Princess Cruises

MV Pacific Princess

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Operator: Princess Cruise Lines
Year Built / Last Refurbished: 1971 / 1984
Length / Tonnage: 553 / 20,636
Number of Cabins / Passengers: 329 / 658
Officers / Crew: British / European
Operating Area: Year round Worldwide
Telephone / Fax: Tel 144 0212 / Fax 144 0212

Like so many other good ships, the background of this one involves more than one passenger line company. And before delving into the origin of Princess, let me quickly introduce Øivind Lorentzsen, Norwegian shipowner, who resurrected the trade name Flagship Cruises....a name similar to that under which fellow Norwegian shipowner Berge Sigval operated his ill fated VIKING PRINCESS. That was Flagship Line, the new outfit was Flagship Cruises, and it was born to fill a void on the weekly New York/Bermuda run. Once dubbed the "millionaires express", the route basically involved a thirty six hour ocean passage from Manhattan to Hamilton and for many decades, was the province of the highly popular Furness Bermuda Line, whose spectacular MONARCH OF BERMUDA and QUEEN OF BERMUDA still fire the excitement of shiplovers today. The MONARCH never returned to Furness after the war, but the QUEEN did, and to partner her, the owners built the smaller OCEAN MONARCH in 1951.

By the mid sixties, neither of these ships, both heavy fuel users and high maintenance, had to be retired. Furness closed down their decades old Bermuda service in 1965. Cunard and Greek Line, with one ship each, jumped at the chance to pick up that lucrative trade, and with the FRANCONIA and OLYMPIA, two ships already a dozen years old, service between the two ports was guaranteed. Enter Lorentzsen, who saw the opportunities for good profits with high class ships. Signing a contract with a German yard, he ordered a pair of 20,000 ton sisters to be built. At a transitional time in the history of passenger shipping, certain decisions had to be taken, and while not all of them proved ultimately correct, the ensuing pair of vessels, the SEA VENTURE and ISLAND VENTURE were wonderful new ships...and with their Norwegian officers, Italian hotel crews and high standards of catering, they won enormous popularity....in fact, you could say that the SEA VENTURE proved too popular. Conceived to travel further afield than the Bermuda run, this dandy new liner attracted droves of passengers on her longer winter cruises to the Caribbean, catching as well the eye of young West Coast based Princess Cruises, a firm founded in 1964 to operate cruises to Mexico and Alaska from California and the Pacific Northwest.

Princess had yet to gather the capital to buy a ship, thus far its tonnage had all been chartered... Princess' pioneer ship, the PRINCESS PATRICIA, was a 6000 ton Canadian Pacific liner, built for the triangle route - Vancouver/Seattle/Victoria/Vancouver...the PRINCESS ITALIA, really the ITALIA, brand new in 1966 and built for the charter market....and the PRINCESS CARLA, in reality Costa Lines' newly introduced CARLA C., a new incarnation of French Line's FLANDRE of 1952. Meanwhile, Princess Cruises' founder Stanley MacDonald had been making a hobby of buying and selling, and buying back and reselling Princess Cruises. Just so you know, the lumber firm of Boise-Cascade was one of his customers, and they sold the line back to him. And then MacDonald found a buyer in the United Kingdom's P&O, which bought Princess Cruises in 1974, acquiring with it an option to buy the ISLAND VENTURE, then trading as ISLAND PRINCESS, and the SEA VENTURE, which had also found herself under charter to Princess as the Pacific Princess. They became instant success stories under the Princess house flag, but what really put their names on the worldwide cruise map was their starring roles in the television series "Love Boat".

I cringe when I write about ships that were running in the 1970s.....having to say THAT decade was part of the good old days....because for me, the good old days of cruising were the 1950s and 1960s! And way back when the Pacific Princess came into the Princess Cruises fleet, I scoffed at her.....I thought Princess was overcharging for very small cabins on an ungainly looking ship. Of course, in those days out in Los Angeles, Sitmar was giving Princess a run for their money....and the lovely FAIRSEA, asking a fraction of the cost of a Princess rate for similar cruises, seemed to have it all over the high priced brand. I used to take both lines frequently, however.....and I liked them both. Thinking back, I wish I had not taken for granted Princess' service and food in those days....funny thing, human nature.....in the '60s, I remembered how good it was in the '50s... in the '70s, back to the '60s went I, and so on.

Through all the changes Princess has made in their thirty year plus existence.....the Pacific Princess has endured the good times and bad....a real workhorse for the line, a one time star of the fleet....she's now all but forgotten, lingering in the shadows of the unfortunate looking GRAND PRINCESS. Revisiting my old friend Pacific Princess, I'm happy to report she's in great shape....still a winner after all these years.....though she's wincing at what her owners are doing to her and their other ships, relentlessly and shamelessly harassing the passengers to fork over money on board until they bleed....she's still the closest link Princess has to their past....before they turned their ships into floating flea markets, gambling temples and auction houses. I, more than anyone, would love to overlook this irritation....but I can't....Princess won't let me!

