P&O launches sale, adds WA cruise
By: Katrina Archer and Bruce Piper, Cruise Weekly

More ships than ever are discounted under P&O's annual earlybird sale, including cabin upgrades from less than $5 a day.

The savings apply to the entire fleet including Sydney's superliner Pacific Jewel and Pacific Sun, sailing from her new home ports of Newcastle and Fremantle.

Jenny Lourey, senior vice president of Carnival Australia, which runs P&O Cruises, said the 2010 sale was offered on a record number of its ships, and two new superliners would be delivered in the next 18 months.

"Each year we run an earlybird sale to give passengers the opportunity to secure their cruise well in advance, guaranteeing a great value fare and the chance to take advantage of cabin upgrades for next to nothing," Ms Lourey said.

Bargains include an eight-night cruise to New Caledonia, from $849 per person (quad share) departing Sydney in July 2010, and a seven-night South Pacific cruise, from $799 per person departing Brisbane in September 2010.

P&O has also added two 12-night cruises from Fremantle to Indonesia, which will see the Pacific Sun offering four cruises to Indonesia during her inaugural WA cruise season this summer.

The Indonesian cruises will depart on 31 January and 12 February, visiting Geraldton, Broome, Lombok, Bali and Komodo, with early booking fares from $1999 per person.

To meet passenger demand for shorter holidays, Pacific Sun will also offer an eight-night cruise along the WA coast.

Fares for the west coast cruise, departing 23 January, start at $1299 per person.

"Our bookings show that our passengers love the option of shorter cruises from Fremantle and they are very keen to explore Indonesia by sea," Ms Lourey said.

The three new cruises replace two previous itineraries, but Pacific Sun will still sail two 16-night departures to Indonesia on 19 December and 04 January.

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