As it prepares for its biggest ever summer season of cruising Down Under, Princess Cruises has celebrated a major landmark – 10 years since it first based a ship in Australian waters.
When the 30,000-tonne Pacific Princess sailed on her first roundtrip cruise from Sydney Harbour on November 18, 2002, she was hailed as the youngest and most elegant cruise ship ever to call Australia home.
Pacific Princess’ first season of Australian cruising saw the boutique 680-passenger ship quickly cement herself as a local favourite and, amongst growing local demand, she returned each summer for the following four years.
Her success led to another milestone for Princess Cruises’ local operations, with the cruise line deploying its first full-time ship in Australian waters, the 77,000-tonne Sun Princess, in October 2007.
Carrying 1990 passengers, Sun Princess was joined by a second full-time ship, her sister Dawn Princess, one year later, with the extra capacity enabling the cruise line to expand its offerings to include the first ever round-world cruises from Australia.
Ten years after Pacific Princess’ local debut, Princess Cruises now has three ships based in Australian waters – Dawn Princess, Sun Princess and Sea Princess – with the 116,000-tonne Diamond Princess also deployed here for a season of New Zealand cruises over summer. In addition, Pacific Princess and Ocean Princess will visit Australia during the 2012-13 summer months.
Commenting on the anniversary, Princess Cruises Commercial Director in Australia, Alan Stuart, said the cruise line had become a firm favourite amongst Australians over the past 10 years.
“Since Pacific Princess’ inaugural season of 15 South Pacific cruises from Sydney, Australians have embraced Princess Cruises. We now have scores of cruises sailing from Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Fremantle each year carrying tens of thousands of Australians on cruises to New Zealand, the Pacific and round the world,” Mr Stuart said.
“The feedback from our passengers is that they love our itineraries as well as our onboard product and service.
“We are delighted to have been the consummate host in the Australian market for the past decade.”
One of the best-known names in cruising, Princess Cruises is a global cruise and tour company operating a fleet of 16 modern ships. For more information on Princess Cruises visit www.princess.com .
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