World Cruise Announced To Celebrate P and O 180th Anniversary

P&O have today announced their World Cruise programme for 2017 which will see just 2 of their ships, Arcadia and Aurora, both doing full world voyages and Oriana doing a half world cruise ! Sort of !

Aurora will depart from Southampton on 9th January 2017, her 104 night eastbound voyage will take her along the trade routes of the British Empire, calling at 35 destinations over a distance of 30,000 nautical miles. There will be 23 new ports of call and she will transit both the Suez and Panama Canals.

Arcadia will sail westbound for 114 nights on 22nd January 2017 with 22 new ports, compared to her cruise of 2016. She will also transit the Panama and Suez Canals on her journey.

Oriana, however, will do something completely different. On 3rd January she will sail for 50 nights to the Caribbean and Amazon, her Amazon part will be 1,500 nautical miles long. She will then return to Southampton for 2 Northern Lights cruises both 12 night durations.

Well World Cruise is no longer Around The World In 80 Days, takes a bit longer than that!, but for those who decide to embark on the voyage of a lifetime it will be a wonderful experience. Picking the right itinerary is difficult but, for me anyway, would be determined by the ports of call visited during the cruise.

I`ve looked at each one and picked one Bucket List place that would influence me in my choice.

On Aurora`s voyage it would be Lautoka in Fiji, partly because a cruise would be the best way to get to this exotic destination. Fiji`s second largest city, its name means ” Spear Hit ” from a battle between two local chiefs, one stabbed the other in the chest with a spear and he died ! Did you know that 9 out of 10 people who live in Fiji say they are happy – good enough reason to visit this lovely island with its sunny, tropical climate.

Arcadia`s voyage has a new port of call in Khor al Fakkan, United Arab Emirates. I love the Middle Eastern climate and culture, having spent many happy years working in Egypt. Khor Al Fakkan is situated on the Gulf of Oman and is the second largest city in Fujairah, the beautiful bay, from where it gets its name, means ” Creek of Two Jaws”, ( lots of two`s on world cruise ). The climate during the months of November to April, is warm and sunny making this the perfect time of year to visit the region.

Lastly Oriana and the Amazon, any part of the Amazon would be on my list of must see places. Oriana will sail on the river for 6 days, the Amazon is 4000 miles long, the second longest river in the world after the River Nile. It is sometimes called the ” River Sea ” as it is so wide in parts, and travels through thousands of acres of uninhabited rainforest. Around 500 indigenous Amerindian tribes call the Amazon rainforest home. It’s believed that about fifty of these tribes have never had contact with the outside world!

World Cruise has endless possibilities for the holiday of a lifetime – what would be your pick of 2017`s destination ?