Around 1970, Scandinavian-designed cruise ships dominated the market. Newbuildings for NCL, Royal Caribbean and Royal Viking Line were examples of this new series of passenger ships. Sea Venture and Island Venture belonged to the same breed of ships, being designed by Tage Wandborg, a naval architect from Denmark for Norwegian owned Flagship Cruises. Measuring 19,903GRT, they carried 626 passengers double occupancy and 749 maximum. Fiat diesels, four of them to be exact, producing 18,000hp gave them a speed of 21 knots. Eight decks were at passengers disposal, one of these dedicated to public spaces, which was visible externally as this deck featured windows along its entire length. Their profile was sleek and modern, with clipper bows, a finned funnel and a cruiser stern. Of the two pools, one was covered by a magrodome, a retractable roof which could be closed in case of inclement weather. Both ships’ interiors were done in typical Scandinavian style, as an abundance of glass, fiberglass, marble and brushed steel were used by interior designers Mildred Masters, Finn Nilsson and Robert Tillberg. There was impressive artwork to be found onboard, e.g, enamel panels by Bjorn Engo in the Caroussel Bar, suede galleon murals in th Hideaway Bar, the ceramic mural depicting Viking Gods by Hald In the Pacific Lounge, and of course not to be forgotten the etched glass panels in the lobby stairwell depicting in Sea Venture/ Pacific Princess‘ case her namesake, a sailing ship of around 1600 that later came to grief in Bermuda when it grounded there in 1609 and whose suvivors had been the first settlers there, and the other panel showing the Old vs. the New World.
Their careers for owner Flagships Cruises (a Norwegian company set up by established lines Lorentzen, Fearnly & Eger) turned out to be very short. But as Sea Venture started sailing from New York to Bermuda in 1971 , she immediately was quite popular. She made news headlines when she assisted the Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth 2 when she suffered a power failure in 1974 by having her tenders ferry over 1600 passengers from the QE2 to Sea Venture. A year later Island Venture followed, she cruised to the Bahama’s and the Caribbean, but she was less successfull, and was quickly chartered to Princess Cruises the next season. Renamed Island Princess she sailed from the US West Coast to Mexico, Alaska and Hawaii. Then in 1975, P&O Cruises took over Princess Cruises and Island Princess was part of the deal. Sea Venture was also acquired and both ships were now together again as Island Princess and Pacific Princess.
In 1976, TV producer Aaron spelling was looking for a cruise ship he could use to film parts of his new TV-series ”The Love Boat”on. Most of it was filmed on a Hollywood set, but exterior shots needed to be filmed aboard an actual cruise ship. He approached Princess and they agreed, and Island and Pacific Princess now featured in The Love Boat series which turned out to be a huge success and ran from 1977 to 1986. The series was based on a book written by Geraldine Saunders who had been a cruise director with Princess during the 1960’s .
The show was aired worldwide, the cast consisting of captain Merill Stubing and his daughter Vicky, cruise director Julie, bartender Isaac, steward Gopher and Doc. It gave an incredible boost to the cruise industry and Princess Cruises in particular. Princess was now browsing the market for possibilities to expand and they ordered their first newbuilding Royal Princess which was delivered in 1984 and still sails today, impeccably maintained as Artania for German Phoenix Reisen.
They also expanded by taking over Sitmar Cruises in 1988 which at the time operated four ships and had three on order or on the drawing boards.
In the meantime competing lines were taking larger ships offering more facilities and better appointed cabins into service and Island and Pacific Princess became outdated. They were shifted quietly to less important routes. Then in 1999, Island Princess was the first to go, to a Korean Company which wanted to start a cruise service between South and North Korea, trying to connect both Korea’s again by sailing to religious sites in the North on a kind of pilgrim voyages. She was renamed Hyundae Pungak. This proved to be a total failure and she was quickly disposed of. Entrepreneur Gerry Harrod acquired her and renamed her Platinum. He sent her to Malta for a lengthy refit. Now again in pristine condition, she was renamed again to Discovery for Harrods’ newly formed Discovery Cruises (later Voyages of Discovery). She sailed on long enrichment-oriented cruises to far away places like Antaractica, the Amazon and the Indian Ocean to mention a few.
I visited her in 2003 in Harwich, toured the ship and had lunch onboard. Impeccably maintained and well-run, no wonder she had a large number of loyal followers.
In 2007, Harrod sold Discovery Cruises to UK-based Alle Leisure Group who operated her until 2013 when she was chartered out to Cruise and Maritime Voyages. On her first voyage for CMV, she was detained in Portland Harbour by the Coastguard, following inspections that showed that the crew’s familiarisation with the vessel was inadequate as were the level of safety drills. She was released a week later, but sailing for CMV didn’t last very long, as All Leisure ran into financial difficulties and in 2014 already her last cruise was announced. She left Bristol on October 9, then very briefly anchored at Falmouth and then went into the Med via the Strait of Gibraltar. While on her way she was renamed Amen, reflagged to St. Kitts and Nevis and went straight to the beaches of Alang, India, were she was broken up. A sudden end to an impressive career.
Meanwhile, Pacific Princess had been sailing for Princess until 2002 when she was sold to Spanish Pullmantur Cruises.
They operated her under the name Pacific in the Mediterranean and to South America. This lasted until 2008 when she was chartered to Quail Cruises, also from Spain.
Badly in need of a refit, Pacific was sent to the San Giorgio del Porto shipyard in Genoa, Italy. Half way through her refit -parts of her hull that had been corroded had already been replaced with new steel as well as corroded decking and davit mountings- she was arrested for debt because of an outstanding repair invoice to the yard not having been paid for by her former owners Templeton Int. Italian authorities put the ship up for auction several times in 2010/2011, but no bids were received. Now an abandoned ship, several interested parties inspected her but they all came to the conclusion that she was too far gone and finishing her refit would simply be too costly.
Then, in 2012 the inevitable happened and she was sold to a Turkish shipbreaker Cemsan for 2.5 mio euro, but this firm had difficulties raising the full amount for which she had been sold. So the Pacific stayed where she was, quietly awaiting her fate. She deteriorated quickly, as leakage appeared in more and more spots on the deserted vessel, caused by her decks being rusted through in different places.
That same year, Discovery, her one time fleetmate, was also sent to Genoa for a refit, and some parts of Pacific were shifted from Pacific to see further use onboard Discovery.
Finally in 2013, the Turkish breakers succeeded in raising the full amount they had acquired her for and mid 2013 she departed Genoa under tow for breaking in Aliaga, Turkey. Once there, she had to be beached fast, as she had developed multiple leaks. Having been beached she rested with her bows on the Rochdale I, the former Russian cruise ship Aywazowskiy, and her stern touched her one-time fleetmate Fairsky of 1984.
Finally, demolition crews boarded her and started to pump water from her lower decks but this went terribly wrong. Lack of ventilation resulted in CO2-exhaust from the pumps not being able to leave the space where the men were working and two men died of poisoning while others had to be hospitalized. Work was halted and investigations were carried out, but inevitably the end came for the Acif as she had been renamed for her final voyage to the breakers. A sad end for a former TV-star in a TV-series which had given such a boost to the popularity of cruising.
**: photographer unknown, please let me know so I can give credit
