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British cruise line P&O Cruises wants to hear from Australians with a story to tell about their travels onboard the historic Arcadia ships as it prepares to mark next month’s inaugural Australasian visit of the new Arcadia – the fourth P&O ship to bear the name.
Many Australians fondly remember P&O’s second Arcadia, which was launched in the UK in 1953. During her 25 years of service, this Arcadia carried more than 430,000 passengers around the world, including thousands of UK immigrants travelling to their new home land of Australia.
Ann Sherry, CEO of Carnival Australia, which represents the UK P&O Cruises’ operations in Australia, said the cruise line was keen to build on the history of Arcadia and its passengers and celebrate the latest ship’s arrival with a passenger reunion.
“After World War II, more than one million Britons sailed to Australia as part of the largest planned mass migration in history and most of these came on P&O ships, including Arcadia,” Ms Sherry said.
“There are so many Australians whose families originally sailed to Australia to begin a new life on Arcadia, and we would love to hear those wonderful stories of family history and share their memories. People make friends for life on a cruise ship and some even meet the love of their life so we are sure there are plenty of stories to tell.”
P&O Cruises plans to post a selection of stories about the liner voyages which carried immigrants from the UK to Australia on a special Arcadia website, while those with the best stories to tell will be invited to a reunion onboard the latest Arcadia.
Past Arcadia passengers interested in sharing their experiences should send their name, contact details and their story to arcadia@pocruises.com.au by January 30, 2009.
Arcadia will visit Fremantle on February 12, Albany on February 13, Adelaide on February 16, Melbourne on February 18, Sydney on February 20-21, Brisbane on February 23 and Whitsundays on February 25.