Pacific Princess 2021 Sailings Cancelled?

[Syracusefan44]

Princess Cruises announced today that upon approval to return to service in 2021, its global fleet will feature the MedallionClass Experience, offering a number of new features that leverage touchless technologies and significantly enhance and personalise guest experience, as well as support new health protocols.

 

Princess Cruises is using the pause in operations to transform its ships. When the cruise line returns in 2021 it will do so with a fleet of smart ships. Coral Princess, Diamond Princess, Emerald Princess, Grand Princess, Island Princess, Majestic Princess, and Sapphire Princess will return as MedallionClass ships along with the new Enchanted Princess.

Other MedallionClass ships include Caribbean Princess, Crown Princess, Regal Princess, Royal Princess and Sky Princess. 
 

Does this mean that all sailings on the Pacific Princess will be cancelled in 2021 since this ship does NOT feature Medallion Class software? 
 

https://www.carnivalcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/princess-cruises-global-fleet-feature-medallionclasstm

[StrawberryHill]

Ruby Princess ?

[Steelers36]

I was about to post the same press release.  It was silent on the Pacific, so I guess we will wait and see.  I am thinking we may have a substitute ship assigned to the Med cruises next Fall.  We are on a B2B (booked as single cruise) Venice-Rome-Venice for Fall 2021 that covers Adriatic, Greek Islands, Italy.  

 

It was going to be interesting to experience the small ship for the first time, but at this point I will be happy to be able to do this trip on almost any other Princess vessel. 

 

[LACruiser88]

I think the odds are not good for the survival of the Pacific Princess???

[AF-1]

With no cruises in 2020;  all the ships except Pacific have lots more cabins; so Princess can make some money.  Pacific would cost way more to upgrade to medallion class that let's say Majestic.  That is my thinking and have no idea what the end result will be for Pacific Princess

Edited December 3, 2020 by AF-1
spelling

[Ombud]

I noticed that the Holy Land & Eastern Med cruise is on the Island not Pacific. 

Edited December 3, 2020 by Ombud

[Geoffa30]

4 hours ago, StrawberryHill said:

Ruby Princess ?

Per the Princess website the Ruby already has it installed. With today’s announcement it appears all ships except the Pacific Princess are now MedallionClass.

[Ken the cruiser]

We're on a 24 day RT on the Pacific out of Venice in July and we'll definitely be watching to see what happens with our cruise as there are a lot of out of the way ports on this itinerary that may not be suitable for larger ships. Hopefully, they will make the decision before final payment is due.

[azbirdmom]

My TA had forwarded an email from the Princess Marketing SVP earlier today with a subject line of "Big news: All ships will be MedallionClass™!"  And when I saw that the Pacific Princess was the only ship missing from the list of ships that either currently have or will have OM I immediately thought that it won't be long before we get a cancellation notice for our 2022 cruise on her.  I hope not but it seems inevitable.  😢

[patrickmoran]

Despite the Medallion hype, there is no indication that P is selling the Pacific. P is selling cruises on the Pacific through March 2022.

The Pacific is a niche ship and probably would not justify the upgrade to Medallion.  Hopefully, it will get MedallionNet wifi.

[caribill]

The notice that went to those in Australia was slightly different:

 

Princess MedallionClass holidays offer the ultimate in effortless, personalised and connected cruising. And that is why we're expanding it to our global fleet*! Princess guests can enjoy the convenience and connectedness enabled by the OceanMedallion^TM no matter where they sail. We also love how MedallionClass innovation helps us honour our deep commitment to your health and safety.

*Excluding Pacific Princess

[caribill]

8 hours ago, patrickmoran said:

Despite the Medallion hype, there is no indication that P is selling the Pacific. P is selling cruises on the Pacific through March 2022.

 

 

Princess has cancelled the Pacific Princess TA from Venice to Fort Lauderdale next October. But the cruises from Fort Lauderdale next November through mid-April of 2022 are still on the books.

[SummmerInKefalonia]

Note that Pacific appears in many port registries in Europe for the 2022 summer season, but Princess didn't include it in the latest release of 2022 european deployment. This either means redeployment or being sold to another company.

