Andrew Sassoli-Walker

For most people, a week or two aboard a cruise ship offers the chance to explore several different ports while travelling in comfort and luxury and enjoying the facilities on board. However, behind the scenes, the infrastructure of a small city is provided to ensure there is light and power, food and drink, propulsion, waste disposal and laundry as well as a myriad of other services and functions that ensure the ship gets to its destinations on time. So, how does it work? What really happens behind the scenes? Sharon Poole and Andrew Sassoli-Walker have been given unprecedented access to the seven ships of the P&O Cruises' fleet as, with contributions from passengers, officers, crew and shoreside staff, they go into the planning and execution of a year's travel aboard a P&O Cruises' ship. Starting with ensuring the itineraries are in place, berths are booked at destinations and that brochures are ready, they then look at the ships themselves, covering everything you would expect to see on a normal cruise, as well as many of the behind-the-scenes activities that make a P&O Cruise a relaxed and exciting experience for all passengers.

In 1995, P&O introduced the 70,000grt Oriana into service. She was to be the replacement for the long-lived Canberra and she ushered in a new period in British cruising history. Popular from her first days of service, she has become the epitome of P&O style, offering luxurious accommodation and public rooms. Five years later, her half-sister, Aurora, externally similar but internally much different, was introduced. Together, the two ships took P&O into the twenty-first century with a modern fleet of luxury liners. Oriana holds the Golden Cockeral for the fastest ship in the fleet, while Aurora offers an intimacy not seen on the larger and newer P&O vessels. 2012 sees the 175th anniversary of P&O and celebrations planned this year include the sailing of all seven P&O cruise ships from Southampton in mid-July. It is expected that tens of thousands will visit the city to see the biggest sail off in Southampton's history.

In 1837, P&O, or the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company, won a lucrative mail contract to the Iberian peninsula. In 1840, they added Egypt and the Mediterranean to their routes. In 1843, P&O placed the first cruise advert in The Times, and in 1844 were selling passages to Gibraltar, Malta, Athens, Constantinople and Egypt to tourists, clearly becoming the world's oldest cruise company. In that year, the author William Thackeray was offered a voyage if he would write about it for the company, helping promote their services. By 1870, the Suez Canal had opened, reducing the time to travel to India, China and Australia and, in 1904, P&O introduced the Vectis as a cruising yacht. By the 1920s, cruising had become a huge part of the company's business and, post-war, the company grew this business on the back of its lucrative 'Ten-Pound Pom' contracts with the Australian government. By 1981, Canberra was carrying almost half of all cruise passengers from the UK, and in 1982, she sailed to war, with Royal Marines and the Parachute Regiment. Post-Falklands, P&O began to expand, with new vessels. Today, the company has seven cruise ships (Adonia, Arcadia, Aurora, Azura, Oceana, Oriana and Ventura), all of which will be in Southampton on 3 July 2012, when 30,000 passengers will embark and disembark, a record for the port. Celebrating 175 years in style, this is the official history of P&O Cruises.

When Royal Princess was named in Southampton by HRH The Princess of Wales in November 1984, she was the most advanced purpose-built luxury cruise ship ever conceived and constructed. Built at the beginning of the modern commercial age of cruising, she was the trend-setter of the cruise ship world and continues to hold a number of records, among them, the first contemporary cruise ship to have all outside cabins, and in 2010 as Artemis, the first British passenger ship to be commanded by a female captain, Sarah Breton. In the following years of service, she has taken passengers all over the globe in luxury and style, and it is hoped she has many more years of cruising ahead of her. At 45,000 gross tons she is small in comparison with the super-liners of today, but when launched she was one of the largest cruise ships afloat. Her traditional ambiance and service standards have attracted a loyal following, not only among passengers, but also among her crew. This book, written by Andrew Sassoli-Walker and Sharon Poole, celebrates the innovation in cruise ship design that Royal Princess / Artemis represented, and highlights her career with both Princess and P&O Cruises in the words of both passengers and crew. Fully illustrated throughout with many never-before-seen colour images, it is a tribute to a unique and much-loved vessel.