Regal Princess
Encyclopedia
| Fuel oil capacity | 2727 MT (599,856,140.1 imp gal) |
| Fuel consumption | 1700 imp gal (7,728.4 l)/hr (75 ft/gallon, 6 m/l) |
Pacific Dawn is a cruise ship
Cruise ship
A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way...
owned and operated by P&O Cruises Australia
P&O Cruises Australia
P&O Cruises Australia is a British-American owned cruise line with corporate headquarters at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operational headquarters in North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
. She was built in 1991 by the Fincantieri
Fincantieri
Fincantieri - Cantieri Navali Italiani S.p.A. is a shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. It was formed in 1959 and is the largest shipbuilder in the Mediterranean, and one of the largest in Europe...
shipyard in Monfalcone
Monfalcone
Monfalcone is a town and comune of the province of Gorizia , located on the coast of the Gulf of Trieste. Monfalcone means "Mount of Falcon" in Italian....
, Italy as Regal Princess. The ship was originally ordered by Sitmar Cruises
Sitmar Cruises
Sitmar Cruises and Sitmar Line were common names for the Societa Italiana Trasporti Marittimi ; an Italian shipping company founded by Russian émigré Alexandre Vlasov. Vlasov operated cargo and passenger services from 1937 until 1988, when it was sold to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation...
, but delivered to Princess Cruises
Princess Cruises
Princess Cruises is a British-American owned cruise line, based in Santa Clarita, California in the United States. Previously a subsidiary of P&O Princess Cruises PLC, the company is now one of ten cruise ship brands operated by Carnival Corporation & PLC and accounts for approximately 19% share...
, and later sold to the fleet of P&O Cruises Australia.
After her multi-million-dollar refurbishment in Singapore from Regal Princess to Pacific Dawn, she operates from Australia to South Pacific destinations. She is the first ship of the P&O Cruises Australia fleet with an all-white hull, continuing a tradition begun in the 1930s by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company
Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company
The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, which is usually known as P&O, is a British shipping and logistics company which dated from the early 19th century. Following its sale in March 2006 to Dubai Ports World for £3.9 billion, it became a subsidiary of DP World; however, the P&O...
. Her renaming coincided with P&O's 75th anniversary in Australia.
Concept and construction
Sitmar CruisesSitmar Cruises
Sitmar Cruises and Sitmar Line were common names for the Societa Italiana Trasporti Marittimi ; an Italian shipping company founded by Russian émigré Alexandre Vlasov. Vlasov operated cargo and passenger services from 1937 until 1988, when it was sold to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation...
had started an ambitious new building programme for the North American cruise market in 1985. Following an abortive attempt to order ships from the Italy-based Fincantieri
Fincantieri
Fincantieri - Cantieri Navali Italiani S.p.A. is a shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. It was formed in 1959 and is the largest shipbuilder in the Mediterranean, and one of the largest in Europe...
, the company had placed an order for one ship, Sitmar Fairmajesty, with the Chantiers de l'Atlantique
Chantiers de l'Atlantique
Chantiers de l'Atlantique is part of the South Korean STX Shipbuilding Group and one of the world's largest shipyards, based in Saint-Nazaire, France...
shipyard in France. Sitmar were planning to order additional vessels however, and the Italian government—owners of Fincantieri—were eager to have these ships built by an Italian shipyard. Following more successful negotiations between Sitmar and Fincantieri, the former placed an order for two cruise ships with the latter, to be delivered in 1990 and 1991. Although the ship ships maintained the same basic layout of Sitmar Fairmajesty, their exteriors were redesigned by the Italian architect Renzo Piano
Renzo Piano
Renzo Piano is an Italian architect. He is the recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, AIA Gold Medal, Kyoto Prize and the Sonning Prize...
.
In 1988, while the two new ships ordered from Finatieri were in early stages of construction, Sitmar Cruises was sold to P&O Group and the decision was made to transfer the three Sitmar ships under construction to the fleet of P&O's subsidiary Princess Cruises
Princess Cruises
Princess Cruises is a British-American owned cruise line, based in Santa Clarita, California in the United States. Previously a subsidiary of P&O Princess Cruises PLC, the company is now one of ten cruise ship brands operated by Carnival Corporation & PLC and accounts for approximately 19% share...
. The second of the ships under construction at Fincantieri was launched from drydock on 29 March 1990 and named Regal Princess. Following successful sea trials on 5 June 1991 Regal Princess was delivered on 20 July 1991 to Astamar, a subsidiary of P&O Group.
1991–2007: Regal Princess
Following delivery, Regal Princess sailed to New York City where she was officially named by the former UK Prime Minister Margaret ThatcherMargaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
on 8 August 1991. Subsequently Regal Princess entered service by joining her sister ship Crown Princess in cruising out of Fort Lauderdale to the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
during the northern hemisphere winter, transferring to the Alaskan trade for the summer months. In 1992 the ownership of the vessel was transferred from Astamar to Princess Cruises and she was transferred from the Italian registry under Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
n flag. Then it was briefly changed to Great Britian flag, followed by British Virgin lslands and then changed back to Great Britian flag.
During June 1998 during a series of cruises to Alaska, a large number of passengers on Regal Princess were affected by a viral infection, some seriously. Following failed attempts to control the infections while retaining the ship in service, the ship was withdrawn from service for a week from 5 July 1998 onwards. During this time all linen, towels and surfaces the passenger might come in contact with were disinfected by utilising ultraviolet
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...
light and chlorine solutions, destroying the source of the infections.
In 2000 Regal Princess received a major refurbishment. From the same year onwards she spent the southern hemisphere summer months cruising out of Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, taking over Princess Cruises' Australian itenaries following the transfer of another former Sitmar ship, the Sky Princess, to P&O Cruises Australia
P&O Cruises Australia
P&O Cruises Australia is a British-American owned cruise line with corporate headquarters at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operational headquarters in North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
as Pacific Sky.
