P&O unveils Arabian Gulf programme

Carnival UK’s P&O Cruises will be positioning a ship in the Arabian Gulf for the first time, it has announced.

The company, which unveiled its new fly-cruise programme at an event at the Jumeirah Carlton Hotel last night,  confirmed it will basing the family-friendly Oceana in the region from January 10 to April 4, 2019.

P&O will run five 10-night cruises out of Dubai, UAE, booked-ended by repositional cruises of 20 and 14-nights respectively to and from Dubai.

The programme goes on sale to Peninsular Club members on March 23 and on general sale on March 27. Prices start from £1,399 per person with up to £450 on board credit for guests booking before May 2.

Paul Ludlow, senior vice president of P&O Cruises, said: “Although there have been P&O Cruises ships cruising in the Arabian Gulf for years, this is the first time that we will have cruised in that region for an entire season.”

The five 10-night cruises out of Dubai will call at Sir Bani Yas Island, Manama, Khasab, Abu Dhabi, the Suez Canal, Salalah and Muscat.

“This is exactly the kind of exotic mix that our guests love and they know they can trust us to deliver this fantastic experience in surroundings that are both comfortable and secure,” Ludlow added. “We fully expect to fill these cruises in the first year enabling us to expand to many more after that – with guests either just taking the fly/cruise with our airline partner Emirates or including one of our add-on land packages.”