Regal Princess to P&O Aus., Spring 2007

[Druke I]

There is a press release from P&O on the P&O board stating that Pacific Sky (former Sky Princess) is leaving their fleet, and will be replaced by Regal Princess Spring 2007.

 

It did say Pacific Sky has been sold, but did not say to whom.

[avalon1025]

Pacific Sky has been rumoured to have been sold to Pulmantur, a Spanish cruise operation.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

It did say Pacific Sky has been sold, but did not say to whom.

 

On another board they are saying that she has been sold to Pullmantur Cruises.

13 May06 departure for Pacific Sky seems rather sudden,what a shame we have to wait so long for Regal.

I wonder what they will rename her?

Pacific *******?

David.

[TorontoTL]

I hope this doesn't mean that Princess will be getting rid of all of it's smaller ships. I haven't had a chance to sale on either of the Pacific or Tahitian Princess ships. I never got to sail on the Royal or the Regal. Hopefully they will stop with the Regal and not transfer anymore of the ships for a while unless they get some smaller newbuilds.

[Druke I]

Toronto

 

A lot of us on this board do wish that Princess would build some new smaller ships, but lately it has been all megaships.

 

I for one think that any ship that cannot transit the Panama Canal is too damned big.

 

It looks like that the Sun class and Coral class will be the small ships of the fleet, aside from Tahitian & Pacific, both of which have been rumored to "on the way out" of the Princess fleet.

 

Pity you didn't get a chance to try Royal Princess, she was a classy lady. We sailed her 4 times.

 

Been on Regal twice, with 3rd trip coming up, Mar 06, 'round the Horn.

[TorontoTL]

Michael, how will Princess be able to offer some of the exotic itineraries that they currently offer if they get rid of the Pacific or the Tahitian Princess? I hope the rumour is false.

[spongerob]

It seems odd that ship built specifically for cruising in cooler climates would be transferred to the South Pacific. I really think the folks down under would like one of these new brutes for themselves, rather than older ships that someone as decided no longer fit the demographics of the North American marketplace, no matter how popular they might be.

[Druke I]

Toronto

 

Exotics are made for smaller ships, but Princess keeps getting rid of smaller ones. I certainly hope the rumor re Tahitian and Pacific are not true - they are nice ships. We've been on the Pacific, her sister Oceania's Regatta, and are booked on another sister, Oceania's Nautica, through the Suez, Istanbul to Singapore, 11-06.

 

The Royal Princess, at 45,000 GRT and 1200 PAX was great on those Exotic runs. She had a liner-like hull, and took to heavy seas much better than some of the bigger ships.

 

We rode her in a gale off Newfoundland, and she barely shuddered when fighting for headway. Larger Grand class wallow, pitch and roll in similar sea states.

[Aussie Gal]

Spongerobs,

 

We are the poor relations down here and always get the cast offs. Mind you I think the Regal will be a cut above the ones we have been given of late.

 

In fact we are sailing on her in a couple of weeks time - Rio to Valparios - so we may even sail again on her when she is cruising from our waters.

 

The news is correct as a T.A. here in Australia sent me an email with all the facts earlier today.

 

Jennie

[Have a Good Trip]

Spongerobs,

 

We are the poor relations down here and always get the cast offs. Mind you I think the Regal will be a cut above the ones we have been given of late.

 

In fact we are sailing on her in a couple of weeks time - Rio to Valparios - so we may even sail again on her when she is cruising from our waters.

 

The news is correct as a T.A. here in Australia sent me an email with all the facts earlier today.

 

Jennie

 

I agree, Jennie, the local offering here in Australia just doesn't make the grade. I'm hoping that 2007 will bring something worth considering in the local market.

[berylmorris]

I agree we are treated very poorly down here. We had booked the Dawn Princess October 2006, US to Sydney, then they cancelled that. We are now on the Sapphire for April 2007, Sydney to LA. I keep wondering though whether it will really happen - can only hope!

[rolando]

Well, rumors appear to be true. I got confirmation from one of the officers aboard a Princess ship two weeks ago that Tahitian has been sold to Oceania. It will transfer in 2007 and become the Marina. It appears that they need additional capacity for the successful Tahitian market. I have not heard anything about the Pacific Princess

[Pam in CA]

This is awful. :( How will Princess be able to continue to do the "exotics"? I just can't imagine Princess being able to do most of the really interesting cruises that can only be done with smaller ships. Besides, I really, really prefer the smaller ships.

