Pacific Sky

[Murphey]

Anyone familiar with this ship from P&O? Evidently Princess is going to market this ship in North America for the 2006 season in SE asia. 2 7 day itineraries that are combinable as a 14 day. The news release said it's a 1200 passenger ship and was wondering if any one has any experiences with her?

[dorisday]

sailed on her when she was the Sky Princess. Nice small ship, old but tidy. Believe they have ripped out the Melody Bar & replaced it with a sports bar.

 

Sitmar fans loved this ship

[kimba_99]

This ship has had many, many problems over the past few years, last week she had engine problems again!

 

Although many others have enjoyed their cruises on her, my partner and I will never go on a cruise on this particular ship... just too unreliable and too many cruises cancelled. I also do not recommend this ship to friends here in Oz but this is just my opinion.

You can find more info on the P&O message board about the Pacific Sky.

Kim

[bdjam]

The ship was Fairsky for Sitmar and then became Sky Princess when Sitmar was taken over by Princess. I believe she was launched in 1984 and was the last of the steam turbine passenger ships to be built. The interesting story of her building was that those at Chantiers who were schooled in steam turbine ship building would build in the day and break at night – they knew this was the last ship they’d build and wanted to stay in jobs.

There have been major issues reported with her since she’s gone to P&O Australia – she was a reliable workhorse when she was sailing for Princess. I never sailed her but toured her one day in Skagway – she was a brilliant ship. The stairwells were done in white because the owner of Sitmar wanted people to be able to see how clean they kept the ships. She had a movie theater with balcony seating and a great piano bar. All that changed when she went down under.

[mummsie]

This ship has been fully refurbished - she was in dry dock here in Brisbane OZ for about 6 months and has only been sailing for about 2 months with the new engines. All new engines, furniture the works. We are booked on her in July next year out of Singapore. The problems last week I don't think were engine related. It seems she went too close to a sandbank and had to be pulled off. Gayle

[mii]

The Sky Princess brings back alot of memories because she was the first Princess ship that we sailed on. It was a 1200 passenger ship and went to Alaska. Had very fond memories of her, but like everyone stated above as soon as she left Princess she has had some problems. Otherwise as we remember she was decorated Art Deco style. Hopefully she will be taken care of in her older years.

 

marilyn

[Murphey]

Thanks for all the comments.....we think the itinerary (most of the ports are good choices and good for water enthusaists-excellent snorkling, beaches; like us) is interesting and the ship might be a good alternative for us "small ship" lovers. We were hoping to find a "like the old days" cruising experience!

[RSGS315]

We sailed the ship several times when she was in the Sitmar fleet and also later on when she became the Sky Princess.

Our last cruise on her was when she did the Auckland to Sydney itinerary in late March, early April 1998. We were caught in a major cyclone in the Tasman Sea, and had up to 60 ft. waves. We missed several ports, as this ordeal lasted about 4 days. She sailed well, as she has a deep hull, not like today's cruise ships. She is about 46,000 tons, and we love that size ship.

Happy Cruising, Ginnie

[cruisen JJ]

I sailed on her in November 1984 on a 11 day Mexico cruise. This was one of her Inaugral sailings. All Circolo passengers received a really nice camera, casino credit and a special cocktail party where they gave away 10 cruises for 2. My Mom won a cruise and I met my future husband. We celebrated our 20th anniversay by renewing our vows on our last cruise. She was a wonderful ship to travel on. We did several cruises on her and loved every one of them. As for the white stairwells and hallways - it's true - my husband couldn't believe how clean they were - so put his hand print on the wall when we went into the cabin. When we came out it was gone.