Topic: P&O Cruises launches specially commissioned book to celebrate 175 year heritage

Official Press Release-

P&O Cruises has announced the publication of a special book commissioned to celebrate 175 years of maritime heritage. P&O Cruises: celebrating 175 years of heritage, tells the official story of one of Britain’s oldest, yet even today best-loved brands. The cruise line’s ships have seen service in two world wars and the Falklands war, and, in peace time, have inspired loyalty and great affection in their passengers.

Looking forward, P&O Cruises has a bright future with yet another new ship on the horizon and this new book celebrates the remarkable history and future of the line, combining British innovation with glamour and service excellence.

The book, by Sharon Poole and Andrew Sassoli-Walker, covers the history of the company since 1837, when the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company won a lucrative mail contract to the Iberian Peninsula. Not long afterwards the concept of cruising was born and since then has evolved into a mainstream holiday choice.

The authors, keen maritime historians, who have previously published the definitive history of P&O Cruises’ Artemis, give a compelling account of the company’s varied and impressive history, highlighting key milestones in the history of P&O Cruises and intriguing personal stories and anecdotes from the early days of first-class cruises in the nineteenth century to Canberra’s crucial role in the 1982 Falklands war, to the current day logistics and running of a major cruise line, and then on to the future with a new ship planned for 2015.

P&O Cruises managing director, Carol Marlow, said: “We are delighted that this fascinating book will be part of our anniversary celebrations in 2012. We can trace our roots back 175 years and during that time our ships and crews have been at the cutting edge of maritime and cruising innovation, served with distinction in several conflicts, and, most importantly, offered our customers a cruising experience that they have loved, year in and year out. We have seen countless weddings, honeymoons and proposals on board, along with all manner of other remarkable events. It’s excellent to have a book which sheds some light on some of these personal stories, as well as the current day operation of our brand and our ships.”

“The anniversary will be celebrated on 3 July 2012, when for the first time in the company’s history, our entire fleet of seven ships will be docked together for our ‘Grand Event’ in Southampton. After a spectacular send-off, the ships will form a procession in the Solent as they depart for seven special anniversary cruises.”

Further pivotal moments covered in the book are:
- In 1844, P&O ships were offering tourists passages to Gibraltar, Malta, Athens, Constantinople and Egypt, establishing P&O as one of the world’s first cruise companies. In that year, the author William Thackeray was also offered a free voyage – the first ‘press trip’ – if he would write about his experience for the company, bringing welcome publicity to P&O.
- In 1904, P&O introduced Vectis as its first full-time cruise ship and in the same year offered its first cruise holiday programme – a first class only cruise with shore excursions arranged by Thomas Cook.
- By the 1920s, cruising had become a huge part of the company’s business and, post-war, the company grew this business on the back of its lucrative ‘Ten-Pound Pom’ contracts with the Australian government.
- In 1929 - P&O launched Viceroy of India, its first turbo electric-powered ship and the first to have an indoor swimming pool.
- By 1981, P&O Cruises Canberra was carrying almost half of all cruise passengers from the UK, and in 1982, Canberra – along with Cunard’s QE2 and the Uganda from P&O Cruises educational cruise brand British India – was requisitioned by the British Government for the Falklands War.
- Post-Falklands, P&O Cruises began to expand with new vessels. Today, the company has seven cruise ships - Adonia, Arcadia, Aurora, Azura, Oceana, Oriana and Ventura. The ships’ celebrity godmothers include HM The Queen, HRH The Princess Royal, Dame Kelly Holmes, Dame Helen Mirren, Darcey Bussell CBE and Dame Shirley Bassey.
- A further new addition to the fleet is being planned and will be launched in 2015, to cater for the future needs of P&O Cruises passengers.

P&O Cruises: celebrating 175 years of heritage by Sharon Poole and Andrew Sassoli-Walker £25 – 978-1-4456-0596-8 – Paperback.



How long have been cruising with P&O Cruises? Would you buy this book?

This book was part written by a regular P&O cruiser Sharon Poole, she has recently written a blog and posted photo's of her recent cruise E131, aboard P&O Oceana to the Holly Land, on P&O's official forum.
I understand from her blog she had a book signing session whilst on board.
Sales I understand are going well.

I'm sure it'll be an interesting book about P&Os heritage but £25? I think I'll pass on that one. It will be quite likely on the shelves at half price or less next Christmas.

Thanks for your comments Delboy. The book signing on Oceana was for the Artemis book since the 175 book wasn't published until just before Christmas but sales of both are going well.

I would just point out that the 175 book isn't just a history of the company, but a snapshot of the brand today with lots of behind the scenes photos and info as well as pictures of the fleet today, so a great souvenir of a cruise as well.

192 pages in full colour so very good value (but then I would say that wouldn't I? !)

I'm sure it will be a success, as was the 'Arty' book.

Sharon & Andrew's latest book is a brilliant read and would recommend it to everybody who loves cruising. We are mentioned in this book regarding our Christmas Day Wedding onboard Arcadia 2008 with a photo so extra special for us!

This sounds like a must-have for regular P&O cruisers but I would need to see the book first before splashing out £25. How many colour photos are there of past and present ships? Do we get any insight into the new build, or will that be the focus of the next book? Perhaps this would make a nice present for someone but...

There are plenty of colour and black & white photos of all ships past and present on nearly every page with comprehensive articles. Good value for money, slightly cheaper through Amazon!

The book is 192 pages with 288 colour and 40 black and white images, the latter being the older ships (both interiors and exteriors). The focus of the book is from the Falklands Conflict onwards, but the background history is there as well. P&O Cruises are keeping details of the new ship under close wraps for the time being, but there is an artist's impression of it in the book, as well as a conclusion by Micky Arison. Hope this helps.