MS PACIFIC PRINCESS - Ship Of The Week #5 12/19/2014

[Admiral2]

MERCHANT SHIP PACIFIC PRINCESS​

The ship began operation in 1971 with Flagship Cruises, under the name Sea Venture. In April 1975, she was sold to Peninsula and Oriental Steam Navigation Company’s newly acquired Princess Cruises along with sister ship Island Venture. The pair were renamed Pacific Princess and Island Princess.


Princess Cruises agreed to have their cruise ships featured in the television romantic comedy anthology series The Love Boat, which debuted in 1976 as a made for TV movie and as regular show in 1977. The ship featured in nearly every episode of the series (which was filmed primarily on sets in a production studio) was Pacific Princess, although other ships also appeared, including Island Princess. The term "Love Boat" was heavily used by Princess Cruises in their marketing, and became synonymous with Pacific Princess. The success of the up-beat television show, which remained on the air until 1987, is largely credited with the increase in popularity of cruise ship travel in North America.


In 1998 Pacific Princess was impounded by police in Piraeus, Greece after 25 kg of heroin was found on board, smuggled by two Filipino crewmen. According to police sources quoted in the BBC report at the time, there was evidence the ship had become a major tool for drug smugglers in the Mediterranean.


Pacific Princess was laid up after being seized by Italian authorities due to a failed safety test. She was sold in 2001, but was leased back and continued to operate as part of the Princess fleet until 2002, when the former Renaissance Cruises R3 replaced her and took her name.


Pacific Princess made her final voyage with Princess Cruises in October/November 2002, sailing from New York City to Rome, Italy. She then began operating for Pullantur Cruises of Spain as Pacific, sailing in the Caribbean. Pacific was later chartered to and operated by CVC in Brazil during the Southern summer and by Quail Cruises in Spain during the Northern Summer.


Pacific was 168.8 m (554 ft), with a 24.7 m (81 ft) beam, and was built at Nordseewerke, West Germany. She was propelled by four medium speed Fiat Diesel engines with a combined power output of 18,000 shaft horsepower. The engines were individually clutched and geared in pairs to each of the two shafts that drive controllable pitch propellers. This enabled one or more engines to be shut down and declutched as required. As Pacific Princess, her tonnage was 20,636 gross tonnes and she carried 646 passengers at a top speed of 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph), cruising at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph). As Pacific, her capacity was increased to 780 passengers and cruising speed reduced to 18 knots. Country of registry was the Bahamas.

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THE LOVE BOAT​

The Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24, 1977, until February 27, 1987. The show revolves around the ship's captain and a handful of its crew, with several passengers – played by different guest actors for each episode – having romantic and humorous adventures. It was part of ABC's popular Saturday night lineup that included Fantasy Island until that show ended in 1984.


The original made-for-TV movie on which the show was based was itself based on the nonfiction book The Love Boats by Jeraldine Saunders, a real-life cruise director. Two more TV movies (titled The Love Boat II and The New Love Boat) would follow before the series began its run.


The executive producer for the series was Aaron Spelling, who produced several successful series for ABC from the 1960s into the 1980s.

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“Soon we’ll be making another run!”​

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[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_wFEB4Oxlo[/yt]​

 

[publiusr]

A nice looking vessel. I just wish the SS United States had fared better.

 

[Admiral2]

A nice looking vessel. I just wish the SS United States had fared better.

I would say it did fare better. Remember, the nice-looking ship here was once used as a floating drug mule...

 

[Jedi_Master]

I am too young to really identify with Love Boat connection, but that's a neat history lesson.

 

[adv1701]

M/s is not merchant ship but motor ship. More often it is m/v for motor vessel. She just got scrapped about year ago and her sister followed this year. Sad as they were good looking ships. But progress and all and they were outdated and didn't have balconies and all those lovely amenities everybody is used to now

 

[Amaris]

I always thought the Pacific Princess was just the right size for a coastal cruise ship. Beautiful, too. I saw the pictures where she was being scrapped, and I felt a pang in my chest. It's always sad to see them go.

 

[EnriqueH]

Nice to see these pictures.

I loved this show and wish there was something similar on TV these days.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Hmm. Cargo ships are an exceptionally efficient way to move inanimate objects across an ocean, because they plod along with the currents.

Cruise ships, on the other hand, are an exceptionally wasteful way to travel, even if you're not taking them on a "trip to nowhere" that spends a week visiting various ports of call, only to return to the port of origin. Even if you're actually going somewhere, there is, on a passenger vessel, a massive amount of wasted space, dead weight, and extraneous crew, all to entertain and pamper the passengers, and they're constantly running at flank speed, setting courses to maximize sightseeing and minimize turbulence. I've done it once (Holland America's MS Veendam, from Vancouver, BC to Seward, AK), and while I wouldn't trade the experience for anything, neither is it an experience I have any desire to repeat.

