P&O Cruises Australia was a British-American owned cruise line with operational headquarters as part of Carnival Australia, based in Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia.
Originally a sister company of P&O Cruises in the United Kingdom, it was previously a constituent of P&O and had a direct link in history to the world's first cruise ships. As such, it was one of the oldest cruise lines in the world, and latterly formed part of the Carnival Corporation & plc, managed locally by Carnival Australia. It operated three ships, sailing from various ports in Australia and New Zealand. In March 2025, P&O Cruises Australia was absorbed into Carnival Cruise Line.
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History
Beginnings: P&O in Australia
P&O Cruises Australia originated from the passenger division of the P&O, 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. The first of these cruises was operated by Strathaird which sailed on 23 December 1932, carrying 1,100 passengers on a seven-day itinerary calling at Brisbane and Norfolk Island. The cruise sold out in just one day.
Over the next 90 years, these passenger voyages evolved into cruise holidays that led to P&O adopting the brand name of P&O Cruises, with the Australian service eventually becoming P&O Cruises Australia.
1989–2000: P&O Holidays
In the 1980s, P&O sustained its operations in Australia with the help of the Oriana, which was transferred to the Australian market in the 1980s. In 1988, P&O Group purchased Sitmar Cruises in 1988, after which it branded Fairstar under the P&O Holidays Australia banner. This was the company's first ship to be permanently based in Australia. She was part of the fleet for nine years until 1997. In 1997, Fairstar was replaced by Fair Princess, which was transferred from sister brand Princess Cruises and sailed for P&O until 2001.
2000: 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. As a result, the Australian operations of P&O Cruises were split off into a separate cruise line, P&O Cruises Australia. A new company, P&O Princess Cruises, was formed, 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.
2003–2025: Carnival Corporation & plc
In April 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 at the time, including P&O Cruises Australia.
In October 2009, P&O 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.
In January 2020, Carnival Foundation, the Micky and Madeleine Arison Family Foundation, and five Carnival Corporation & plc cruise line brands – P&O Cruises Australia, Carnival Cruise Line, Cunard, Holland America Line, and Princess Cruises – collectively pledged over US$1.25 million to support disaster recovery efforts from the bushfires that caused widespread devastation throughout Australia. Later, during the COVID-19 pandemic, P&O became embroiled in a controversy with the New South Wales Police Force after the NSW Police Force ordered Pacific Explorer to leave Australian waters on 2 April 2020, a move that P&O president Sture Myrmell claimed was an unprecedented action taken against the cruise line after noting that the ship never harbored any coronavirus cases and that P&O had regularly contributed greatly to the Australian economy. The edict had ordered a total of six cruise ships off the coast of New South Wales to leave Australian waters and was additionally enforced by the Australian Defence Force to supervise logistics and compliance. The order came after NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller accused the remaining vessels of delaying their departure and feared any new outbreaks on the vessels would overwhelm NSW's health system.
In September 2021, Carnival Australia announced Marguerite Fitzgerald would take over Stuart Myrmell as president of Carnival Australia and P&O Australia.
During 2023 P&O Cruises celebrated 90 years of local Australian cruising. The brand worked with Australian Maritime Historians Robert Henderson, Rachelle Cross and Chris Frame to develop a historical display that was showcased on board all three ships of the fleet, in Brisbane, Sydney and Fremantle.
In June 2024, it was announced P&O Cruises Australia would be closed and absorbed into Carnival Cruise Line from March 2025 and onward in order to further boost Carnival's capacity. Pacific Adventure and Pacific Encounter were rebranded as Carnival ships, while Pacific Explorer departed the company's fleet in February 2025. P&O's Australian operations, which had been running for over for 90 years finally ceased in March 2025.
Fleet timeline
Since its inception, P&O Cruises Australia has not received any newbuild vessels but has used ships transferred from other companies.
Fleet modernisation
In 2001, Princess Cruises' Sky Princess was redeployed to Australia to become Pacific Sky, the first modern ship in the fleet. In 2004, Pacific Sun joined the fleet, and was quickly followed by Pacific Star in 2005. In October 2007, the oldest ship of Princess Cruises' fleet, Regal Princess, was transferred to P&O, and after one month of refurbishment, entered service as Pacific Dawn.
