History of ships on which we have sailed with cruise history
And a bit of their history
Star Princess, December 2019 LA to Hawaii return
Pacific Encounter is a Grand-class cruise ship operated by P&O Cruises Australia, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. She was originally delivered in 2002 as Star Princess to sister cruise line Princess Cruises in 2002 by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri, and was the second ship in Princess’ history to operate under the name. She had been the third Grand-class ship to be added to the fleet, following Grand Princess and Golden Princess. In 2018, Carnival Corporation announced that Star Princess would be transferred to P&O Cruises Australia to accommodate P&O’s expansion plans in Oceania; however, amid the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent impact on tourism, Carnival Corporation accelerated the transfer of the vessel and Star Princess joined P&O’s fleet in 2020, one year earlier than planned. Following a renovation and a renaming to Pacific Encounter, she debuted in August 2022[6] upon P&O’s staged resumption of operations. Click or more information
Emerald Princess, 2018 California Coastal, 2018 Hawaii
Emerald Princess is a Crown-class cruise ship for Princess Cruises that entered service in April 2007. Her sister ships include Ruby Princess and Crown Princess.
Emerald Princess launched from the Italian shipyard of Fincantieri Monfalcone on 1 June 2006] She was then handed over to Princess Cruises on 24 March 2007. Emerald Princess was christened on 13 May 2007, in Greece. Click for more
Diamond Princess, 2018 Tasmania from Sydney return
Diamond Princess is a British-registered cruise ship owned and operated by Princess Cruises. She began operation in March 2004 and primarily cruises in Asia during the northern hemisphere summer and Australia during the southern hemisphere summer. She is a subclassed Grand-class ship, which is also known as a Gem-class ship. Diamond Princess and her sister ship, Sapphire Princess, are the widest subclass of Grand-class ships, as they have a 37.5-metre (123 ft 0 in) beam, while all other Grand-class ships have a beam of 36 metres (118 ft 1 in). Diamond Princess and Sapphire Princess were both built in Nagasaki, Japan, by Mitsubishi Industries. Click for more
Queen Elizabeth, 2018 San Francisco to Sydney
MS Queen Elizabeth (also known as QE or QE3[2]) is a cruise ship of the Vista class operated by the Cunard Line. The design is modified compared to earlier ships of the same class, and slightly larger than Queen Victoria, at 92,000 GT. This is due to a more vertical stern, and additional cabins for single travelers. The bow of Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria are both reinforced having thicker than the standard for hull plating, to handle North Atlantic weather. The ship is able to carry up to 2,092 passengers. Click for more information
Dawn Princess, 2014 Around Australia
Pacific Explorer (previously known as Dawn Princess) is a cruise ship operated since June 2017 by P&O Cruises Australia, a cruise line brand owned by the Carnival Corporation & plc. It is a Sun-class cruise ship built by Fincantieri, Italy, in 1997, and features eight restaurants, four swimming pools, five hot tubs/spas/whirlpools, seven lounges and bars, and two children centres.
She is the sister ship to Sun Princess, P&O Cruises’ Oceana (former Ocean Princess) and Sea Princess. Pacific Explorer and Sun Princess differ from Oceana and Sea Princess by having exterior bridge wings. Oceana and Sea Princess have internal bridge wings. Click for more information
Crown Princess, 2013 Baltic, 2023 Alaska
Crown Princess is a Crown-class cruise ship owned and operated by Princess Cruises. Her maiden voyage took place on 14 June 2006, departing Red Hook, Brooklyn (New York) for Grand Turk (Turks & Caicos), Ocho Rios (Jamaica), Grand Cayman (Cayman Islands), and Port Canaveral (Florida).
As of 2019, Crown Princess sails in the Caribbean during the Winter season, and in Europe for the Summer season. Like her sister ships Emerald Princess and Ruby Princess, her Skywalkers Night Club is built aft of the funnel rather than suspended over the stern as a “wing,” or “spoiler”, as seen on Caribbean Princess. Click for more information
Ocean Princess, 2013 British Isles, 2014 Caribbean
In November 2002, Ocean Princess entered service with P&O Cruises, operating from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Her official naming ceremony took place in Southampton, England on 21 May 2003. She was christened by Anne, Princess Royal.
