???'s About Pacific Sky

[winecountry]

I live in the USA and my DH and I are frequent cruisers on the Princess ships.

Yesterday we received in the mail a brochure regarding cruises on the P&O ship Pacific Sky. The brochure states that this ship was built in 1984 and I was just wondering if at sometime this ship was part of the Princess fleet and if so does anyone know what her name used to be?

 

Thanks

[aussiedisneyfan]

She used to be the Sky Princess.

[dougnewmanatsea]

Just curious, did you receive this brochure automatically or did you order it from P&O Australia?

 

I know Princess are supposed to be marketing her Singapore-based cruises in the US, but I haven't gotten any direct mail advertising on her (and believe me, I get a lot of direct mail from Princess, as I imagine most of their past passengers in the US do) or seen any mention on Princess' web site.

 

As was previously mentioned, she used to be SKY PRINCESS. She was built for Sitmar in 1984 as FAIRSKY and Princess inherited her when P&O bought Sitmar in 1989, at which point she became SKY PRINCESS. In 2000 she went to Australia and became PACIFIC SKY, replacing FAIR PRINCESS which had been in Australia since 1997, herself replacing the legendary FAIRSTAR, the longest-running and most popular Australian-market cruise ship.

 

Good photographic histories of the ship can be seen here and here. Also be sure to see her official site here which has a superb virtual tour of her cabins and public areas.

 

I sailed on her in 1998 as SKY PRINCESS and she is one of my very favorite ships; I wish she were not so far away so I could sail her more often!

 

Unfortunately during the 1990s Princess gave their standard "corporate decor" to her interiors which are now rather bland, at least compared to her original 1984 Sitmar interiors which were really stunning and far more unique than what's there now. Sadly, little remains of them. I don't know of any photos on the web of her original interiors, unfortunately, but they really were quite beautiful. In 1984 she was the largest purpose-built cruise ship ever, and one of the most expensive. She still has her original outside decking of four-inch-thick Burmese teak planks, reportedly carried out from Burma on the backs of elephants! She was Sitmar's flagship for the '80s and they spared no expense building and furnishing her (though sadly most of that furniture - a lot of it very expensive designer stuff - was thrown out by Princess).

 

However, despite her now rather nondescript decor, she remains an excellent ship for those who do not need the latest gadgets such as atriums, alternative restaurants, rock-climbing walls, miniature golf, etc. She has a wide range of nice, traditional public areas; excellent, spacious cabins (including nice suites), great open deck space (but sadly, the promenade is not fully wrap-around), and many of the other features that are coveted by those of us who like ships that look and feel like ships and not floating hotels.

 

Most of her public rooms are nothing really special, but her beautiful wood-panelled library is one of my favorite rooms anywhere. It has survived more or less intact for her whole life and has a genuine ocean-liner look and feel.

 

In the end she is not at all like the glitzy megaships of the past decade or so, but if you like smaller, older vessels, like her itineraries and fares, and don't mind that she's not marketed mainly to Americans, I would certainly consider her.

[Druke I]

One thing that makes her unique today is her propulsion plant.

 

She was the last passenger liner built with steam turbines. Unfortunately, that makes her very expensive to operate, and even more expensive to repair, as everything has to be specially machined, etc. She has suffered many gearbox problems, and has had some hull plate problems as well.

 

I think her days are numbered now.

 

We sailed on her twice as Sky Princess. #1, 19 nights, 4-97, Osaka to Vancouver, via Vladivostock, Bering Straits, and the Aleutians, a very cold cruise.

 

#2, 27 nights, 9-00, San Francisco to Sydney, via many WW2 battlegrounds.

That was a wonderful trip, and her last voyage as a Princess ship.

[Skyrules]

She was built for Sitmar and launched in 1984 as Fairsky. When P&O Princess Cruises brought Sitmar she was transfered to Princess operations and renamed Sky Princess.

 

In 2000/2001 she was transfered to P&O Australia and renamed Pacific Sky.

 

 

 

 

I live in the USA and my DH and I are frequent cruisers on the Princess ships.

Yesterday we received in the mail a brochure regarding cruises on the P&O ship Pacific Sky. The brochure states that this ship was built in 1984 and I was just wondering if at sometime this ship was part of the Princess fleet and if so does anyone know what her name used to be?

 

Thanks

[Kiwi Kruzer]

 

She was the last passenger liner built with steam turbines.

 

I think her days are numbered now.

 

 

I have sailed twice on Pacific Sky,

when she first came to Australia......

Both cruises were great......but

would not book on her again.....

[winecountry]

Host Doug....The brochure just came in the mail, nothing that I had requested.

 

Thanks to all of you for the history lesson regarding the Pacific Sky