[Guv]

What the heck is Princess doing. I enjoy the smaller ships. I was on the Royal last year from Cape Town to Antarctica to Santiago, had a great time, then found out she went to P & O also. Now this year I am booked to sail on the Regal, to Rio de Janeiro, because she is a smaller ship, and it is going to P & O also? Princess is starting to bug me again. I enjoy Princess but if they keep up at this they will loose this passenger and many, many more. I do not like the big ships...anything over 1700 is not for me.

[lois1112]

Does any one have a date for theRegal to leave the fleet? I am book on her April 07...........RT LA to the panama canal.

[Druke I]

Lois

 

Press release only says Spring 07 - doesn't give a date. I would hazard a guess that it would be after her last scheduled return to Los Angeles, which is 4-28-07.

[ualtim]

I remember when the Regal/Crown Princess were "too big" as they were the largest in the fleet. Now, (besides the former R class) the Regal is the smallest ship in the fleet. Amazing what 10 years will do. The Sun class ships are about as big as I want to go on, but that is almost impossible these days with larger and larger ships coming on line. It saddened my wife when the Ocean Princess went away to become Oceania after only 2 years in the fleet as that was our favorite ship at the time.

[calikak]

This is so depressing. Let's all hope they'll change their minds again, like they did when they announced the Regal was going to Ocean Village.

 

Could someone post a link to the press release?

[Aussie Gal]

Here is a copy of the email we received yesterday. I will also put their email site in so you can look for yourselves.

 

Pacific Sky has been sold!!!

 

I have just been advised that Pacific has been sold and

 

that all cruises from May 2006 onwards have been cancelled.

 

 

 

Regal Princess will be coming to replace Pacific Sky

 

but not until the Spring of 2007.

 

 

 

As the Pacific Sky was very heavily booked this means that the

 

rest of the cruises will start to fill up quickly as people that are

 

cancelled off their cruises look for alternatives.

 

http://www.cruisevacations.com.au

 

Jennie

[calikak]

Thanks for posting that. Maybe this is just wishful thinking, but are they maybe going to just do like they've been doing with the Pacific, sending the Regal down there for half the year but sending her back to Princess? It doesn't really say in the info I've read.

[Aussie Gal]

I am sure they will have the Regal down here all year as it will be replacing the Sky. They send the bigger ships, like the Sapphire and Diamond and HAL's Statendam down here for our summer season when they are sure that U.S. passengers will fly here to enjoy some sun during your winter. The big ships then return home leaving us with the "dregs", though I wouldn't put the Regal in that category. Perhaps, they are starting to think about providing us with ships with verandahs etc.

 

Jennie

[calikak]

Hi all--Seatrade Insider is now reporting that the Regal will be transferred to P&O in "late 2007." There are a couple of quotes in the article from a P&O guy about the change. Here's a link to the article (free registration required):

 

http://www.cruisecommunity.com/ShowStory.asp?ID=8724

[mummsie]

yeah we were booked on the Pacific Sky for July next year and have been cancelled. My husband is booking today on one of the Star ships - either the Gemini or the Virgo. We really want to do a cruise out of Singapore and now is our only option. Much more expensive though so no balcony :mad: Regal will be based in Sydney but won't start cruising here until after the current schedule has run out. Gayle

[bdjam]

Cruise News Daily (www.cruisenewsdaily.com) just confirmed in an article that Regal Princess will be transferred to P&O, but in the fall of 2007. The article also quotes Jan Swartz as saying that Princess is totally committed to continuing to operate the smaller ships. She also says the rumors about sale of Tahitian and Pacific are unfounded.

I’m not quite sure how she can continue to tout that Princess will offer a wide range of ship sizes when they continue to order 3100 passenger ships and continue to rid the fleet of the smaller vessels. Tahitian and Pacific on exotic itineraries hardly count as a fleet with a “wide range of ship sizes.” Sun, Dawn and Sea will now be the “small” ships of the Princess fleet. The only true small ships will be unreachable to most of us. Who is Swartz trying to fool?

[calikak]

bdjam, I totally agree. Even if Swartz is telling the truth about the rumors about Tahitian/Pacific (and given Swartz's history with telling the public the straight truth, I don't necessarily believe it), it's total spin for them to say they have a commitment to small ships, when they've gotten rid of so many of them over the past few years. Clearly they don't have a commitment to small ships, or they'd be ordering new ships smaller than 3100 passengers.