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P&O Rocks Australia Day on Sydney Harbour

Morethan 5000 holidaymakers are celebrating Australia Day on three P&O cruiseships on Sydney Harbour today, with guests onboard Pacific Eden enjoying asurprise concert with Australian rock legend Jimmy Barnes.

Jimmykicked off his special morning acoustic performance with the popular Flame Trees, performing to hundreds ofguests on Pacific Eden's Oasis pool deck, against the backdrop of Sydney.

P&O'sships have been part of the Harbour action on Australia Day for the past fiveyears, with this year seeing three ships – Pacific Eden, Pacific Pearl andPacific Dawn – berthed in Sydney for the day's celebrations.

Aspart of the cruise line's Great Australian Deck Party, guests are enjoying frontrow seats to all the Harbour activity as well as a day of Australian movies andfood including a BBQ, green and gold pancakes and lamingtons.

Australianmusic is also high on the day's playlist, given P&O is one of the nation'sbiggest supporters of Australian musicians, with hundreds of live acts performingacross their fleet every year.

Jimmysaid he was happy to be part of the celebrations onboard Pacific Eden. "Youcouldn't get a more amazing setting for an Australia Day concert than a ship onSydney Harbour – there was a really great vibe to the morning."

PopularAustralian chef Luke Mangan – who has restaurants across P&O's fleet – wasalso onboard Pacific Eden during the day, creating a deconstructed "lamb-ington"treat for guests.

P&OCruises President Sture Myrmell said Australia Day was a big day on the cruiseline's calendar.

"AsAustralia's only homegrown cruise line, as well as the nation's largest cruiseline, Australia Day is a big event for us and we've very proud to celebrate itwith more than 9000 guests across our five ships today," Mr Myrmell said.

Allthree ships on Sydney Harbour will depart the city this evening, with PacificPearl returning Friday January 27, Pacific Eden sailing back in on SaturdayJanuary 28 and Pacific Dawn cruising back to its homeport of Brisbane. Pacific Aria and Pacific Jewel are bothspending the day at sea.

About P&O Cruises

Sailing local waters for almost 85 years, P&O isAustralia's only homegrown cruise line and the largest cruise operator in theregion, offering a fleet of five ships cruising year round from eight homeports in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. With a contemporary look andfeel which captures the spirit of modern Australia, P&O's ships carry morethan 460,000 guests a year on great value holidays. Itineraries rangefrom short getaways and cruises exploring the Australian coast to longer holidaysto the South Pacific and exotic destinations such as Papua New Guinea, theSolomon Islands and Asia. In June 2017 P&O Cruises will welcome itslatest ship, Pacific Explorer, while in 2019 it will take delivery of itslargest ever ship, a 3000-guest, 113,000-tonne vessel which will be the biggest ship ever to bebased full time in Australia.

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