[Steelers36]

17 hours ago, patrickmoran said:

Hopefully, it will get MedallionNet wifi.

Sorely needed.

[patrickmoran]

My guess is they will sell it to P&O Australia while its in Asia in late 2021 or early 2022.

[tert333]

Now that Azamara has been sold, and the fact that Carnival is still looking to get rid of some ships, it would seem logical to see the ship sold to sycamore, so that they would now have 4 ships of the same class....

[snoozecrooze]

53 minutes ago, tert333 said:

Now that Azamara has been sold, and the fact that Carnival is still looking to get rid of some ships, it would seem logical to see the ship sold to sycamore, so that they would now have 4 ships of the same class....

I disagree. Equity firms like Sycamore have a very narrow focus of cost-cutting to keep brands upright without really putting any heart into their investments into the brands they own. I doubt Sycamore is looking to actually purchase any ships, given how strapped for cash Azamara must be in right now. Remember that Azamara's President & CEO Larry Pimentel fled the company almost a year ago (9 mos.) now so the problems were definitely building for far longer and COVID-19 just exacerbated them.

[cruzsnooze]

I liked Azamara and am sorry to see it go. Celebrity and Princess are more alike then different but Azamara was very different.

[icat2000]

Princess better not get rid of the Pacific Princess. After COVID19 I'm more looking to cruise on ships with less passengers. 

 

 

[Grego]

The plan has been to sell the Pacific Princess so she would not be in the schedule to be fitted for Medallion.  Unfortunately, it is difficult for the Pacific to be a real profit center with limited passenger count and efficiencies of operation.

We will miss this ship as it was one of the last great experiences of true cruising as it used to be.  Her ability to visit ports that the larger ships can not get into was always a plus for the Princess destination offering just as her other "sisters" such as the Tahitian Princess.

Oh well.............

[beg3yrs]

3 hours ago, Grego said:

The plan has been to sell the Pacific Princess so she would not be in the schedule to be fitted for Medallion.  ...

What is your reliable source for this statement? If you don't have one, it's just speculation. You may still be correct but unless you have a good source, it's not credible.

[skynight]

5 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

What is your reliable source for this statement? If you don't have one, it's just speculation. You may still be correct but unless you have a good source, it's not credible.

Someone on these boards has posted the Pacific Princess "for sale" information. I can't locate the posting right now, but Princess/Carnival Corp. does or did have it up for sale. Don't know if that is the reason she does not have the medallion. Could be, could not be. It's possible that medallion doesn't make sense for a 680 passenger vessel.

[tert333]

22 hours ago, snoozecrooze said:

I disagree. Equity firms like Sycamore have a very narrow focus of cost-cutting to keep brands upright without really putting any heart into their investments into the brands they own. I doubt Sycamore is looking to actually purchase any ships, given how strapped for cash Azamara must be in right now. Remember that Azamara's President & CEO Larry Pimentel fled the company almost a year ago (9 mos.) now so the problems were definitely building for far longer and COVID-19 just exacerbated them.

Sycamore is in for one reason - to get a return on investment.    If they can get Pacific Princess cheaply, they will take that opportunity.   The ships are the same, so would fit into the fleet well.  They will have to spend some money on branding.  Nothing will happen until the deal with RCL is closed.  Sycamore will still have to invest marketing $'s to get a return.   It is cheaper to allocate those costs, along with head office costs over 4 ships versus 3.

[MamaFej]

On 12/4/2020 at 12:05 AM, caribill said:

 

Princess has cancelled the Pacific Princess TA from Venice to Fort Lauderdale next October. But the cruises from Fort Lauderdale next November through mid-April of 2022 are still on the books.

As of now, my January 2022 cruise on the Pacific Princess is still in my account with no indication that it is going away. 

Feeling... hopeful?

[caribill]

9 hours ago, Grego said:

Unfortunately, it is difficult for the Pacific to be a real profit center with limited passenger count and efficiencies of operation.

 

 

The Pacific Princess (at least until the pandemic) has been profitable for Princess, just not as profitable as the newest and largest ships.

 

One reason it is profitable is that in general the cruise price paid per day by passengers is higher than on the other Princess ships.