Why it's finally time to take that cruise you've been planning for years

SETTING out from Australian shores for 85 years, P&O Cruises carefully design their itineraries with the Aussie traveller in mind. With short, two to four night, getaways on up to the longer seven to 16 night voyages through the South Pacific, there’s over 460 cruise departures to choose from.

P&O Cruise Line

SETTING out from Australian shores for 85 years, P&O Cruises carefully design their itineraries with the Aussie traveller in mind. With short, two to four night, getaways on up to the longer seven to 16 night voyages through the South Pacific, there’s over 460 cruise departures to choose from.

Investing in multi-million dollar upgrades, P&O continues to innovate and refresh their existing ships but also add new ships to the fleet. With new outdoor spaces like the lawn bowls onboard Pacific Explorer and Pacific Jewel, and the longest and wildest waterslides at sea and an interactive water park on Pacific Explorer and Pacific Dawn, guests are offered a huge list of activities to please every age and family member.

DINING AND DRINKS

Obviously, food and dining experiences play a huge part of any holiday and P&O cruises offers a range of specialty dining options across the fleet. Exclusive to Pacific Explorer are two 'fast-casual' dining options: Luke's, a poolside grill by Australian celebrity chef and restaurateur Luke Mangan and 400 Gradi, a traditional Neapolitan pizzeria by award-winning Melbourne chef Johnny Di Francesco.

For seafood and meat lovers, versions of the Shell & Bones restaurant has been included on Pacific Explorer, Pacific Dawn and Pacific Jewel. While Salt Grill by Luke Mangan serves up gourmet fare on all ships except Pacific Explorer. 

Guests on Pacific Explorer can enjoy A Taste of Salt by Luke Mangan which offers a beautifully constructed degustation menu.Making sure they have something for everyone on board, guests will also be able to dine in the ship’s Waterfront Restaurant, try a taste of la dolce vita in its Italian restaurant Angelo’s. Or they can relax in the sultry atmosphere of the pan-Asian restaurant Dragon Lady or be spoilt for choice in The Pantry, an international marketplace of nine fresh food outlets already popular across the P&O Cruises’ fleet.

Grown up guests can treat themselves to the delicious new gin-novation from the mixologist maestros in Pacific Explorer's elegant small bar, The Bonded Store, which features a cocktail list created in partnership with Sydney-based award-winning Archie Rose Distilling Co, as well as whisky and gin-making classes.

JUST FOR LAUGHS

P&O is carving a niche as the biggest provider of comedy on the seas down-under. With its biggest season of comedy in P&O history, a massive 72 dedicated comedy cruises are on offer during  2018 and 2019.  P&O has also launched ‘The Big Laugh’, the first four-night comedy festival at sea. Aimed to build on the popular short themed cruise offering, big-name comics such as Dave Hughes, Jimeoin and Matt Okine to name a few, will deliver 36 shows and a combined 2,000 minutes of jokes, on this inaugural cruise departing Sydney on June 20, 2018.

Today P&O Cruises offers a wide range of comedy entertainment, from Comedy Workshops, Comedy Gala Shows, the Comedy Gong Show where guest performers get judged by the audience, and Cocktails and Comedy, an intimate show to be enjoyed as the sun goes down.