In 2003, P&O Princess Cruises merged with Carnival Corporation to become Carnival Corporation & plc. As a result, Oceana came under the ownership of Carnival UK, but continued to operate with the P&O Cruises fleet.
Oceana was last renovated between 29 November and 17 December 2017 after she underwent a £31 million refit at the Blohm+Voss shipyard in Hamburg.[citation needed] Technical work and public area refurbishment were undertaken.
On 7 July 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, P&O announced that it had sold Oceana to an undisclosed buyer. Click for more information
Celebrity Silhouette, 2013 Caribbean
Celebrity Silhouette is a Solstice-class cruise ship operated by Celebrity Cruises, a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group. She was ordered with German shipbuilder Meyer Werft in May 2007 and was delivered in July 2011 as the fourth Solstice-class ship in the fleet. Click for more
Star Princess 2006 Caribbean, 2011 Rome to Venice, 2016 Hawaii, 2017 Hawaii
Pacific Encounter is a Grand-class cruise ship operated by P&O Cruises Australia, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. She was originally delivered in 2002 as Star Princess to sister cruise line Princess Cruises in 2002 by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri, and was the second ship in Princess’ history to operate under the name. She had been the third Grand-class ship to be added to the fleet, following Grand Princess and Golden Princess. In 2018, Carnival Corporation announced that Star Princess would be transferred to P&O Cruises Australia to accommodate P&O’s expansion plans in Oceania; however, amid the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent impact on tourism, Carnival Corporation accelerated the transfer of the vessel and Star Princess joined P&O’s fleet in 2020, one year earlier than planned. Following a renovation and a renaming to Pacific Encounter, she debuted in August 2022 upon P&O’s staged resumption of operations.Click for details
Golden Princess, 2010 Hawaii, 2012 Hawaii
In 1998, Princess Cruises finalized the order for the ship (then known as the Golden Princess) in response to the strong demand for her sister ship, Grand Princess, making her the fleet’s second Grand-class ship. She was built by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri in Monfalcone, delivered in 2001, and christened by Merlisa George in Saint Thomas in April 2002. While operating as Golden Princess, she has sailed to all seven continents, beginning with her debut in Southampton in May 2001, followed by seasonal deployments serving regions around the Caribbean and Europe. In 2007, she circumnavigated South America and debuted along the West Coast of the United States before also sailing around ports in Asia and Oceania bordering the Pacific Ocean until 2020.
In 2017, Carnival Corporation announced Golden Princess would be transferred from Princess to sister brand P&O Cruises Australia as a part of P&O’s fleet renewal. She is currently in service as Pacific Adventure as of 2022, sailing itineraries around Oceania along with her sister ship Pacific Encounter (previously known as Star Princess). Click for more information
QM2 2010 Atlantic Coastal, 2013 Transatlantic both ways
RMS Queen Mary 2 (also referred to as the QM2) is a British transatlantic ocean liner. She has served as the flagship of Cunard Line since succeeding Queen Elizabeth 2 in 2004. As of 2023, Queen Mary 2 is the only ocean liner in service.
The ship was officially named Queen Mary 2 by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004 after the first RMS Queen Mary of 1936. Queen Mary had in turn been named after Mary of Teck, consort of King George V. With the retirement of Queen Elizabeth 2 in 2008, Queen Mary 2 is the only transatlantic ocean liner in regular service between Southampton, England, and New York City, United States. The ship is also used for cruising, including an annual world cruise. Click for more details.
Caribbean Princess, 2005 Caribbean, 2010 Caribbean
MS Caribbean Princess is a modified Grand-class cruise ship owned and operated by Princess Cruises, with a capacity of over 3,600 passengers, the largest carrying capacity in the Princess fleet until June 2013 when the new Royal Princess, another Princess ship superseded its record. She has 900 balcony staterooms and a deck of mini-suites.
