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| The Pacific Sky'' | |
| Entered | March 1984 |
| Relaunched: | November, 2000 |
| Status: | Out of Service - Sold May 2006 |
| General Characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Tonnage: | 46,000 gross tons |
| Length: | 240 metres (787 feet) |
| Beam: | 27.8 m (91 ft) |
| Draft: | 8 m (26 ft) |
| Height: | Includes 11 passenger decks |
| Propulsion: | Powered by steam turbines |
| Speed: | Approximately 21 knots (38 km/h/24 mph) |
| Complement: | 1550 passengers – more than 55,000 Australians a year, 600 crew – one crew member per 2.5 passengers |
| Cost: | CNIM France at a cost of AUD$300 million |
History
In 1982, construction began on the vessel for Sitmar Cruises, who named the cruise ship "Fairsky" at her 1984 launch. When Sitmar was bought by Princess Cruises in 1988, the ship was renamed "Sky Princess" and remained with Princess until 2000, when she transferred to P&O Cruises Australia under the name "Pacific Sky". She is the last major passenger ship built with steam engines.
Replacing the 1957-built Fair Princess, Pacific Sky's modernised facilities made her popular with Australian cruise passengers. Her popularity prompted the expansion of the P&O Australia fleet to include Pacific Sun (2004) and Pacific Star (2005). Between 2000 and 2006, Pacific Sky carried 275,000 passengers on 200 cruises.
However, the vessel was involved in several incidents during her career in Australia, including an outbreak of Norwalk Virus during a cruise at the end of 2003 and the death of Dianne Brimble in September 2002. Only now, almost four years later, has a coronial inquiry started to investigate her death. Recently, P&O Cruises announced plans to implement a number of improvements to their security procedures. The latter installation was scheduled for June, 2006. [http://www.pocruises.com.au/html/statement_from_p_o_cruises_australia_on_safety_and_security_1.cfm
Claims were made by Kasmira Sewpershad *, a woman from Auckland, New Zealand that she "was the victim of drink-spiking aboard the ... cruise ship." Ms Sewpershad told Brisbane's Sunday Mail newspaper that she was left "sick and disoriented" after something was slipped into her glass during a 12-day cruise on Pacific Sky in December 2005.
Replacement
In October 2007, the US-based 70,000 tonne ship, Regal Princess of the Princess Cruises fleet will replace Pacific Sky, under the name of Pacific Dawn. The new ship will be owned by P&O Cruises Australia and will be based in Sydney. It will embark on its eight-night maiden voyage on October 26, 2007 and will then offer a selection of cruises to the South Pacific, including Christmas and New Year departures, plus a Melbourne Cup cruise.
Incidents
"Trouble prone" Pacific Sky has been involved in many incidents during her career, some are listed below in chronological order.
- September 23, 2002 - Dianne Brimble, a 42 year-old Australian mother of three, died within 24 hours of boarding Pacific Sky on September 23, 2002. Dianne Brimble died apparently of an overdose of the drug "gamma-hydroxybutyrate", otherwise known as "GHB" or "fantasy". Eight men, Mark Robin Wilhelm, Matthew Graham Slade, Dragan Losic, Petar Vladimir Pantic, Ryan Kym Kuchel, Letterio Silvestri, Luigi Vitale and Sakelaros "Charlie" Kambouris, have been named as persons of interest in the case. Her semi-naked body was found on the floor of cabin #D182, which belonged to four of the men whom she had met at the ship's disco the previous night.
- January ?, 2005: Pacific Sky was due to begin a scheduled cruise off the Queensland coast, but could not sail after a swarm of jellyfish blocked a cooling water intake. The engines had automatically shut down, leaving the vessel stuck fast at its Brisbane River berth. The shutdown also triggered the automatic dumping of vast quantities of distilled water used by the ship's boilers - and a fresh supply had to be trucked. *.
- January 08, 2005 - A major air and sea search failed to find any trace of a 24-year-old man who jumped overboard off the Queensland Sunshine Coast. The man jumped despite passengers attempts to persuade him not to. Witnesses said he had been drinking heavily on the last night of a 10-night cruise as the ship headed for Brisbane. Police later boarded the ship on it's arrival in Brisbane to interview passengers and crew. *
- April 01, 2005 - P&O Cruises was forced to cancel another two Pacific Sky cruises to allow extended work on the ship’s troublesome starboard gearbox. P&O Cruises said the two-month layoff would lead to the cancellation of five cruises but was confident problems would have been fixed in time for its scheduled June 4 cruise. *
- August 23, 2005 - A man jumped overboard after an intoxicated argument with his wife. The 52 year old male was rescued in a three hour effort in treacherous seas west of Noumea. *
- March 07, 2006 - Hundreds of passengers on a seven night cruise were left stranded for about 30 hours after the vessel broke down in the Malacca Strait near Singapore. About five hours after leaving Singapore the ship experienced problems with its starboard engine and came to a halt with more than 1300 passengers on board. Crew tried to fix the problem but were unsuccessful. *
References
"Pacific Sky"