Pacific (ship)
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Pacific (formerly Sea Venture and Pacific Princess) is a cruise ship.
History
The ship began operation in 1972 with Flagship Cruises, under the name Sea Venture. In 1974 she was sold to P&O's newly acquired Princess Cruises along with sister ship Island Venture. The pair were renamed Pacific Princess and Island Princess, the latter now operating as the Discovery. The Pacific Princes operated as part of the Princess fleet until 2002, although she was sold in 2001 and leased back. When her lease expired she began operating for Pullmantur Cruises of Spain as the Pacific, sailing in the Caribbean. Pacific is currently operated year round by CVC in Brasil.In 1975, Princess Cruises agreed to have their cruise ships featured in the television sitcom The Love Boat. The ship most featured in the series was Pacific Princess, although other ships also appeared, including her sister Island Princess. The term Love Boat was heavily used by Princess Cruises in their marketing and became synonymous with the Pacific Princess. The success of the television show is largely credited with the increase in popularity of cruise ship holidays in North America.
In 1998 the Pacific Princess was impounded by police in Piraeus, Greece after 25kg of Heroin was found on board, smuggled by two Fillipino crew men. According to police sources quoted in the BBC report at the time, there was evidence the ship had become a major tool for drug smugglers in the Mediterranean.
In 2002, a new Pacific Princess entered service in the Princess Cruises fleet, the former Renaissance Cruises R3.
Statistics
The Pacific is 168.8m long and 24.7m beam and was built at Nordseewerke, Germany. She is propelled by four medium speed Fiat diesel engines with a combined power output of 18,000 shaft horsepower. The engines are individually clutched and geared in pairs to each of the two shafts which drive controllable pitch propellers. This enables one or more engines to be shut down and declutched as required. As the Pacific Princess her tonnage was 20,636 GRT and she carried 646 passengers at a top speed of 21.5 knots, cruising at 20 knots. As the Pacific, her capacity has been increased to 780 passengers and cruising speed reduced to 18 knots. Country of registry is the Bahamas.External links
- [CVC of Brasil site] website
References
- "P&O- Port Out, Starboard Home", David L. Williams, Ian Allen Publishing, 2002
- [TV boat held after drugs seizure; BBC] website
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