Caribbean Princess is slightly larger than the other ships in her class (Star Princess, Golden Princess, and Grand Princess), due to an additional deck of cabins called the “Riviera” deck. Another difference is that, being initially designed to cruise the Caribbean year-round, there is no sliding roof over the pool area for shelter in poor weather. Click for more
Sapphire Princess, 2007 Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific, 2007 Coastal, 2009 Alaska
Sapphire Princess was built in Japan by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the second Princess Cruises ship to be built in a Japanese shipyard. Her only sister ship is Diamond Princess, with whom she swapped names during construction. She and her sister ship were the largest cruise ships to be built by Mitsubishi since the Crystal Harmony in 1991. Click for more details
Grand Princess, 2009 Caribbean
Grand Princess was the first of the Grand-class cruise ships debuting in 1998, and christened by Olivia de Havilland. When Grand Princess was launched, she featured in the Princess Cruises brochures as a Sun-class ship; it was only with the subsequent launch of Golden Princess that the Grand class appeared in brochures.The ship has a different decor scheme to her sister ships, using darker woods, and the interior decor is more similar to the smaller Sun-class ships.
She is the sister ship of Star Princess and Golden Princess. Click for more information
Coral Princess, 2008 Transcanal
Coral Princess is a Coral-class cruise ship operated by Princess Cruises, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. The Panamax vessel, along with sister ship Island Princess, was launched in 2002. Click for information about a 2013 fire and 2019 COVID-19 involvement.
Crown Princess, 1993 Caribbean
Crown Princess was built by Fincantieri in Monfalcone, Italy, with the yard number 5839. She was launched on 25 May 1989. Crown Princess was handed over to P&O Group to be operated by Princess Cruises on 29 June 1990, and sailed her maiden voyage on 8 July 1990.
In July 2001, P&O Princess launched a new German-based cruise line called A’Rosa Cruises and announced Crown Princess would serve as the new brand’s inaugural ship upon its debut in mid-2002.
In September 2003, Carnival Corporation announced that with the sale of the A’Rosa brand, A’Rosa Blu would be transferred to AIDA Cruises. Before joining AIDA as AIDAblu, she experienced the following changes in a refit: a guest capacity increase to 2,014, a crew complement expansion to 621, a gross tonnage increase to 70,285 GT, and a deadweight tonnage increase to 5,758 DWT.
On 4 August 2005, Carnival announced AIDAblu would be transferred to its U.K.-based brand, Ocean Village, in spring 2007. She was transferred to Ocean Village in April 2007, and after a small refit in Bremerhaven, was christened as Ocean Village.
The ship began her two-week refit on 14 November 2009 at the Sembcorp Marine shipyard in Sembawang, Singapore. The ship sailed for Sydney on 1 December 2009 as Pacific Jewel.
On 30 August 2018, it was reported that Pacific Jewel had been sold to Zen Cruises, a subsidiary of Essel Group. On 12 March 2019, she was delivered to the newly-formed Jalesh Cruises before she received a six-week renovation to suit her Indian clientele. On 19 April 2019, Pacific Jewel was renamed Karnika. Karnika was beached in Alang for scrap in November 2020. Click for more details
Carnival Holiday, 1991 Caribbean
MS Holiday was built by Aalborg Værft in Aalborg, Denmark and entered service for Carnival Cruise Lines on 13 July 1985. The ship was the first out of the three Holiday-class ships built for the line. The ship’s condition had been in decline, until 2003 when she was sent into dry dock and renovated. In 2005, during Hurricane Katrina, she was taken out of service to be used as temporary housing for the victims of the storm. After leaving Mississippi, she again went to dry dock for an additional three weeks of renovations. New carpeting and plumbing were added and repairs to the propellers were made, amongst other improvements.
Holiday resumed her normal route in the Western Caribbean, sailing from Mobile, Alabama until November 2009 when Holiday was retired from the Carnival fleet. She was later transferred to the fleet of Iberocruceros, another cruise line owned by Carnival Corporation & plc as MS Grand Holiday. The distinctive Carnival-style funnel was kept and repainted. In April 2010, she underwent dry dock refurbishment and was then transferred to the Ibero Cruises fleet. Sailing as Grand Holiday began on 18 May 2010.
The ship was transformed into a four-star floating hotel in Port Sochi Imeretinskiy during the Winter Olympics from 5 to 24 February 2014. Click for more information
Carnival Celebration, 1988 Caribbean
The ship was built as the Celebration in 1986 by Kockums Varv in Malmö, Sweden for Carnival Cruise Lines. The Celebration began operating for Carnival on 14 March 1987. She remained in their fleet for over 20 years until she was retired in April 2008. She underwent an extensive refit and re-entered service with Carnival’s subsidiary, Iberocruceros, as the Grand Celebration in the summer. Click for more information