Incidentally, at least when I was aboard the Veendam, the centerpiece of the 3-story main lobby of the ship was an abstract plastic sculpture that bore a striking resemblance to a warp core.

 

[adv1701]

They don't usually run at flank speed. Itineraries are usually configured so they don't have to. I grew up in the industry and for me its the only way to travel. My wife surprised me with my first cruise in 20years and it was Breakaway's maiden voyage. We sailed to Bermuda at 11 knots. It maximizes the amount of time you stay on board. On the way back she hauled ass though.

 

[J.T.B.]

Cruise ships, on the other hand, are an exceptionally wasteful way to travel, even if you're not taking them on a "trip to nowhere" that spends a week visiting various ports of call, only to return to the port of origin. Even if you're actually going somewhere, there is, on a passenger vessel, a massive amount of wasted space, dead weight, and extraneous crew, all to entertain and pamper the passengers, and they're constantly running at flank speed, setting courses to maximize sightseeing and minimize turbulence.

Destination travel was what ocean liners did, but that's not what cruise ships are designed for. A modern liner could be more fuel efficient than jet travel per passenger, but of course it would take three days to cross the Atlantic and nobody wants to travel that way.

I like the vessel because she looks like a ship and not a hotel building perched atop a floating hull. That show was big when I was a kid and it was typical ABC fluff; I watched one fairly recently and it was awful. It would have been nice if they had shot on board more instead of soundstage decks with rear-projection ocean background.

 

[Admiral2]

M/s is not merchant ship but motor ship. More often it is m/v for motor vessel.

Thank you! I was never quite sure cause I was always used to the ancient "Sailing ship" prefix.

She just got scrapped about year ago and her sister followed this year. Sad as they were good looking ships. But progress and all and they were outdated and didn't have balconies and all those lovely amenities everybody is used to now

I know. I excluded that detail from the history cause I thought debt and drug seizures were depressing enough.

Cruise ships, on the other hand, are an exceptionally wasteful way to travel, even if you're not taking them on a "trip to nowhere" that spends a week visiting various ports of call, only to return to the port of origin. Even if you're actually going somewhere, there is, on a passenger vessel, a massive amount of wasted space, dead weight, and extraneous crew, all to entertain and pamper the passengers, and they're constantly running at flank speed, setting courses to maximize sightseeing and minimize turbulence.

Destination travel was what ocean liners did, but that's not what cruise ships are designed for. A modern liner could be more fuel efficient than jet travel per passenger, but of course it would take three days to cross the Atlantic and nobody wants to travel that way.

I would, given that I'm deathly afraid of flying. I would just give myself loads of lead time before I needed to get anywhere across an ocean.

 

[J.T.B.]

Thank you! I was never quite sure cause I was always used to the ancient "Sailing ship" prefix.

SS was actually "screw steamer," or steamship, as opposed to "paddle steamer." The prefixes are more a steam-era thing, they weren't really used is the sailing days when "ship" was a specific rigging type and not used for barks, brigs, schooners, brigantines etc.

 

[Admiral2]

Thank you! I was never quite sure cause I was always used to the ancient "Sailing ship" prefix.

SS was actually "screw steamer," or steamship, as opposed to "paddle steamer." The prefixes are more a steam-era thing, they weren't really used is the sailing days when "ship" was a specific rigging type and not used for barks, brigs, schooners, brigantines etc.

Okey-doke! (See, people, these threads are fun and educational!)

 

[adv1701]

Most of the classic liners were s/s for steam ship. The advent of steam the screw steamer / steamship were interchangeable. From Lusitania on(probably a bit earlier) it was steam ship. Around the 70's you saw m/v more as they started to transition to diesel engines. They use m/s a lot now. The ship in my avatar was one of the ones I grew up on. She was one of the last two built in the US when they didnt look like hotels on water. Some of th re new ones are ok. I prefer my babies

 

[J.T.B.]

Most of the classic liners were s/s for steam ship. The advent of steam the screw steamer / steamship were interchangeable.

Yeah I guess I should have said "originally;" SS for "steam ship" was a retrofit that emerged later. Here is a publication from 1903 that uses S.S. for screw steamer, T.S.S. for twin screw steamer, P.S. for paddle steamer, and even one "Turbine S.":
https://books.google.com/books?id=wBA_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA132#v=onepage&q&f=false

Here is a fascinating book from 1903 about the early years of the steamship trade that uses similar abbreviations:
https://archive.org/details/historyofsteamna00kennuoft