THE SHIPS THAT STARTED PRINCESS CRUISES

摘要

The origins of the modern Princess Cruises fleet of 18 ships can be found in three notable ships: Island Princess, Sun Princess and Pacific Princess. They established a continuing innovation in the design of the ships that followed, and their successful initial cruising pattern is still an important part of Princess Cruises' itineraries. In 1974 Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company bought Stanley B. Macdonald's Princess Cruises and the Princess Cruises-chartered ship Island Princess, (ex-Island Venture) from Fearnley and Eger. They changed the name of their US West Coast-based ship Spirit of London to Sun Princess and also bought Sea Venture from Oivind Lorentzen. Sea Venture was renamed Pacific Princess. The sisterships Sea Venture and Island Venture were built by Rheinstahl Nordseewerke of Emden for Norwegian Cruiseships, a company formed by Fearnley and Eger and Oivind Lorentzen. Designed for worldwide cruising, the 20,000gt ships carried about 700 passengers, with a crew of 330. Sea Venture entered service in June 1971 and Island Venture in January 1972.