On 30 October 2008, Carnival Corporation 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. Ocean Village Two joined the fleet in December 2009 as Pacific Jewel. Ocean Village followed in late 2010 as Pacific Pearl. With this development, P&O Australia doubled its fleet to four ships, the biggest investment made by a company operating within the Australian cruise industry thus far.
In May 2014, Carnival Corporation announced that its brand, Holland America Line, would transfer Statendam and Ryndam into the P&O Australia fleet in 2015 after being refurbished and tailored for Australian and New Zealand passengers. The names for the two ships were revealed in July 2014 as Pacific Eden and Pacific Aria.
In March 2015, Carnival Corporation and Fincantieri made an agreement for five ships to be delivered between 2019 and 2022. On 30 December 2015, Carnival Corporation established that, from the agreement, the planned 4,200-passenger ship ordered would be delivered to P&O Australia, making her the first newbuild for P&O and the largest ship to be operated by an Australian cruise company. But on 15 December 2016, Carnival Corporation announced that US. brand, Carnival Cruise Line, would receive a third Vista class vessel, meaning the original order for P&O Australia was transferred over to Carnival Cruise Line. Instead, Carnival Splendor was scheduled to be transferred to P&O in late 2019 to compensate for the lost order. However, in September 2017, with the news announced of Golden Princess moving to P&O Australia, Carnival Splendor was no longer scheduled to move to the Australian brand.
In October 2015, it was announced that the Dawn Princess would transfer from the Princess Cruises fleet to the P&O Australia fleet. She was renamed Pacific Explorer upon her debut in June 2017.
Fleet departures
In 2006, Pacific Sky was sold to Pullmantur Cruises and renamed Sky Wonder. On 30 May 2007, Pacific Star was also sold to Pullmantur Cruises. She underwent refurbishment in Singapore and began sailing as Ocean Dream from 11 May 2008.
In December 2011, P&O announced Pacific Sun would make her last journey for the company on 1 July 2012 and leave the fleet shortly thereafter. She was sold to HNA Group's HNA Cruises to become Henna and began operating under her new name on 26 January 2013.
In March 2016, P&O announced that Pacific Pearl would leave the fleet in March 2017. She joined Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) and was renamed Columbus, debuting on 9 June 2017.
In March 2018, P&O announced Pacific Eden would leave the fleet in April 2019. She joined CMV and was renamed Vasco da Gama, debuting on 22 April 2019.
On 22 August 2018, P&O announced Pacific Jewel would leave the fleet in March 2019 after ten years with the cruise line, with her final voyage on 24 February 2019. She was sold to Jalesh Cruises and renamed Karnika in April 2019.
On 25 November 2019, P&O announced the exits of Pacific Dawn and Pacific Aria for March 2021 and May 2021, respectively. On 28 November 2019, CMV announced that it had purchased both Pacific Dawn and Pacific Aria, with Pacific Dawn scheduled to enter the fleet as Amy Johnson on 2 March 2021 for the UK market, and Pacific Aria scheduled to enter the fleet of CMV subsidiary Transocean Tours as Ida Pfeiffer on 2 May 2021, for the German market. However, Cruise & Maritime Voyages entered administration in July 2020, as a result the transfers did not go ahead.
On 17 February 2025, Pacific Explorer completed her final cruise for the brand, a one way cruise from Fremantle, Australia to Singapore. The final cruise of Pacific Encounter, scheduled to leave on 8 March 2025, was cancelled due to the effects of Tropical Cyclone Alfred on the port of Brisbane, extending the duration of its previous and now final cruise to Airlie Beach, which departed Brisbane on 4 March. Pacific Adventure departed on its final cruise on 10 March 2025, to fireworks and a water salute in Sydney Harbour. Although initially intended to visit Moreton Island, she sailed to Eden instead due to the effects of Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
Fleet
Planned fleet
Ships that were intended for P&O Australia but never entered service for line: