[BITList] What ever next for P. & O. ?

[M.j. Feltham]

P&O Cruises unveils longest-ever Union Jack on new ship 
P&O Cruises is already a quintessentially British brand, exclusively sold in the UK, with British officers and chefs, all topped off with Twinings tea. But, just to drive home the message, the cruise ship operator owned by America’s Carnival Corporation has decided to revamp its fleet’s livery – a redesign that includes emblazoning the vessels’ bow with a giant Union Jack flag, “styled in a contemporary way”. 
The longest version of the flag anywhere in the world, spanning 94m, will adorn the £500m Britannia, P&O’s biggest ever ship, which is under construction and due to be launched in February 2015. 
From the end of this year, the company’s eight ships will begin to sport the new colours, which will also see the funnels painted blue and decorated with an illuminated rising sun motif. P&O said it depicts the Oriental part of the Peninsular and Oriental name on the company’s coat of arms. David Dingle, P&O Cruises’s chief executive, said the new livery “symbolises all that we stand for, pointing to the future and celebrating our British heritage. This bold new look will make our ships yet more distinctive and recognisable across the world.” The new design will first be seen on Aurora after the ship’s drydock later this year, followed by the new 3,600 passsenger Britannia, the biggest ever vessel for the UK market. That ship’s name was chosen, Mr Dingle said last September, to reflect a resurgent Britain following the success of the London Olympics and the “arrival of Prince George”. P&O ensured the Queen had no objections to it using a name long associated with the royal yacht. P&O’s roots stretch back to 1837, when the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company was awarded the Admirality contract to carry mail to the Iberian Peninsula and beyond. That led, a few years later, to the concept of cruising. Novelist William Makepeace Thackeray travelled on P&O’s Iberia in the autumn of 1844, writing an account of the voyage published two years later as “Notes on a journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo”. Source : Telegraph Q. Are they registered in the UK or Foreign Flags? 
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