also travel, but in those times it was often out of necessity not pleasure, with foreign travel the preserve of the wealthy. Even in these early times though, Anderson and Willcox recognised the importance of good customer relations and did much to make sea travel as safe and comfortable as possible, with hearty meals and decent accommodation a priority. Sunday services were offered and benches were placed out on deck. On board entertainment even existed in some form and whilst it was a far cry from the open air cinema, theatre productions and comedy shows found on board today, it was forward thinking for its day. It was this attention to detail and recognition of traveller’s needs that set the standard others imitated.
P&O Cruises can trace its roots back to these beginnings. Given our cruising heritage, we like to celebrate cruise traditions, many of which we introduced. When our ships cross the equator, we hold a ‘Crossing of the Line’ ceremony to ask permission from King Neptune, Ruler of the Seven Seas. You’ll still see deck games played on board. And a band always plays when we set sail from Southampton and fi reworks light up the sky. It’s an event. And, if you are about to embark on a World Cruise and say goodbye to several months of the English winter, it’s an event that’s worth celebrating all the more.
WWW.POCRUISES.CO.UK 9
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