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First Superliner - Pacific Dawn
February 28, 2006

P&O Cruises has announced that Australia's first superliner will be named Pacific Dawn and will be based in Sydney from October 2007, offering cruises to the South Pacific.

Presently sailing as Regal Princess in the US-based Princess Cruises' fleet, the elegant 70,000-ton superliner will be the largest and most modern ship to call Australia home, and will introduce many new features to the Australian cruise market.

P&O Cruises Australia Managing Director, Gavin Smith, said the name is in keeping with the theme of names the company had adopted for other vessels in its fleet.

"First we had Pacific Sky, then Pacific Sun, followed by Pacific Star. Pacific Dawn will maintain our line of names that draw on the natural elements and reflect the unspoilt beauty of the South Pacific region in which we operate."

Mr Smith said Pacific Dawn will carry 2,000 passengers in 795 cabins, including 184 with private balconies.

Designed by renowned architect Renzo Piano, the elegant ship is known for its distinctive appearance, with a unique dolphin-like prow and a prominent domed observation lounge that curves around the ship's front.

Its many features include two swimming pools, a 3-storey atrium lobby, a 2-storey show lounge and a cinema.

The deployment of Regal Princess to Australia follows the sale of Pacific Sky to Pullmantur Cruises in Spain.

Pacific Dawn will join Pacific Sun (1,900-passengers) and Pacific Star (1,400) in P&O Cruises' Australian fleet.

MG Media Communictions

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Originally posted by Waynaro:
Thanks for this bulbousbow! PACIFIC DAWN is a nice name...though I was hoping they would stick with the "S" beginning .

Also an interesting connection to DAWN PRINCESS.

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However altho this is a step up compared to sun/star/sky... this ship is still old!

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... will introduce many new features to the Australian cruise market

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Originally posted by phil_a:
as previously discussed... im happy to see a change/addition to the P&O Australia fleet.

However altho this is a step up compared to sun/star/sky... this ship is still old!

im guessing these new features will be things like more dining options - 24hr buffets and possibly free (included) pizza/hamburger bars. For the general australian cruiser this would be a great thing as they probably dont realise that this is normally Standard on most ships/ lines such as carnival,princess, rcl etc etc

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i think the fact tht the ship has a three storey atrium, 184 balconies, and things like these will impress, but yes she is old

[ 02-28-2006: Message edited by: P&Ocruiser ]

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P&O Cruises has announced that Australia’s first superliner will be named Pacific Dawn and will be based in Sydney from October 2007, offering cruises to the South Pacific.

Presently sailing as Regal Princess in the US-based Princess Cruises’ fleet, the elegant 70,000-ton superliner will be the largest and most modern ship to call Australia home, and will introduce many new features to the Australian cruise market, including an abundance of affordable private balcony cabins.

P&O Cruises is now taking advance registrations for Pacific Dawn’s inaugural cruises, with full itinerary details to be released in April.

P&O Cruises Australia Managing Director Gavin Smith said the ship’s new name was in keeping with the theme of names the company had adopted for other vessels in its fleet.

“First we had Pacific Sky, then Pacific Sun, followed by Pacific Star. Pacific Dawn will maintain our line of names that draw on the natural elements and reflect the unspoilt beauty of the South Pacific region in which we operate.”

Mr Smith said Pacific Dawn would carry 2000 passengers in 795 cabins, including 184 with private balconies.

Designed by renowned architect Renzo Piano, the elegant ship is known for its distinctive appearance, with a unique dolphin-like prow and a prominent domed observation lounge that curves around the ship’s front.

Its many features include two swimming pools, a three-storey atrium lobby, a two-storey show lounge and a cinema.

The deployment of Regal Princess to Australia follows the sale of Pacific Sky to Pullmantur Cruises in Spain.

Pacific Dawn will join the 1900-passenger Pacific Sun and the 1400-passenger Pacific Star in P&O Cruises’ Australian fleet. Mr Smith said itineraries for Pacific Sun and Pacific Star through to January 2008 would also be released in April this year.

How will P&O market Dawn? As a premium product to Star and Sun but inferior to Pacific Princess. This has potential issues everywhere particularly for the 2 smaller ships which may quickly be seen as a major step down from Dawn.

P&O can't hike the prices for Dawn too much as such a step may open the door so wide that it proves irresistible to RCCL and NCL to base out of Australia but they can't price it the same as the other two because no-one in their right mind would choose the other two in preference to Dawn unless I am missing something.

Currently the existing ships affer a fairly similar product which can be proved by doing a crude passenger space ratio calculation:

Sun 46845 tonnes / 1900 pax = 24.21
Star 36700 tonnes / 1400 pax = 26.21

In comparison Dawn will end up with a PSR figure of 34.92 given it is 69845 tonnes.

These calcs do not align with traditional PSR calcs because it counts all berths rather than just lower berths but it proves the point.

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Originally posted by reeves35:
P&O will have a great marketing opportunity when it launches Dawn in Australia just as it did when it launched Sky here back in 2000. Sky was a huge step up from the Fair Princess and Dawn is a huge step up from Sun and Star. The difference this time is that Sun and Star are still here and P&O still have to fill them as well as Dawn.

