Star Princess
Star Princess is a Grand-class cruise ship, operated by Princess Cruises. Star Princess is a sister ship to Grand Princess and the Golden Princess.
An earlier ship of the same name is now operating as Pacific Pearl. Star Princess was built by Fincantieri in Monfalcone, Italy in 2002, and has hull number 6051. Star Princess differs slightly in upper deck layout from her predecessors, having an extra plunge pool (and one less hot tub) at the stern (deck 15) and with the deletion of the "Off Limits" teenagers' hot tub & sunbathing area featured further forward on her predecessors.
Another ship of similar design, Caribbean Princess, was subsequently built, featuring an additional deck of cabins ("Riviera Deck") to accommodate more passengers.
Accidents and incidents
2006 fire
On 23 March 2006, at about 3 am, a fire broke out in the passenger compartments, amidships, on the port side of the ship. Shortly after, the captain sounded the general emergency signal—seven short blasts followed by one long blast on the ship's whistle (over the PA) and the ship's horn, which woke passengers up all over the ship. Passengers went to muster stations and evacuees were combined into groups, then stationed in muster stations, theatres, restaurants and other public ares, for about seven hours. Some passengers who needed regular medication required crew members to go into their suites and retrieve their medication.
MV Pacific Pearl
Pacific Pearl is the sixth cruise ship of the P&O Cruises Australia brand. She was built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique, at their shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France, and launched in 1988 as Sitmar FairMajesty. Originally ordered for Sitmar Cruises, she was sold and first entered service with Princess Cruises as Star Princess in 1989. From 1997 to 2003, she served in the P&O Cruises fleet as MV Arcadia. She was renamed Ocean Village in 2003 when the brand was established.Ocean Village was the sole cruise ship of the Ocean Village brand after the Ocean Village Two became the Pacific Jewel. She was transferred to P&O Cruises Australia and renamed Pacific Pearl.
History
Sitmar FairMajesty had been launched and named but was still being fitted out when Sitmar was taken over by P&O in 1988. She was subsequently renamed Star Princess when she commenced operating for P&O's Princess Cruises division in 1989. In 1997 she was transferred to P&O's Southampton based UK fleet as a replacement for SS Canberra, which was scrapped that year. Appropriately, she was refitted for her new role at Harland and Wolff, the shipyard in Belfast that built Canberra.
