Azamara Onward

Last updated

Kreuzfahrtschiff-AzamaraOnward-Portovenere-Ligurien-Italien.jpg
Azamara Onward in Porto Venere, 2022
History
Name
  • 1999–2002: R Three
  • 2002–2021: Pacific Princess
  • 2021–2022: P Prince [1]
  • 2022–present: Azamara Onward [2] [3]
Owner
Operator
Port of registry
Builder Chantiers de l'Atlantique, St. Nazaire, France
Cost £ 150 million [5]
Yard numberN31 [4]
LaunchedAugust 1999 [4]
Acquired1999 [4]
In serviceDecember 1999 [4]
Identification
StatusIn service
General characteristics [4]
Class and type R-class cruise ship
Tonnage
Length181.00 m (593 ft 10 in)
Beam25.46 m (83 ft 6 in)
Draught5.80 m (19 ft 0 in)
Decks9 (passenger accessible) [5]
Installed power
Propulsion2 propellers [5]
Speed18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Capacity
  • 688 passengers (lower berths)
  • 826 passengers (all berths) [5]
Crew373 [5]

MS Azamara Onward, formerly R Three and Pacific Princess, is a cruise ship owned and operated by Azamara Cruises since 2022. She was built in 1999 by the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France for Renaissance Cruises. [6] In 2002, following the failure of Renaissance Cruises, the ship was sold to Princess Cruises and renamed Pacific Princess. On 21 January 2021, Carnival announced the ship had been sold to an unnamed buyer, later revealed to be Azamara Cruises. [7]

Contents

Construction and career

Pacific Princess and Grand Princess in Split, Croatia in 2011. Pacific Princess & Grand Princess in Split on 2011-07-08.jpg
Pacific Princess and Grand Princess in Split, Croatia in 2011.

R Three

The vessel first entered operation in 1999, with Renaissance Cruises. [6] 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 .

From 2002 to 2007 Pacific Princess was operated by P&O Cruises Australia from November to April every year. While From May to October she would be operated by Princess. This agreement was maintain until 2007 when Regal Princess was transferred to P&O and became Pacific Dawn. [8]

Pacific Princess in Yalta Bay Pacific Princess, 2008.jpg
Pacific Princess in Yalta Bay

The ship was the subject of a state aid decision by the European Commission: Decision 2006/219, [9] 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. [10] [11] As of October 2019, Pacific Princess is operating voyages within the Mediterranean before embarking on the 2020 World Cruise. She was scheduled to return to Alaska in the summer of 2020, sailing between Vancouver and Whittier, [12] before returning to the South Pacific for itineraries serving French Polynesia and Oceania. [13]

In January 2021 Carnival announced the sale of the ship. [7] [14]

Incidents

Pacific Princess in Juneau, Alaska Pacific Princess 15 (cropped).jpg
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. [15]

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. [16]

Coronavirus quarantine

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Pacific Princess was refused permission to dock at numerous destinations including Bali, Singapore, Phuket, Thailand, and Sri Lanka, even though there were no confirmed cases on board. [17] The ship was allowed to dock in Perth, Australia on 21 March and most passengers disembarked. [18] 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. [19] On 13 April 2020, 4 passengers were allowed to disembark in Honolulu, Hawaii. [20] The last passengers disembarked when the ship returned to Los Angeles on 20 April. [21]

Related Research Articles

<i>Freewinds</i> Ship on which the Church of Scientology delivers its high-level courses

MV Freewinds is a former cruise ship operated by International Shipping Partners and owned by San Donato Properties, a company affiliated with the Church of Scientology. She was built in 1968 by Wärtsilä Turku Shipyard in Turku, Finland, for Wallenius Lines as MS Bohème for service with Commodore Cruise Line. She was the first cruise ship built in Finland. Her ownership passed to a Church of Scientology-controlled company in 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swedish American Line</span> Defunct Swedish cargo and passenger shipping company (1915-84)

Swedish American Line was a Swedish passenger shipping line. It was founded in December 1914 under the name Rederiaktiebolaget Sverige-Nordamerika and began ocean liner service from Gothenburg to New York in 1915. In 1925 the company changed its name to Svenska Amerika Linien / Swedish American Line.

<i>Karnika</i> Cruise ship operated by Jalesh Cruises

Pacific Jewel was a cruise ship. Originally debuting in 1990, Pacific Jewel has operated for numerous cruise lines throughout her history. She debuted as Crown Princess for Princess Cruises in 1990 before being transferred to A'Rosa Cruises as A'Rosa Blu in 2002. In 2004, she was transferred to AIDA Cruises as AIDAblu. In 2007, she was transferred to Ocean Village as Ocean Village Two. In 2009, she was transferred to P&O Cruises Australia as Pacific Jewel. In 2018, she was sold to Jalesh Cruises and renamed Karnika, debuting in 2019. Jalesh Cruises ceased operating in October 2020. She was sold for scrap in Alang, India in 2020.

