Sun Princess to operate Australian season

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9/05/2006

Sun Princess to operate Australian season

Princess Cruises is basing superliner Sun Princess in Sydney for the 2007/08 summer season.

The company said the 77,000-ton ship, built at a cost of $400 million in 1995, would be “tailored for Australians” during a summer season of round-trip cruises ex Sydney, including two circumnavigations of Australia and four of New Zealand.

Sun Princess will operate in the South Pacific between November 2007 and April 2008, replacing the 30,200-ton boutique liner, Pacific Princess, which has offered premium cruising in the Australian market since 2002.

Princess Cruises Australia managing director Gavin Smith said the 1950-passenger Sun Princess would offer almost three times as many beds as the 670-passenger Pacific Princess.

The company said Sun Princess would offer Australian entertainment and onboard currency in AUD. However the vessel would retain signature Princess characteristics, including 410 cabins with private balconies. She would also introduce ‘Anytime Dining’, where passengers could eat with whom they want and when they want at a choice of dining venues.

The ship has a glass-walled health spa and gym, panoramic glass-walled elevators, a four-storey atrium, eight restaurants and cafes, four pools, five whirlpool spas, seven lounges and bars, two children’s clubs, nightclub, golf simulator and a sports court.

Sun Princess will offer 10 cruises from Sydney in the summer of 2007/08 including two round-Australia cruises, four voyages to New Zealand, three to the South Pacific islands and one to Tasmania and Victoria.

In addition to Sun Princess ’ deployment in 2007-08, Princes Cruises’ 116,000-ton megaliner Sapphire Princess will operate in Australian waters catering mostly to American passengers with an onboard currency in US dollars.

9 May 2006

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