How will P&O market Dawn? As a premium product to Star and Sun but inferior to Pacific Princess. This has potential issues everywhere particularly for the 2 smaller ships which may quickly be seen as a major step down from Dawn.

P&O can't hike the prices for Dawn too much as such a step may open the door so wide that it proves irresistible to RCCL and NCL to base out of Australia but they can't price it the same as the other two because no-one in their right mind would choose the other two in preference to Dawn unless I am missing something.

Currently the existing ships affer a fairly similar product which can be proved by doing a crude passenger space ratio calculation:

Sun 46845 tonnes / 1900 pax = 24.21
Star 36700 tonnes / 1400 pax = 26.21

In comparison Dawn will end up with a PSR figure of 34.92 given it is 69845 tonnes.

These calcs do not align with traditional PSR calcs because it counts all berths rather than just lower berths but it proves the point.

Having cruised on Sun, there is no doubt its biggest problem is that with 1900 pax on board it feels overcrowded. This is a direct result of P&O boosting its capacity by 400 when it transferred from Carnival. Given the above calcs Sun would have had a PSR of around 30 when it sailed as Jubilee.

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Regal as Pacific Dawn may be in better condition than the others as with Princess it served as a more intimate ship that attracted an older market and possibly has not been knocked around as much as the other mass market ships.

Some ships age quicker than others I have noticed for example when I saw Adonia in Sydney in 2004 it had dints all over the side, rust and was shabbily looking up close. Oriana being a good 5 years older than Adonia looked in much better condition.

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Originally posted by pungpui:
well whats the difference between here and overseas? Do they drastically reduce the price for old bombs overseas? Isnt a cruise on Caribbean Princess (per night) not that much different from a 20 year old ship (assuming similar itinerary, etc, etc)?

I believe Pacific Sky was kept well maintained as Sky Princess, then as the years went on you heard about stories of mould on shower curtains, etc. so they'll probably abuse Dawn as well toward a similar standard to Sun and Star anyway!

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It is hard to compare Australia with the Caribbean market simply because the level of competition means there are many more price points. Princess don't sail 20 year old ships in the Caribbean. The oldest ship they have is, you guessed it, Regal Princess. Carnival has some older ships such as Sun's Holiday class sisters but they sail out of minor Gulf ports like Mobile Alabama and never go near major ports such as Miami or New York.

Pricing of cruises is also very different in the States because of the existence of internet "bucket shops" such as Vacations to Go which mean discounts are ever present. In Australia, P&O control the supply & pricing themselves.

There is no doubt Sky got a bad rap. I sailed on her in 04 and she was still in good condition but, like Sun and Star, what is available on cruise ships has changed dramatically in 20 years and it is these hard things that made her look old. It is easy to update the soft furnishings but you can't rip out every bathroom or put in a four level atrium.

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Waynaro wrote:
...PACIFIC DAWN is a nice name...though I was hoping they would stick with the "S" beginning .

Also an interesting connection to DAWN PRINCESS.

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I agree. I also would have preferred if they stuck to the "S" designation.

As for DAWN PRINCESS, I now doubt she'll ever come down under. There would be too much confusion over the names.

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Originally posted by bulbousbow:

As for DAWN PRINCESS, I now doubt she'll ever come down under. There would be too much confusion over the names.

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reeves35 wrote:
She may come one day but she sure won't be called Dawn Princess when she does!!!!

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In my previous posts regarding DAWN PRINCESS, I was of the opinion she would eventually end up here, and if she does, like you say, she would have to be renamed. Reason? She wouldn't be part of the Princess fleet anymore, but a member of P&O Australia. Suggestions for a name?

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Originally posted by bulbousbow:

In my previous posts regarding DAWN PRINCESS, I was of the opinion she would eventually end up here,

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bmajor wrote:
She will probably end up downunder,but we will have to wait,as with all our ships until she.....
..........matures!!!!!!!!!!

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How mature does she have to be?

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Originally posted by bulbousbow:

How mature does she have to be?

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Cheers

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Originally posted by bulbousbow:

How mature does she have to be?

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Sutho wrote:
for any technical buffs, I would like to know how it is possible for Regal Princess to displace 70,000tons and with Oriana being a ship 13m longer, able to carry 300 more passengers, have much more open deck space and displace 69,000tons.

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To be technically correct the word displace should only be used when referring to displacement or in other words the weight of water a ship displaces. What you are referring to is gross tonnage or enclosed space.

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Oriana is clearly larger than Regal Princess, its fuel reserves and water supply would have to be larger to accommodate more passengers. Oriana has more public facilities than Regal Princess and the pools are much larger.

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Originally posted by Sutho:
Furthermore Regal Princess can only carry 1590 passengers at double occupancy and Oriana 1828.

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Originally posted by lasuvidaboy:

How about Carnival transferring QE2 to P&O Cruises and renaming her Pacific Queen? Now she would be an OLD ship compared to what is based in Australia now!

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