''Pacific World'' (previously ''Sun Princess'') is a built in 1995 and operated by Peace Boat. At the time of her construction, she was one of the largest cruise ships in the world. She was the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very comple ...

of her class that included

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

s and the P&O ships and . ''Sun Princess'' was the ship featured from 1998 to 1999 on the short-lived television show, '' Love Boat: The Next Wave'' starring Robert Urich. The show was a revival of the original ''

The Love Boat ''The Love Boat'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Wilford Lloyd Baumes that originally aired on ABC from September 24, 1977, to May 24, 1986. In addition, three TV movies aired before the regular series pre ...

'' television series which ran from 1977 to 1986. She made the news in October 2007 as the largest ship to ever cross beneath the

Sydney Harbour Bridge The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, spanning Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour from the Sydney central business district, central business district (CBD) to the North Shore (Sydney), North ...

while entering the harbor for the first time, with a vertical clearance of approximately to spare at low tide. In July 2018, ''Sun Princess'' underwent a two-week dry dock. She received new livery design, new stateroom category, shops, and other onboard amenities. In September 2020, ''Sun Princess'' was sold to Peace Boat. The ''Sun Princess'' was renamed ''Pacific World''.

Ports of call

From its debut in 1995 until 2007, ''Sun Princess'' primarily served Caribbean and Alaskan cruise routes. Since November 2007, ''Sun Princess'' has been seasonally based at

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Cruises offered from that time circumnavigations Australia, circumnavigations

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, and visits to

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

and

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

. In 2012, she offered her first world cruise. In April 2008, ''Sun Princess'' was based in Australia, operating out of Sydney during the winter months, and from Melbourne during the summer months. For the 2008/2009 season the cruise program included Australian circumnavigations,

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

- Malacca Straits return,

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

- New Zealand / South Pacific. ''Sun Princess'' also sailed from Sydney for Melbourne plus Whitsundays return, a

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

return itinerary, and a 75 night Grand Pacific trip. During summer 2008/2009 whilst ''Sun Princess'' was operating out of Melbourne, she was joined by ''Dawn Princess'' operating out of Sydney. ''Dawn Princess'' was also permanently based in Australia from that time which was a change from Princess Cruises' original plans. Demand for ''Sun Princess'' cruises between Sydney and Fremantle and beyond from April to June 2008 was so strong that Princess Cruises scheduled additional sailings for 2009. The company also decided to base the vessel in Fremantle from April to August that year. Despite the availability of cheap domestic air connections, many customers booking ''Sun Princess'' voyages between Sydney and Fremantle in 2009 opted instead to extend their trips by traveling across Australia on a connecting Indian Pacific rail service. Cruises on ''Sun Princess'' from Fremantle in 2009 included the first Indian Ocean voyage of its kind from Australia. A 46-night sailing from Fremantle visited

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, the

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

, the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (; Seychellois Creole: ), is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 155 islands (as per the Constitution) in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria, ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

and

Réunion Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...

. In 2013, ''Sun Princess'' sailed round-trip cruises from

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan marking the first of Princess Cruises deployments from there. In 2014, she sailed an extended Japan cruise program, sailing from Otaru, Hokkaido and

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

. She was joined by which replaced her Tokyo sailings. In 2019-2020 cruise season, ''Sun Princess'' sailed an extended Western Australia program. The ship homeported in Fremantle, Australia for 141 days. It was announced in June 2018 that ''Sun Princess'' would be used as a floating hotel for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The ship was to be docked at Tokyo's Yokohama Port between 23 July and 9 August 2020, specifically to provide more hotel room space for Olympic guests. It was estimated that the ship would receive 36,000 overnight stays during the Tokyo Olympics.

Accidents and incidents

In October 2013, a 73-year-old man "disappeared" while the ship was on a 16-day cruise from Fremantle to Sydney. The wife of the man reported him missing. The search included: three aircraft and the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...

ship in an area just north of Cape Londonderry. As of 8 October 2013 the missing passenger had not been found. In November 2014, an 84-year-old elderly man fell overboard off the coast of Sydney. The ship was returning to White Bay in Sydney after a 13-day New Zealand cruise. On 6 September 2017, a pipe burst onboard ''Sun Princess'' causing flooding to the lower decks affecting passengers in their cabins. Outbreaks of

gastroenteritis Gastroenteritis, also known as infectious diarrhea, is an inflammation of the Human gastrointestinal tract, gastrointestinal tract including the stomach and intestine. Symptoms may include diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Fever, lack of ...

occurred repeatedly on cruises in 2016 and 2017.

COVID-19 pandemic

Princess Cruises ship was not allowed to dock at a port in Madagascar on 13 February 2020 as it had visited Thailand, where there were cases of SARS-CoV-2, less than 14 days before. The ship docked at

on 1 March, but passengers were met by a crowd of about 30 people who insisted that the passengers must be inspected for SARS-CoV-2, and tried to prevent them from leaving the port area. Objects were thrown at passengers, and the police deployed tear gas. Princess Cruises said that there were no concerns of SARS-CoV-2 on the ship. On 26 March 2020, the Department of Health of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

announced that a passenger from ''Sun Princess'' had tested positive for the virus.

Notes

References

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

Princess Cruises website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pacific World 1995 ships Ships built in Monfalcone Ships built by Fincantieri Ships of Princess Cruises Cruise ships involved in the COVID-19 pandemic