what is Pacific sun/sky ? Not P & O?

[libra-sue]

I am new to all this, may I ask what are these threads for Pacific Sun/Sky on the pando cruise line board? Are they pando ships that I don't know about??

[Goldryder]

I think you will find the two ships are operating out of Australian/New Zealand ports as their home, and tend to do itineraries in that vicinity and SE Asia.

 

I think that is what they are, anyway.

[Druke I]

The two run for P&O Australia, a separately run division of Carnival Cruise Lines.

 

Pacific Sky was Sky Princess for a good many years, and the Pacific Sun was a Carnival ship, but don't recall which one.

 

P&O Australia also shares with Princess the Pacific Princess (new), which spends half the year with P&O Oz and half with Princess. The Pacific Princess is a former Renaissance ship, and a sister to Tahitian Princess, the three Oceania ships, and Swan Hellenic's Minerva 2. Pulmantour (sp) of Spain also has a former Ren sister.

 

Gets very confusing trying to keep up with changing ship names and companies' lineage.

[mummsie]

I agree its very confusing. Princess and P&O are sister companies under the Carnival umbrella. Princess ships basically everything is in US$. I believe P&O its AU$ for services on board. We have cruised Princess at the beginning of this year (Sapphire Princess)and later this year are going on the Pacific Princess, and next year we are cruising P&O (Sky) out of Singapore. Tahitian and Pacific Princess are 5 star ships. Sapphire and Diamond are 4 star. The P&O ships I believe are 3 and 4 star. Gayle

[Skyrules]

Pacific Sky (formerly Sitmar's Fairsky & Princess Cruises Sky Princess), Pacific Sun (formerly Carnvial's Jubilee) and soon to be introduced Pacific Star (currently operating as Costa Cruises' Costa Tropicale) are operated by P&O Cruises Australia, operating in the South Pacific and New Zealand from Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Auckland, with Australian dollars accepted on board. In addtion from Nov to April each year Paciific Princess transfers 'down under' and does cruises out of Sydney to the South Pacific and New Zealand.

 

As already mentioned P&O Cruises Australia are a subisidiary of Carnival Corporation, which also operates P&O, Carnival, Costa, Princess Cruises and several others.

[dougnewmanatsea]

I think there is some confusion here between P&O Cruises and P&O Cruises Australia.

 

These are two different brands of P&O Princess Cruises, which in turn is part of Carnival plc. P&O Princess Cruises are made up of P&O Cruises, P&O Cruises Australia, Princess Cruises, Cunard Line, and Swan Hellenic. And yes, P&O Cruises and P&O Cruises Australia are separate. P&O Cruises are based in Southampton and run by Carnival UK managing director David Dingle; P&O Cruises Australia are based in Sydney and run by Carnival Australia managing director Gavin Smith. So they are separate brands with separate products and (to some extent) separate management.

 

Those of you in the UK have likely not heard of the Australian P&O ships because the UK P&O people have nothing to do with them; they are not marketed in the UK and as far as P&O Princess are concerned, they would not care (and perhaps would even prefer) if nobody in the UK even knew that the Australian brand existed.

 

I do think there is some acknowledgement of the UK P&O ships in Australia and New Zealand, but they are not really actively marketed there. However, I do think it is at least possible to book them.

 

Interestingly, there is not much confusion between the two since their markets really do not cross paths. Generally, when someone from the UK says "P&O", they mean "their" P&O and when someone from Australia says "P&O" they mean P&O Australia and that is that.

 

Oddly, the UK P&O is always referred to just as "P&O Cruises", while the Austraian one is referred to in marketing as "P&O Cruises" but in the corporate context of Carnival as "P&O Cruises Australia".

 

From the standpoint of this board, it seems that it is used to discuss both brands, which I guess is not surprising as "P&O Cruises" could be one or the other depending on what continent one lives on.

[mufi]

And of course we also have P&O Ferries opperating out of British ports to the continent. I think this is another company as well.

 

David.

[libra-sue]

Well thank you all for explaining that to me, as one of you said, us in the UK have not been made aware of these ships sailing under P & O.

[dougnewmanatsea]

And of course we also have P&O Ferries opperating out of British ports to the continent. I think this is another company as well.

Aside from name, this is completely unrelated to either P&O Cruises.

 

P&O Ferries are still owned by The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company.

 

P&O spun off their cruise operations in 2000 into P&O Princess Cruises plc. They have since merged with Carnival Corporation to form Carnival Corporation & plc. Thus P&O Cruises and the various other P&O Princess brands are part of Carnival, not P&O. This is a similar situation to Rolls-Royce Motor Cars which is part of BMW AG and not Rolls-Royce plc - the best-known product sold under the P&O and Rolls-Royce names (cruises and cars respectively) have nothing in common with the companies whose name they bear except the name itself.

 

In addition to P&O Ferries, the other business units of P&O Steam Navigation include P&O Ports, P&O Ferrymasters, P&O Cold Logistics, and P&O Properties.

 

P&O were also active in the container shipping market through Royal P&O Nedlloyd, of which they owned 50%. Royal P&O Nedlloyd were acquired on 11 August 2005 by A.P. Møller - Mærsk which leaves P&O Ferries as the last remaining unit of P&O Steam Navigation involved in shipping.

 

P&O have been shrinking the size of their ferry business for several years now, which will continue next week when the Portsmouth-Le Havre route closes. It is expected that P&O will be out of the ferry business entirely within a few years as they concentrate on P&O Ports.

[kaseyoz]

I think reading this thread is making me seasick!!!!!LOL