By Laura Del Rosso
SAN FRANCISCO -- Princess Cruises will move the new Pacific
Princess, formerly a Renaissance Cruises vessel, from Tahiti to San
Francisco next summer for a series of 11-day Alaska sailings.
The 688-passenger ship was acquired by Princess parent company
P&O Princess Cruises along with a sister ship from the French
Polynesian government for about $150 million this summer.
The Pacific Princess, formerly the R3, will sail under the
Australian P&O Cruises brand for half the year and under the
Princess brand the rest of the year.
A spokeswoman for Princess said the line decided to reposition
the ship to San Francisco because of market demand for Alaska
sailings from California.
"The Regal Princess sailed from San Francisco this year and was
extremely popular," she said.
The 1,590-passenger Regal Princess was switched to San Francisco
from its original schedule of Baltic sailings after Sept. 11. In
2003, the Regal Princess is scheduled to return to the Baltic,
operating from Copenhagen, Denmark.
The Pacific Princess will be the smallest of Princess' seven
ships sailing Alaskan waters in 2003. "It will be a boutique ship
experience," the spokeswoman said.
The ship will operate 10 departures from San Francisco between
May 29 and Sept. 5 on an Inside Passage itinerary that includes
calls at Victoria or Vancouver, British Columbia; Ketchikan or
Sitka; and Skagway and Juneau.
Following the summer season in Alaska, the Pacific Princess will
sail from San Francisco to Papeete, Tahiti, to join its sister
ship, the Tahitian Princess, formerly the R4, with a series of four
roundtrip, seven-day sailings starting Oct. 3.
After that, the ship will sail to Sydney, Australia, and operate
itineraries to New Caledonia under the Australian P&O Cruises
brand.
Princess said the move from the waters of French Polynesia to
the U.S. was made with the approval of the French Polynesian
government.
Part of Princess' acquisition deal was that the former
Renaissance ships sail in French Polynesian waters at least part of
the year.
Bankrupt Renaissance had sailed the ships in Tahiti
year-round.
Before its Alaska season, the Pacific Princess will sail from
Sydney to Papeete next April for a series of four seven-day
roundtrip cruises of the Tahitian islands before embarking on a
Papeete-Los Angeles transpacific crossing.