MS <i>Sirena</i> Cruise ship (built 1999)

Sirena, formerly R Four, Tahitian Princess, and Ocean Princess is an R-class cruise ship formerly owned by Princess Cruises. When part of the Princess fleet, along with the Pacific Princess, Ocean Princess was one of the two smallest in the fleet. In March 2016, she was sold to Oceania Cruises and renamed Sirena.

MS <i>Tropicale</i> Cruise ship built 1982

MS Tropicale was a cruise ship that entered service in 1982, and was one of the pioneering cruise ships in the modernization of the cruise industry. She was Carnival Cruises Line's first newly built ship, initially operating mainly in the Mexican Rivera and the Caribbean.

Pullmantur Cruises was a cruise line headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It began operations in the late 1990s as an offshoot of the Madrid-based travel agency Pullmantur. In 2006, Pullmantur Cruises, through its parent company, was purchased by U.S.-based Royal Caribbean Group, but Royal Caribbean later sold a 51% stake in the cruise line to Spain-based investment firm Springwater Capital, retaining a 49% stake.

Renaissance Cruises was a cruise ship operating company that was founded in 1989 and owned by Fearnley & Eger Rederi in Oslo, Norway. It was purchased by Edward Rudner as the company faltered during the Gulf War. It operated year-round cruise itineraries to the Mediterranean Sea, the Greek Isles, Tahiti and the South Pacific, northern Europe and Scandinavia. The company ceased operations on 25 September 2001, having accommodated up to 220,000 guests in 2000. While the company had been in poor financial health for quite some time, the economic decline resulting from the September 11 attacks in 2001 is credited with the demise of this cruise line. It was headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

<i>Azamara Pursuit</i> Cruise ship

Azamara Pursuit is a cruise ship operating for Azamara Club Cruises. The ship was built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique at their shipyard in St. Nazaire, France in 2001.

<i>Azamara Quest</i> Cruise ship

Azamara Quest is an R-class cruise ship that entered service for Azamara Cruises on 24 October 2007. She was built in 2000 for Renaissance Cruises as R Seven. Following the collapse of Renaissance Cruises in 2001 she was laid up for two years, until chartered to the Germany-based Delphin Seereisen as Delphin Renaissance.

<i>Blue Sapphire</i> (ship) Cruise ship operating for ANEX Tour

Blue Sapphire is a cruise ship owned and operated by ANEX Tour. She was originally built in 1981 by Bremer Vulkan of Germany for Hapag-Lloyd Cruises as Europa. In 1999, Europa was sold to Star Cruises and she was renamed SuperStar Europe and a year later, Superstar Aries. In 2004, she was sold to Pullmantur Cruises and renamed Holiday Dream. In May 2008, she was transferred to the fleet of CDF Croisières de France and renamed Bleu de France. In November 2010, she was sold to Saga Cruises, but retained on charter by CDF for a further 12 months. Following an extensive refit in Italy from November 2011 to March 2012, the vessel was renamed Saga Sapphire. Most recently, she was sold to ANEX Tour in June 2020 and renamed Blue Sapphire, scheduled for an official debut in 2021.

<i>Carnival Luminosa</i> Cruise ship

Carnival Luminosa is a cruise ship operated by Carnival Cruise Line. Originally built as the Costa Luminosa, the ship entered service on 5 May 2009. Her design is a hybrid, using elements of Spirit-class and Vista-class. A sister ship, Costa Deliziosa, was launched in February 2010 and is based on the same design. Costa Luminosa departed Civitavecchia, Italy on 3 June 2009, on her 13-night maiden voyage, with ports of call in Savona, St. Tropez, Barcelona, Lisbon, Le Havre and Amsterdam. On 14 June 2022, it was announced that Costa Luminosa would be transferred to the fleet of Carnival Cruise Line, receiving the name Carnival Luminosa. The transfer and refit for Carnival has since been completed. The ship has begun sailing for Carnival as of 6 November 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamburg Atlantic Line</span> Cruise ship operator

Hamburg Atlantic Line was an ocean liner and cruise ship operating company established in Hamburg, West Germany in 1958 by Axel Bitsch Christensen and Vernicos Eugenides, the latter being the adopted son of Home Lines' founder Eugen Eugenides. In 1966 the company changed its name to German Atlantic Line. Liner services were abandoned in 1969, after which the company's ships concentrated solely on cruising. Due to the 1973 oil crisis, German Atlantic Line closed down in December 1973.

MS <i>Stockholm</i> (1941)

MS Stockholm was the name of two near-identical ocean liners built by Cantieri Riuniti dell' Adriatico, Monfalcone, Italy between 1936 and 1941 for the Swedish American Line. Neither of the ships entered service for the company that had ordered them—the first ship was entirely destroyed by fire during construction in 1938, while the second was completed in 1941 but immediately sold to the Italian government as a troopship. The second ship served for three years in the Regia Marina and Kriegsmarine under the name MS Saubadia, until sunk by British bombers outside Trieste in 1944. It is unknown if she was ever actually used as a troopship.

