| 192
NAME
|
PACIFIC PRINCESS (SEA VENTURE)
|
CLASS
|
CRUISE SHIP
|
ENT/SERVICE
|
1971
|
BUILT
|
RHEINSTAHL / NORDSEEWERKE / GERMANY
|
WEIGHT
|
20,636 TONS
|
LENGTH
|
553 FEET
|
WIDTH
|
81 FEET
|
SPEED
|
20 KNOTS - DIESEL ENGINES
|
Pacific Princess
was originally built for the Norwegian owned Flagship Cruises
as their Sea Venture. Along with her near identical
sister ship Island Venture; they were operated on weekly
cruises out of New York - Bermuda. In April 1974, Sea Venture
was berthed at Hamilton/Bermuda when she received a distress call
from Cunards QE2. After unloading her passengers at Hamilton,
she raced 280 miles southwest of Bermuda to the rescue. As QE2
had lost all power, her 1,648 passengers were transferred to Sea
Venture before QE2 was put on tow to Bermuda.
Sea Venture
and Island Venture were later bought by P&O to serve
in their Princess Cruise division. Sea Venture was renamed
Pacific Princess before being operated on cruises from
the west coast of America - Alaska in summer and to the Caribbean
via the Panama Canal in winter. In the mid 1970s, much of the TV series
‘Love Boat’ was filmed on board Pacific Princess making
her the most famous cruise ship in the world.
For many
years, Pacific Princess was one of the smallest and
oldest cruise ships in the Princess fleet. She has 2 pools, 5 bars,
fitness center, casino, 250 seat theatre, 238 outside and 67 inside
cabins, can carry up to 650 passengers and a crew of 350.
Pacific Princess
left the Princess fleet after her farewell season cruising the Bahamas
in 2002. Since joining the Spanish line Pullmantur under the name
Pacific, she is now operated in the Caribbean for Spanish tourists
on fly/cruise holidays.
Princess
Cruises operated Island Venture under the name Island
Princess. This ship was sold to Hyundai Merchant Marine in
2000 to be operated between Pusan/South Korea and Kumkan/North Korea
under the name Hyundai Pungak. |