P&O Cruises Australia, which is part of the Carnival Corp & plc group, has unveiled details of its biggest ever year of cruising in Australia, with a record five-ship fleet opening the way for new cruises from Cairns and Singapore as well as the cruise line’s largest presence yet in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Fremantle, Adelaide and Auckland.

The company will employ Pacific Aria and Pacific Eden, both of about 52,000 gross tons and built in the early 1990s for sister company Holland America Line, from next year. They will jon the three existing vessels making the five strong fleet the largest the Sydney based company has ever operated.

"With 250 cruises on offer in the 2015-16 program, P&O Cruises will be sailing into new waters, offering a host of maiden itineraries and inaugural port visits to exotic destinations such as Honiara in the Solomon Islands, Jakarta in Indonesia, and Ko Chang in Thailand as well as local gems like Queensland’s Hamilton Island and Gladstone, Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula and Esperance in Western Australia," the company said in a statement..

The record program will kick off in a spectacular fashion next year with the cruise line’s latest ships – Pacific Eden and Pacific Aria – joining the existing fleet of Pacific Dawn, Pacific Jewel and Pacific Pearl in Sydney Harbour for an unprecedented five-ship display on November 25, 2015. 

The nation’s cruising gateway, Sydney has never before hosted five cruise ships from one cruise line on the same day. The P&O Cruises’ spectacular will bring more than 15,000 interstate and local passengers and crew to the heart of the city and attract thousands of onlookers.

Announcing the new 2015-16 program, which goes on sale on August 19, Ann Sherry, CEO of P&O Cruises, said the addition of Pacific Eden and Pacific Aria to the cruise line’s fleet had opened the way for some exciting new cruise options, with the cruise line now offering an unprecedented choice of destinations.

“With five ships in our fleet we can now meet the growing demand for cruise holidays from around Australia, with extended seasons from existing homeports and the addition of new homeports such as Cairns.  Plus more ships means we can visit some wonderful new towns around Australia and the Pacific, on a fantastic range of itineraries which are looking more attractive than ever,” Ms Sherry said.

The new program will see Pacific Eden sailing from Fremantle, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Cairns and Singapore, while Pacific Aria will enjoy seasons in Sydney and Brisbane. Pacific Jewel will sail from Sydney and Melbourne, Pacific Dawn from Brisbane and Pacific Pearl from Sydney and Auckland.

Fares in the program start from $549* per person quad share for a three-night P&OSeaBreak cruise, while a 10-night island cruise is priced from $1199* per person quad share.

Highlights include:

• A maiden season of eight roundtrip cruises from Cairns by Pacific Eden from September to November 2016 including four seven-night cruises to Papua New Guinea as well as two 10-night cruises to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands
• A record Fremantle season with Pacific Eden sailing from the WA port between April and July 2016 on 13 cruises.  Options include a new cruise to Indonesia with maiden calls to Jakarta, Probolinggo and Makassar as well as four P&OSeaBreak cruises and a new four-night cruise visiting Esperance
• P&O Cruises’ largest ever Melbourne season featuring its first summer sailings from the Victorian capital from December 2015 to March 2016. Options include a 12-night Christmas Melanesian cruise, a New Year cruise visiting the south coast of Australia and Tasmania and three 4-night P&OSeabreaks visiting Kangaroo Island
• P&O Cruises’ biggest ever Brisbane deployment with Pacific Aria spending a total of 8 months during 2015-16 sailing from the Queensland capital alongside the city’s year round ship Pacific Dawn. New cruises include an 18-night P&O Explorer itinerary visiting Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa and a seven night New Year cruise visiting Hamilton Island, Cairns, and Willis Island (scenic cruising)
• Adelaide’s biggest cruise season featuring five roundtrip cruises including three 4-night P&OSeabreaks visiting Port Lincoln and Melbourne and two 3-night themed cruises
• P&O Cruises’ longest ever Auckland season with 18 roundtrip cruises from February to June 2016. Options include four-night cruises spending a day in Napier or Bay of Islands,  a new 15-night cruise to Fiji, Tonga and the Cook Islands and a new 10-night roundtrip itinerary circumnavigating New Zealand with a maiden call to Stewart Island
• Pacific Eden will offer a Singapore season from July 2016 featuring five cruises to destinations in some of the most picturesque parts of Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia, with maiden calls to Krabi, Sabang (Palau Weh), Ko Chang, and Sihanoukville
• A record 84 P&OSeabreaks cruises including; anew four-night Hamilton Island cruise from Brisbane, new four-night Kangaroo Island P&OSeabreaks from Melbourne and three-night P&OSeabreaks to Margaret River from Fremantle as well as a four-night cruise to Esperance