It's a stellar assortment of public space on the Pacific Princess that lets me put up with the size of her cabins.....I cannot think of any ship today in her size that has better organized what's where....nor is there any medium sized ship around with more choice of places to go. Let's start up top with the underused Starlight Lounge.....a delightful little observation room with bar. If I weren't such an outdoors person, I'd spend all my time here, in this quiet and comfortable nook. For those who would rather have a view of where they've been, rather than where they're going, the two deck high Pacific Lounge has a massive wall of glass facing aft. This duplex' Terrace Room is cozy.....so perfect as a getaway place....I just love it! This isn't the only intimate area to hang out on the Pacific Princess.....Pirate's Cove, the Carousel Bar and The Pacific Bar and Club are the best places to toast new found friendships. There's also a pleasant lounge style theater, a charming main lounge, and a nice roomy place for bridge players....for a change, lovers of this game aren't shunted into an afterthought of a room.....they can play away the day in an area midships, right near the action. Setting aside my diatribe about on board spending, I must say that of all the Princess Cruise ships, the ISLAND and Pacific Princess are set up so that the Boutique and Casino are off on one side of the Riviera Deck (the ship's public room level).....so even though you'll get a tree trunk's worth of advertising flyers during the course of your cruise, it is possible to move about the ship without tripping over the sale items displays....and if you're trying to write a postcard or finish a novel, you won't hear the cacaphony of bells and disgorging coins emanating from the slot machines.

On to the great outdoors! Only 640 passengers.....yet there are TWO pools....the one up on Sun Deck has a glass dome, ensuring year round swimming comfort. The other is aft on Riviera Deck. There are plenty of deck chairs, nice promenade areas (though you cannot make a complete circuit around the ship), and good observation terraces. One of the old glass enclosed areas has been converted into a functional gymnasium. It's easy to get from one outdoor deck to another, provided you don't mind using stairs....travelers who must rely on one of the four elevators may be confined to the areas surrounding the pools..... because there are steps to negotiate onto the promenades.

The two sitting Coral Dining Room, situated where a dining room ought to be if a smooth ride is important to you, is midships on Coral Deck. It's well designed, with square and round tables for two, four, six or eight. If a window seat is prerequisite to a good dining experience....then you'll be disappointed....there are portholes only. But don't let that ruin your trip.....the food served in here is pretty good, the selection is fine, and the service is as pleasant and efficient as ever.

Deck buffets on Princess have always been a weak point in their dining service......the selection is lackluster and the quality is rarely as good as what you'll find downstairs. But the setting for breakfasts and lunches is delightful....so if you're angling for nothing more than a sandwich or burger, this is a good place to go.

A limited breakfast service is available through room service.....but except for an eye opener coffee and juice to jolt you to consciousness, you'll find the standard cabins here aren't really conducive to elaborate dining.

Before we get into the standard cabin grades, I'll let you in on a dirty little secret.....I really, really like the deluxe inside cabins on the Pacific Princess! Prior to this ship's debut, I had last seen inside cabins with tubs, sofas and storage fit for a clotheshorse only on the CRISTOFORO COLOMBO....a grand champion and all time winner for luxury, style and all the good things life at sea can offer. And the other Pacific Princess Promenade Deck cabins deluxe and suites are even nicer!! All quarters up here are light, roomy, have great storage...and if you are disposed towards spending a lot of time in your cabin, these are well worth the additional price! Two of these cabins are designed for singles...numbers 225 and 226....and I'd say they are about the best dedicated single cabins I've ever seen. Sorry that I cannot be as enthusiastic towards the other cabin grades on Pacific Princess...they were fine for their intended purpose....short cruises to Bermuda...and you'll find just enough space to completely unpack for a week's trip....but as Pacific Princess is deployed on longer jaunts....the storage facilities are plain insufficient. So pack lightly! Capitalizing on the once popular cabin design fad of "living room by day, bedroom by night", each cabin in categories "C" through "L" have a convertible "sofa" , and murphy style bed.

Each bathroom has a shower....and in the bed area there is a television that takes up a chunk of the already limited counter space. When cabins are uniform in size and equipment, we usually recommend taking one of the lower grades....however, on Pacific Princess, if you want an outside cabin, keep in mind that in category "C" you'll have two good sized windows....all other outsides have only portholes....and as these cabins are so petite to begin with, if you're bedding in one of these rooms for a long time, the windowed cabins will give you the feel of more space.

If it weren't for the legion of repeat Princess Cruise passengers, the Pacific Princess might have been withdrawn from the fleet years ago....because she's not a vessel that caters to first timers....and if there's one thing she's not, it's a party ship. Her voyages to all corners of the globe attract exotica seekers....but they are people who are more comfortable seeing a soupçon of different regions in comfort.....rather than take an in depth land tour of any one place. As for families, feel free to haul your more mature kids along....but remember that the cabins are crowded enough with two occupants....a third and fourth habitant can create chaos when dressing for dinner.

The Pacific Princess will round out 1998 in the Mediterranean, offering twelve day or two week trips to the Black Sea, the Aegean or the Holy Land. In January, she'll be off to Capetown, returning to the Mediterranean in March via exotic ports in West Africa. For the remainder of 1999, she'll partner her sister ISLAND PRINCESS.....with twelve or fourteen day cruises in Britain, Western Europe, the Baltic, Scandinavia and the Mediterranean.....departures to any of these places is dictated by the time of year, of course.

If I had a direct line to the heads of Princess Cruises, I'd shout "Come on guys.....you have a great pair of ships in the ISLAND and Pacific Princess....come to think of it, I like almost all your ships....but please, oh please, tone down the Turkish bazaar feeling. We're not all shopaholics, and I can't believe the resultant ill will you are creating among your passengers is worth the few extra dollars you're making by hounding us to buy 'til we're numb." That's my ONLY major complaint with Princess....and it's the ONLY reason I cannot assign their ships higher ratings. The food on the PACIFIC is pretty good, the service excellent, the atmosphere is otherwise lovely.....and best of all, her itineraries are great! So if you are a stronger person than I, and can pay no mind to the endless barrage of on board merchandising, I think you'll have a wonderful cruise on the Pacific Princess.