P&O Cruises

ABOVE: The Oriana in Venice. INSET BELOW: The Aurora cruises past Elba.

P&O Cruises is the British half of P&O Princess Cruises, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation. It serves upmarket travelers from the UK, with cruises that range from a few days to two weeks or more in length.

In 2013, P&O is offering scores of roundtrip departures from its home port of Southhampton. Cruising areas include the British Isles, the Baltic, the North Atlantic, the Canary Islands, and the Eastern and Western Mediterranean.

A number of P&O cruises are billed as "exclusively for adults" (a more elegant replacement of P&O's earlier term, "child-free.") If you believe that children should be unseen and unheard, P&O may be just your cup of English breakfast tea.