While on a cruise from Sydney to destinations in Asia on 15 March 2001, Regal Princess experienced difficulties when entering the port of Cairns, due to high winds. While she made it safely to the harbour, it was decided to postpone her departure by eight hours, allowing the winds to subdue and use more favourable tidal conditions. Despite these precautions Regal Princess was grounded while outbound from Cairns, but was able to free herself under her own power after just four minutes. The ship then returned to Cairns for preliminary inspections. Due to sea conditions the hull of the ship could not be inspected by divers in Cairns, and the ship was allowed to sail to Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
for a full inspection of the hull. In Darwin minor damage to the ship's bulbous bow
Bulbous bow
A bulbous bow is a protruding bulb at the bow of a ship just below the waterline. The bulb modifies the way the water flows around the hull, reducing drag and thus increasing speed, range, fuel efficiency, and stability...
was discovered, but this did not threathen her safety and Regal Princess was cleared to continue her cruise. A subsequent study to the causes of the accident concluded Regal Princess was too large to safely traverse the narrow channel leading into Cairns, and that "commercial incentives ... may have influenced the approval process to exceed the limits of a reasonable safety envelope."
For the 2003 northern hemisphere summer season, Regal Princess was repositioned for cruises on the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
and Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
. While on a repositioning cruise from Copenhagen to New York in August 2003, a number of passengers and crew on board Regal Princess were infected by the Norwalk virus. The number of infected people on board eventually rose to 217, and the decision was made for the ship to drop planned calls in Greenland and Newfoundland in favour of sailing directly to New York. By the time the ship arrived in New York on 2 September 2003, one day ahead of schedule, only four people on board were still suffering from the virus. The ship was again disinfected and was able to depart on her next scheduled cruise without problems.
In 2004 Regal Princess was planned to join her sister ship A'Rosa Blu (ex-Crown Princess) in the fleet of A'Rosa Cruises
A'Rosa Cruises
-History:A'Rosa was established in 2001, as a subsidiary of P&O Princess Cruises PLC. The company was created to serve the German cruise market, alongside the AIDA Cruises fleet, which had been acquired by P&O in 1999. A'Rosa was modelled loosely on the AIDA concept, and began life with three ships...
, P&O Cruises' brand aimed at the German market, but the transfer was cancelled following the sale of A'Rosa Cruises to Arkona in 2003. In late 2006 Regal Princess was due to transfer to the fleet of Ocean Village
Ocean Village
Ocean Village was a British-American owned cruise line, based in Southampton, England. Designed to offer and alternative cruise experience, Ocean Village was founded by P&O Princess Cruises PLC, which later merged with Carnival Corporation to form Carnival Corporation & PLC...
, but this too was cancelled. Instead, Regal Princess was transferred to the fleet of P&O Cruises Australia in late 2007.
2007 onwards: Pacific Dawn
Cathy Freeman
Catherine Astrid Salome "Cathy" Freeman, OAM is former Australian sprinter, who specialised in the 400 metres event. She became the Olympic champion for the women's 400 metres at the 2000 Summer Olympics, at which she lit the Olympic Flame.Freeman was the first ever Aboriginal...
. In December 2009, Pacific Dawn was moved to its new home port in Hamilton
Hamilton, Queensland
Hamilton is an inner northern suburb of Brisbane, Australia, lying on the north bank of the Brisbane River along Bulimba Reach. The area is hilly with views of the Brisbane central business district....
, Brisbane, to allow Pacific Jewel and Pacific Pearl to be based in Sydney.
In May 2010 Pacific Dawn went into dry dock in Brisbane for extensive refurbishment.
Design
The distinctive curved forwards superstructure of the ship, designed by Renzo PianoRenzo Piano
Renzo Piano is an Italian architect. He is the recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, AIA Gold Medal, Kyoto Prize and the Sonning Prize...
, was inspired by the dolphin. Unlike the previous P&O Cruises Australia ships, Pacific Dawn has an all-white hull, to mark P&O's 75th anniversary in Australia.
Sydney swine flu outbreak
On 25 May 2009, Pacific Dawn docked in Sydney Harbour. It was reported that 130 of approximately 2,000 passengers had flu-like symptoms and two five year-old boys subsequently tested positive for Swine fluSwine flu
Swine influenza, also called pig influenza, swine flu, hog flu and pig flu, is an infection by any one of several types of swine influenza virus. Swine influenza virus or S-OIV is any strain of the influenza family of viruses that is endemic in pigs...
. New South Wales Health authorities ordered all 2,000 passengers from the ship to stay at home, or in hotel rooms, for 7 days as a form of self-imposed quarantine.
The cases of Swine flu from Pacific Dawn were the first reported contagious cases of Swine flu in Sydney.
On 26 May 2009, it was reported that 14 passengers from Pacific Dawn had tested positive for Swine flu. At the time, as measured against the confirmed cases for nation states, Pacific Dawn carried the 14th largest number of confirmed cases. It ranked ahead of the nations of mainland China, Hong Kong, Brazil and New Zealand.
Gateway Bridge near miss
On 10 April 2010 Pacific Dawn lost power on the Brisbane RiverBrisbane River
The Brisbane River is the longest river in south east Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay. John Oxley was the first European to explore the river who named it after the Governor of New South Wales, Thomas Brisbane in 1823...
on approach to the Gateway Bridge. The pilot and tugs managed to be bring the ship to a full stop within 70m of the newly built second structure and the dead ship was towed back to Hamilton, Queensland, where an investigation later determined a failure was due to a blown fuse from a saltwater leak.