Pacific Encounter is a Game Changer - Find Out Why! New Cruise Ship Arrives!

Australia’s newest, biggest and fanciest cruise ship has finally arrived in Sydney at the end of her delivery voyage. The 109,000 gross ton Pacific Encounter is the largest cruise ship to be permanently based in Australia and is the most significant new cruise ship to join P&O cruises in a generation. The ship is a Grand Class cruise ship, originally built by Fincantieri in 2002 for Princess Cruises. Between 2002 and 2020 the ship cruised as Star Princess, and was the third ship in the Grand Class design first pioneered by Princess Cruises in 1998 with the Grand Princess. The Star Princess made headlines in 2006 when a fire broke out on the ship’s balconies leading to large scale reform of fire detection systems on balconies for cruise ships. The ship cruised with Princess in a variety of markets, including Hawaii, Alaska and Canada before the COVID pandemic shut down cruising in 2020. During the latter part of 2021, the ship transferred to P&O Australia to prepare for her new life as Australia’s largest cruise ship. The newly renamed Pacific Encounter underwent a significant maintenance and internal refurbishment in Singapore. Here she received the distinctive P&O Australia hull art, and giant P&O lettering on her funnel which was reduced in height slightly, allowing the ship to pass under the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge. Internally, the ship received many of popular P&O Australia signature spaces, including the Blue Room nightclub, the Encounter Hotel Bar, the Waterfront Restaurant and the Pantry – P&O’s casual eatery concept. What makes this ship stand out is the scale of her design. At 109,000 tons, she is by far the largest ship to sail with P&O Australia – around 39,000 tons bigger than the now retired Pacific Jewel and Pacific Dawn that she replaces. The ship has a higher balcony cabin ratio than any P&O Australia ship in history, with over 70% of cabins having a view through a window or balcony. Not only this, but she will be joined by the equally large Pacific Adventure – the former Golden Princess – later this year – giving P&O Australia a revitalised fleet of three former Princess vessels – the other being the superb Pacific Explorer - you can check out my tour of this ship in the info card or description below. So what do you think of Australia’s largest cruise ship? Will you cruise aboard, or have you sailed with her as Star Princess? Let me know in the comments below. -- Cruise Merch: https://chrisframeofficial.teemill.com/ Inside Pacific Explorer: https://youtu.be/UUNqwH7VBPE Big Cruise Podcast: https://thebigcruisepodcast.com/ Video: P&O Cruises Arrow: Jesse Pinkman CC. BY. Attribution- Adobe Spark -- #cruisenews #cruiseship #cruise #pacificencounter #pacificexplorer #pocruises #cruisereview