P&O Cruises Presents Sailing With The Stars

Sail with the stars, showcasing celebrated UK stars from a range of popular interests. Alongside their usual breadth of intriguing destinations, shore experiences and choice of high-calibre dining, you can enjoy entertainment in the company of fascinating personalities and our favourite TV talent.

On the TV Talent cruise, guests can hear insights from behind the camera with Jay Blades of BBC’s The Repair Shop, Blue Peter and Countryfile presenter Helen Skelton and actor and documentary maker Ross Kemp.

Sports enthusiasts can look forward to some enlightening and thrilling entertainment with iconic sports broadcasters trio Sue Barker, Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell.

Lovers of wildlife and the great outdoors can discover intriguing tales of the wilderness from far corners of the globe on the Global Explorers cruise, with adventurer and TV presenter Ben Fogle, travel journalist Simon Calder and Monty Halls, best known for his BBC Great Escape series.

P&O Cruises Presents: TV Talent

20—27 May 2023
Join Jay Blades, Helen Skelton and Ross Kemp for some quality entertainment on board this P&O Cruises holiday to Spain and Portugal. Sailing from Southampton and calling at Vigo, Lisbon, Porto (from Leixoes) and St Peter Port, Guernsey, this is your chance to holiday with the stars!

Jay Blades

Jay Blades is the nation’s favourite furniture upcycler who inspires individuals, companies and charities to transform old furniture into works of contemporary design. Since 2017, Jay has hosted BBC1’s heartwarming primetime show The Repair Shop, running for seven series. It follows a workshop filled with expert craftspeople bringing treasured pieces of family history and the memories they hold back to life. In 2021, Jay starred in BBC2’s Jay’s Yorkshire Workshop. Jay opened the doors to his brand new workshop in Bradford, where members of the public would nominate local heroes from across Yorkshire to receive a handmade, bespoke piece of furniture to acknowledge the work they do for their community.

Nina Wadia

Nina Wadia won awards and acclaim starring in Eastenders and as a co-founder of hit BBC comedy Goodness Gracious Me. Nina has also appeared in Dr Who, Death in Paradise, Waking The Dead, New Tricks, Holby City, The Vicar Of Dibley and recently in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, Mel & Sue’s Hitmen, Stephen Merchant’s comedy/drama The Offenders and Newark Newark. Her varied film career has seen her work with Michael Winterbottom and Tim Robbins in Code 46, as well as starring in the Bollywood hit Namaste London and Disney favourite Aladdin. Her roots in theatre include her love for Shakespeare, appearing in The Tempest and with Mark Rylance in Macbeth, as well as Michael Frayn’s final work, Matchbox Theatre. She performed for the Queen at jubilees, birthdays and alongside Sir Michael Palin at the Royal Albert Hall.

Ross Kemp

Ross is a BAFTA award-winning documentary maker, actor, and author, who rose to prominence portraying Grant Mitchell in the BBC1 soap Eastenders. Since 2006 he has received international recognition for his award-winning, exciting and hardhitting documentaries, including Ross Kemp: Extreme World, Ross Kemp in Afghanistan and Ross Kemp on Gangs.

P&O Cruises Presents: Sporting Icons

2—9 September 2023
CRUISE CODE: N325 SHIP: VENTURA
Get ready for memorable stories, games and a fair few laughs with sporting legends Sue Barker, Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell, as well as former British snowboarding sensation and TV presenter Aimee Fuller. This P&O Cruises holiday from Southampton to Vigo, Lisbon, Porto (from Leixoes) and Cherbourg is the perfect getaway for fans of all things sport.

Sue Barker

Sue Barker is a legend of British tennis. As a player she won Junior Wimbledon at the age of 17, before going on to win the French Open at the age of just 19 in 1976, making the semifinals of Wimbledon the following year. After a career that saw Sue reach number 3 in the world, she retired in 1984, going into broadcasting immediately with a commentary stint on Australian television. But it was fronting the BBC’s coverage of Wimbledon from 1993 until her retirement in 2022 that made Sue a sporting TV icon. Her glittering second career saw her cover countless flagship broadcasts, including the Olympics, BBC Sports Personality of the Year and Grandstand.

Phil Tufnell

Phil Tufnell, or ‘Tuffers’ as he’s frequently known, is a former England international cricketer turned TV and radio personality. Having won I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here, Phil remains a favourite in the BBC Test Match Special commentary box. His reputation as one of the friendliest, funniest voices in sports broadcasting should help ensure some quality entertainment!

Matt Dawson

Matt’s early career was spent as a successful professional rugby player, making a total of 290 appearances for the Northampton Saints and London Wasps between 1991 and 2006. He also appeared 77 times for England and was selected three times to tour with the British and Irish Lions. He won his 50th cap for England in their Grand Slam-winning 2003 Six Nations campaign, and later that year played a crucial role in England’s World Cup win, including delivering Jonny Wilkinson the ball for THAT drop goal. Since retiring from rugby, Matt forged a successful career in television and media which continues to play an important role in his life, with commitments including BBC Radio 5 Live and BT Sport.

P&O Cruises Presents: Global Explorers

19—24 September 2023
CRUISE CODE: N327 SHIP: VENTURA
Join Ben Fogle, Simon Calder and Monty Halls for fascinating tales of the wilderness
when you holiday with P&O Cruises. Sailing from Southampton and calling at Le Havre
and Rotterdam, this cruise is sure to be an unforgettable experience for all lovers of
wildlife and the great outdoors.

Ben Fogle

Ben Fogle is an award-winning broadcaster and adventurer. He has written nine Sunday Times Bestselling books and is the United Nations Patron of the Wilderness. Ben has climbed Mount Everest, rowed across the Atlantic, raced across Antarctica to the South Pole and crossed the deserts of the Empty Quarter in the Middle East. He has presented numerous programmes for the BBC, ITV, C5 and Discovery including the hit series New Lives in the Wild. Ben’s career has spanned over 20 years, having firstly found himself on BBC’s first reality TV show Castaway. His love of adventure home and abroad is paramount to all aspects of his life and career. He is a fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, ambassador to Hearing Dogs for the Deaf and patron of The Red Cross and United Nations. Ben married Marina in 2006 after meeting her in the park while the couple were walking their dogs, Inca and Maggi. They have two children.

Simon Calder

Simon Calder is Britain’s leading travel commentator and is known as ‘the man who pays his way’, meaning he pays for his own travel. He began his career at Gatwick Airport, where he cleaned out planes for Sir Freddie Laker, and later even frisked passengers! He then started to write travel guidebooks and travel articles. Today, Simon is travel correspondent for The Independent, and also writes for the Evening Standard, the i newspaper, National Geographic as well many other publications. Simon is a regular guest on national TV and radio, often seen on BBC Breakfast, Good Morning Britain, This Morning, CNN, ITV News, Channel 5 and Sky News, as well as BBC Radio 2, 4, 5, LBC, Times and Talk.

Monty Halls

Monty Halls is a broadcaster, speaker, naturalist, marine biologist, travel writer and leadership specialist.  He is an ex-Royal Marines officer who worked for Nelson Mandela during the peace process in the early nineties, before leaving to pursue a career in expeditions, travel journalism and biology, eventually becoming a qualified marine biologist. He is also the president of the Galapagos Conservation Trust. Monty rose to fame after winning the Channel 4 show Superhumans, leading him to present further series for Channel 4, National Geographic, the History Channel, Channel 5, and the BBC. He is best known for his three BBC2 series Great Escapes, where he lived on the west coast of Scotland and Ireland with his dog Reuben.