<i>Belorussiya</i>-class cruiseferry

The Belorussiya-class was a class of cruiseferries that were built by Wärtsilä Turku Shipyard, Finland in 1975–1976 for the Black Sea Shipping Company, Soviet Union. The five ships in the class were originally used in cruiseferry service around the Black Sea. During the 1980s all ships in the class were rebuilt into cruise ships. During the end of the 1990s all ships in the class were sold to other operators. The remaining ships in this class ended service in 2020. All ships as of 2022 have been scrapped except for the Enchanted Capri, which was shipwrecked on the Gulf coast of Mexico and only has partially been dismantled.

MS <i>Regatta</i>

MS Regatta was built for Renaissance Cruises as an R-class cruise ship, she is owned and operated by Oceania Cruises where she is part of their Regatta class. She was built in 1998 by the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in St. Nazaire, France, for Renaissance Cruises as R Two. Between 2002 and 2003 she sailed as Insignia before receiving her current name.

MS <i>Asuka II</i>

MS Asuka II (飛鳥II) is a cruise ship owned and operated by Nippon Yusen Kaisha. She was originally built by the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries shipyard in Nagasaki, Japan, as Crystal Harmony for Crystal Cruises. In 2006, Crystal Harmony was transferred from the fleet of Crystal Cruises to that of Crystal's parent company, Nippon Yusen Kaisha, and entered service under her current name. As of August 2022, she was the largest cruise ship in Japan.

RMS <i>Carinthia</i> (1955)

RMS Carinthia was an ocean liner built in 1956 as one of the four Saxonia class ships. She sailed for Cunard Line from her completion until 1968 when she was sold to Sitmar Line, rebuilt into a full-time cruise ship and renamed SS Fairsea. She sailed with Sitmar until 1988, when Sitmar was sold to P&O. She was renamed SS Fair Princess and sailed for Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises until 2000. She was then sold to China Sea Cruises and renamed SS China Sea Discovery. In 2005 or 2006 she was scrapped in Alang, India.

Phoenix Reisen is a Germany-based travel agency that also operates a fleet of cruise ships. The company first entered the cruise business in 1988 by chartering the Soviet Union-owned cruise ship SS Maxim Gorkiy.

<i>Princess Daphne</i> (ship) Cruise ship

The MS Princess Daphne, formerly Ocean Monarch, Ocean Odyssey, Switzerland, Daphne, Akrotiri Express. was a medium-sized cruise ship. She had originally been the refrigerated cargo ship Port Sydney. Her sister ship was Princess Danae, which was built as Port Melbourne.

MS <i>Insignia</i>

MS Insignia is the lead ship of the R class of cruise ships built for Renaissance Cruises. She is now owned by Oceania Cruises as part of its Regatta class of ships, but recently sailed for Hapag-Lloyd as the Columbus 2. She was built in 1998 by the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in St. Nazaire, France for Renaissance Cruises as MS R One. On 11 December 2014, 3 crew members died in a fire that broke out in the engine room when the ship was docked in St. Lucia.

References

Notes

  1. "Lloyd's Register vessel search: P Prince" . Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  2. "With naming complete, Azamara Onward officially joins the Azamara fleet".
  3. "Azamara Onward Officially Joins Azamara Fleet in Monaco Christening".
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Asklander, Micke. "M/S R Three (1999)". Fakta om Fartyg (in Swedish). Retrieved 22 March 2008.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ward, Douglas (2006). Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships . Singapore: Berlitz. pp.  469–470. ISBN   981-246-739-4.
  6. 1 2 Asklander, Micke. "M/S R Three (1999)". Fakta om Fartyg (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2008.
  7. 1 2 "Princess Cruises Announces Pacific Princess to Leave the Fleet". Princess Cruises. 21 January 2021.
  8. "P&O Pacific Princess Cruises Australia 20011-13 SAVE $$$'s HERE on P&O Pacific Princess Cruises!". www.globenettravel.com.au. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  9. 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.
  10. "Princess Cruises Reveals 2020 World Cruise on Pacific Princess". TravelPulse. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  11. Souza, Ben (26 May 2017). "Princess Cruises Offering Exotic Cruises for 2018-2019". Cruise Fever.
  12. "Princess Cruises: Princess Cruises Announces 2020 Alaska Cruises and Cruisetours". princess.com. 13 November 2018.
  13. "Pacific Princess Returns to Australia". cruiseindustrynews.com. 2 July 2019.
  14. "Damen Completes Azamara Onward Conversion". Cruise Industry News. 13 June 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  15. "Cruise ship Pacific Princess breached after collision with breakwater in Nice". Maritime Herald. 14 October 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  16. "North Sea search for fishermen after ship saves three men". BBC News. 25 August 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  17. Zdanowicz, Christine (17 March 2020). "Multiple cruise ships are left stranded as coronavirus cases increase". CNN. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  18. "I was stranded at sea on a cruise ship. Now I'm owed $37,000". CNN. 29 June 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  19. "Cruise ships are still scrambling for safe harbor". CNN. 3 April 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  20. "4 residents allowed to disembark from cruise ship docked at Honolulu Harbor". Hawaii News Now. 13 April 2020.
  21. "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.