P&O Cruises: Ships, Prices & Deals

Who P&O Cruises suits

P&O Cruises is a cruise line built for British holidaymakers. The onboard currency is the pound, the entertainment leans on British comedians and West End-style shows, and the bars, menus and daily routine feel familiar to anyone who has holidayed in the UK.

The biggest draw is no-fly cruising. You drive or take the train to Southampton, put your cases on board without worrying about airline baggage limits and sail straight to Norway, Spain, the Canary Islands or the Mediterranean.

Families make up a large share of guests in the school holidays and usually pick Iona, Arvia, Britannia, Ventura or Azura, which all have kids' clubs. Couples and retired guests fill the term-time and long-voyage sailings, and Arcadia is kept adults only for those who want a ship without children.

P&O is not a luxury line and does not try to be one. You get a big, busy ship with a broad choice of bars, shows and restaurants, a no-fly start from an English port and fares that, in our data, sit well below the line's sister Cunard. If you are used to resort hotels in Spain or the Canaries, the style will feel familiar.

P&O Cruises belongs to Carnival Corporation and is run from Southampton together with Cunard, its more formal sister line. Other Carnival Corporation brands include Princess, Holland America, Carnival Cruise Line, Costa, AIDA and Seabourn.

P&O Cruises Australia was a separate brand with its own Pacific ships and has since been folded into Carnival Cruise Line, so this page covers the British fleet only.

P&O ships by class

P&O Cruises has seven ships, from the two big Excellence-class ships down to the small, older Aurora. The fleet table above shows size, age and where each ship is right now; this is what sets each class apart.

If you want the biggest choice of restaurants, bars and shows, pick Arvia, Iona or Britannia. If you want quieter decks and fewer people at the pool, Arcadia and Aurora suit better.

Where P&O sails from and to

P&O Cruises is a Southampton line first. Of the 180 sailings we hold in the next 12 months, departures by port:

Everything outside Southampton is a fly-cruise: you fly out on a P&O package or your own flights and join the ship abroad. Tenerife is the base for Canary Islands fly-cruises, Bridgetown and Antigua host the Caribbean season, and Valletta is the turnaround port for Mediterranean fly-cruises. There is also one sailing each from Hong Kong, Singapore and Cape Town.

By region, the Canary Islands lead:

Fly-cruise fares look higher than Southampton fares because they are often sold with flights from UK airports included, so compare like with like. Per night, the Canary Islands are the cheapest region whichever way you get there.

The Norwegian fjords are the other big no-fly favourite. Scenic cruising in Nordfjord and Innvikfjorden appears on close to 30 sailings each in our data, which tells you how many fjord trips head for the same inner fjords around Olden.

The ports of call follow the same pattern. Tenerife, Madeira, Lanzarote (Arrecife) and Gran Canaria are the most visited, then Caribbean islands such as Barbados, Antigua, St Maarten, St Kitts and St Lucia, then Valletta, Cadiz and the Norwegian ports of Stavanger and Haugesund. The regions table above has the full split.

How long P&O cruises are

The fortnight is P&O's standard holiday. Half of the sailings we hold (90 of 180) are 14 nights, and another 47 are 7 nights, the usual length for a fly-cruise or a week in the fjords.

Short breaks of 3 to 5 nights are rare, with 10 in our data, but they are the cheapest way to try the line. At the other end, 28 voyages run to 15 nights or more, up to a 106-night voyage, the longest in our data. The price-by-cruise-length table above shows how the nightly rate changes with length.

Tip: A 14-night Southampton round trip to the Canaries spends several days at sea each way, crossing the Bay of Biscay. If you get seasick or want more port time, a 7-night fly-cruise from Tenerife covers the same islands with almost no sea days.

What is included on P&O and what costs extra

A P&O fare covers the basics of a holiday at sea. Drinks and the better restaurants are where the extra spending goes.

Most fares sold in the UK also build in gratuities, but check the terms of your booking, as some fare types and markets handle them differently.

Dress code

P&O keeps a relaxed daytime dress code and a smart-casual standard in the evening. Most ships hold a few Black Tie evenings on longer voyages, when guests dress up in dinner jackets, dark suits and evening dresses. Iona and Arvia hold Celebration nights instead, where you dress up as much or as little as you like.

Peninsular Club: P&O's loyalty tiers

Peninsular Club is P&O Cruises' loyalty programme. You join automatically after your first cruise, and you move up the tiers as you sail more nights with the line.

Perks grow with each tier, from member offers and onboard events at the start to priority services and more generous benefits higher up. P&O sets the exact thresholds and perks, so check them with the line before you count on a specific benefit.

How expensive is P&O Cruises

P&O is one of the cheaper ways to cruise from a British port. Across its 180 sailings in the next 12 months, the median fare is €117 per person per night. These are fares captured from the UK site and converted to euros, so the exchange rate moves them slightly from day to day.

By cabin

The balcony step is small on P&O. In our data the cheapest balcony fare starts below the cheapest oceanview fare, so price both before you settle for a window.

By ship and month

Azura has the lowest median at €95 per night, followed by Ventura at €108 and Arvia at €113. Arcadia is the most expensive at €135, with Britannia next at €125. The newest ships are not the dearest per night, so do not rule out Arvia or Iona on price alone.

The cheapest months to sail are March (€91), February (€92) and November (€94). August is the most expensive at €134, with June, July and October close behind at €130, as school holidays and half term push family demand up. The price-by-month chart above shows every month.

Cheapest P&O sailings right now

All of them are short breaks, which is where the lowest total fares sit. All prices are the cheapest cabin, per person, captured on the date shown on the page.

How to catch P&O price drops

P&O fares move with demand. Prices on sailings with unsold cabins often fall closer to departure, especially outside the school holidays, and the line runs regular seasonal sales.

Watch out: A lower fare is not always applied to an existing booking automatically. If the price drops before final payment, ask P&O or your travel agent whether you can move to the new rate.

The current price drops above show the latest reductions. To keep watching:

• the P&O deals feed lists every new reduction across the fleet
• the P&O fleet tracker shows where each ship is now
• find a cruise filters every sailing by ship, port, month and price
• a price alert from the plans page watches the sailing you want and emails you when the cheapest fare falls

The price history chart on each sailing shows 30 days for free. Plans start at $0.99 a month: Basic keeps 90 days of history and Pro keeps 12 months, which is enough to see whether a fare is genuinely low or just back where it was last season.