Pacific Princess

MS Pacific Princess is a cruise ship owned by Princess Cruises and operated by Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises Australia. She was built in 1999 by the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France as MS R Three for Renaissance Cruises.[3]

For the ship known as "Pacific Princess" from 1975 to 2002, see MS Pacific. For other uses, see Pacific Princess (disambiguation).

Pacific Princess in Mykonos, 2017
History
Name:
  • 1999–2002: R Three
  • 2002—present: Pacific Princess
Owner:
Operator:
  • 1999–2001: Renaissance Cruises
  • 2001–2002: laid up
  • 2002—present: Princess Cruises[1]
Port of registry:
Builder: Chantiers de l'Atlantique, St. Nazaire, France
Cost: £150 million[2]
Yard number: N31[1]
Launched: August 1999[1]
Acquired: 1999[1]
In service: December 1999[1]
Identification:
Status: In service
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: R-class cruise ship
Tonnage:
Length: 181.00 m (593 ft 10 in)
Beam: 25.46 m (83 ft 6 in)
Draught: 5.80 m (19 ft 0 in)
Decks: 9 (passenger accessible)[2]
Installed power:
Propulsion: 2 propellers[2]
Speed: 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Capacity:
  • 688 passengers (lower berths)
  • 826 passengers (all berths)[2]
Crew: 373[2]

Construction and career
Pacific Princess and Grand Princess in Split, Croatia in 2011.

R Three

The vessel first entered operation in 1999, with Renaissance Cruises.[3] The ship was not owned by the company, with possession instead residing with a group of French investors, who leased the ship to the company. In late 2001, the entire Renaissance fleet was seized by creditors.

Pacific Princess

In late 2002, Princess Cruises chartered the R Three, along with sister ship R Four (previously Ocean Princess and now MS Sirena). Both vessels entered operation by the end of 2002. The charter terminated at the end of 2004, at which time, both vessels were purchased by Princess Cruises. Gabi Hollows renamed the ship Pacific Princess in Sydney on 8 December 2002, named after the earlier Pacific Princess which served as the ship featured in the television series, The Love Boat.

Pacific Princess in Yalta Bay

The ship was the subject of a state aid decision by the European Commission: Decision 2006/219,[4] in which the European Commission held a discussion on R Three and R Four, regarding the two ships' original purpose of intending to support local tourism in French Polynesia, and whether or not the re-deployments of the two ships beyond the French Polynesia region were a misuse of Commission-provided development aid. The conclusion presides that France unlawfully breached the treaty that governed the regulations surrounding development aid when the ships were redeployed outside of the local region, but with the devastating economic effects (force majeure) of the September 11 attacks and the fact that the expectations of local development impact have now otherwise been met, the ships' re-deployments were allowed and the development aid given to France was still rendered lawfully used.

Pacific Princess has often been deployed on itineraries servicing more exotic locales or ports within areas unreachable by larger vessels. These itineraries have included the World Cruise itineraries of more than 100 days.[5][6] As of October 2019, Pacific Princess is operating voyages within the Mediterranean before embarking on the 2020 World Cruise. She is scheduled to return to Alaska in the summer of 2020, sailing between Vancouver and Whittier,[7] before returning to the South Pacific for itineraries serving French Polynesia and Oceania.[8]

Incidents
Pacific Princess in Juneau, Alaska

On 14 October 2016, Pacific Princess collided with the breakwater at Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France and was holed below the waterline. There were no injuries amongst the 669 passengers and 382 crew.[9]

On 25 August 2018, Pacific Princess rescued three fisherman from a sunken trawler in the North Sea, about 25 miles (40 km) north-east of Great Yarmouth.[10]

Coronavirus quarantine

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Pacific Princess was refused permission to dock at numerous destinations including Bali, Singapore, Phuket, Thailand, and Sri Lanka, though there have been no confirmed cases on board. [11]

The ship was allowed to dock in Perth, Australia on 21 March and most passengers disembarked [12]. Those who were unable to fly home remained on the ship which was heading to Los Angeles. The company stated that 115 passengers were still on board and that they had no confirmed cases of COVID-19.[13]

On 13 April 2020, 4 passengers were allowed to disembark in Honolulu, Hawaii.[14] The last passengers disembarked when the ship returned to Los Angeles on 20 April. [15]

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References

Notes
  1. Asklander, Micke. "M/S R Three (1999)". Fakta om Fartyg (in Swedish). Retrieved 22 March 2008.
  2. Ward, Douglas (2006). Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships. Singapore: Berlitz. pp. 469–470. ISBN 981-246-739-4.
  3. Asklander, Micke. "M/S R Three (1999)". Fakta om Fartyg (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2008.
  4. Kroes, Neelie (20 July 2005). "COMMISSION DECISION of 20 July 2005 on the State aid implemented by France for two cruise ships with a view to the development of French Polynesia". Official Journal of the European Union.
  5. "Princess Cruises Reveals 2020 World Cruise on Pacific Princess". TravelPulse. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  6. Souza, Ben (26 May 2017). "Princess Cruises Offering Exotic Cruises for 2018-2019". Cruise Fever.
  7. "Princess Cruises: Princess Cruises Announces 2020 Alaska Cruises and Cruisetours". www.princess.com. 13 November 2018.
  8. Staff, C. I. N. (2 July 2019). "Pacific Princess Returns to Australia". www.cruiseindustrynews.com.
  9. "Cruise ship Pacific Princess breached after collision with breakwater in Nice". Maritime Herald. 14 October 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  10. "North Sea search for fishermen after ship saves three men". BBC News. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  11. Zdanowicz, Christine (17 March 2020). "Multiple cruise ships are left stranded as coronavirus cases increase". CNN. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  12. "I was stranded at sea on a cruise ship. Now I'm owed $37,000". CNN. 29 June 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  13. "Cruise ships are still scrambling for safe harbor". CNN. 3 April 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  14. 4 residents allowed to disembark from cruise ship docked at Honolulu Harbor Hawaii News Now 13 April 2020
  15. The Last Three Cruise Ships at Sea Are Finally Going Home New York Magazine 20 April 2020

Bibliography

Curtis, Paul (2005). Pacific Princess: The New Love Boat. Rose Publishing. ISBN 0-975726-6-09.

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