Princess Cruises is transferring two ships - Golden Princess and Star Princess - to sister brand P&O Cruises Australia, where they are scheduled to begin sailing in 2021. The ships will be renamed Pacific Adventure and Pacific Encounter, respectively.
P&O Cruises Australia said the Pacific Adventure is scheduled to begin sailing from Sydney on April 30. Pacific Encounter is scheduled to call Brisbane home from May 7, 2021. The company said additional voyages may be added even earlier, depending on the timing of the return of cruising in Australia.
Princess Cruises in September sold two other ships, the Sun Princess and the Sea Princess, part of parent company Carnival Corp.'s strategy to weather the travel shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
In recent weeks, P&O Cruises Australia announced the early departure of the Pacific Dawn and Pacific Aria. It had previously been announced the ships would leave as part of a fleet transformation.
"These have been challenging times for the entire community and, for our part, we have sought to use this operational pause to fast-track our planned fleet refresh," said Sture Myrmell, president of P&O Cruises Australia. "Our pathway to a return to cruising may be unclear but we wanted to give our guests confidence about our future fleet and our commitment to Australia and New Zealand."
Golden Princess joined the Princess fleet in May 2001 with its sister ship Star Princess entering service in January 2002.
Guests with bookings will be notified, along with their travel advisors, and will receive information on how to book another cruise when operations resume. Princess said guests who prefer a refund will be accommodated.
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