P and O Cruises

 If you are looking for the experience of a lifetime P and O cruises have something to offer you. A cruise is a fantastic holiday and P & O have been offering these holidays to the public far longer than other cruise companies.

A Brief History of P and O Cruises

P&O first started taking passengers in 1822. They cruised between the UK and the Iberian Peninsula. To bolster their business they also delivered mail.

In 1844 they re-launched their passenger services sailing out of Southampton to Gibraltar, Malta and Athens. By the 1880s all of their passengers were travelling on luxury ships and as far afield as Alexandria and Constantinople. They built the first ship to use electric lights in 1889.

By 1910 P & O had a huge fleet of 197 ships following mergers with other companies. They lost 17 in WWI, but their subsidiary companies lost 68 in total considerably reducing their fleet.

During the 1920s P&O cruises had 20 luxury passenger liners built. By then they literally spanned the globe. Passengers being able to travel by air made things difficult for P&0 in the 1940s and 50s, but by the 1960s people began to rediscover the joy of luxury cruising.