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Pacific Princess off the US West Coast

Pacific (formerly Sea Venture and Pacific Princess) is a cruise ship.

The ship began operation in 1972 with Flagship Cruises, under the name Sea Venture. In April 1975 she was sold to P&O's newly acquired Princess Cruises along with sister ship Island Venture. The pair were renamed Pacific Princess and Island Princess, the latter now operating as the Discovery.

Princess Cruises agreed to have their cruise ships featured in the television romantic sitcom The Love Boat, which debuted 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 the Pacific Princess. The success of the up-beat television show, which remained on the air until 1986, is largely credited with the increase in popularity of cruise ship travel in North America.

In 1998 the Pacific Princess was impounded by police in Piraeus, Greece after 25kg of heroin was found on board, smuggled by two Filipino crew men. 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.

The Pacific Princess 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. The Pacific Princess made her final voyage with Princess Cruises as The Love Boat in October/November 2002, sailing from New York City to Rome, Italy. She then began operating for Pullmantur Cruises of Spain as the Pacific, sailing in the Caribbean. Pacific is currently operated year round by CVC in Brazil.

The Pacific is 168.8m long and 24.7m beam and was built at Nordseewerke, Germany. She is propelled by four medium speed Fiat diesel engines with a combined power output of 18,000 shaft horsepower. The engines are individually clutched and geared in pairs to each of the two shafts which drive controllable pitch propellers. This enables one or more engines to be shut down and declutched as required. As the Pacific Princess her tonnage was 20,636 GRT and she carried 646 passengers at a top speed of 21.5 knots, cruising at 20 knots. As the Pacific, her capacity has been increased to 780 passengers and cruising speed reduced to 18 knots. Country of registry is the Bahamas.

• "P&O- Port Out, Starboard Home", David L. Williams, Ian Allen Publishing, 2002
• TV boat held after drugs seizure; BBC website