Goodbye to an Australian cruise legend – Pacific Explorer heads for new life in Asia

• Pacific Explorer is sailing her final journey under the P&O banner – in Singapore she will join Resorts World Cruises.
• Her send-off from Fremantle after nearly a decade in Australian waters is the beginning of the end for the 92-year-old P&O Australia brand.
• More than 2200 guests are onboard and are set to farewell the ship with a captain’s cocktail party
• Header photo by Jean Hudson and Fremantle Shipping News

Pacific Explorer will today sail her very last cruise out of Australia – off to a new life in Asia with Resorts World Cruises, a US$50 million refit ahead as the Star Voyager.

As the first ship that sailed back to Australia after the two-year COVID cruise ban, her role has cemented her in the country’s cruise history. She has become synonymous with a major brand shift being undertaken in the next eight weeks by Carnival Australia.

Cruisers across the country are mourning the final sailing of a ship that means so much to many Australians. Those onboard will be invited to a special celebration to commemorate the final sailing out of Australia.

P&O shared in a statement with Cruise Passenger: “More than 2,200 guests are sailing on Pacific Explorer as the ship departs Fremantle on her final voyage with P&O Cruises Australia.

“Guests onboard will be invited to a Farewell Cocktail Party on 12 February, hosted by the ship’s Captain, to celebrate Pacific Explorer’s contribution to cruising in Australia, since she became a part of the P&O fleet in 2017.

“Today is the next step in the transition as we look forward to a new era of cruising, when Carnival Cruise Line expands to four ships sailing in Australia, on 29 March.”

The majority of the crew from P&O ships will continue working with Carnival Cruises.

“Excitingly, the majority of our dedicated P&O team will be joining the Carnival Cruise Line family and look forward to welcoming guests on future voyages onboard Carnival Adventure, Carnival Encounter, Carnival Splendor, and Carnival Luminosa, or perhaps one of the other 25 Carnival ships sailing around the world.”

On shore, fans are in mourning. Former Carnival Corporate Communications boss David Jones wrote on LinkedIn: “Friends and former colleagues are currently posting photos and stories of their final cruises on P&O Cruises Australia ships. So, perhaps it’s time to get a little nostalgic with just weeks to go before the mighty P&O shipping brand is no longer a dominating feature in Australian waters.

“It’s worth remembering just how important P&O was in building the Australian and New Zealand cruise markets and to the South Pacific ports that featured so strongly in its itineraries.

“P&O was at the centre of the big moves in cruising from the time of the first-ever cruise from Australia in 1932 and the Fairstar years before growing to become a five-ship fleet in the 2000s. The “Five Ship Spectacular” in November 2015 was the high point of the P&O cruising story in Australia.

“It was such a big event that, on the day, Channe 9’s Today show broadcast live from onboard as all five ships sailed into Sydney Harbour. And to mark the big occasion we paid for a full wraparound of Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph.

“Those were the days my friends, as the song goes. Perhaps in future years we can look forward to P&O UK ships swinging by during summer cruise seasons to enable Sydney to still have some contact with a famous shipping line that has been arriving in our great harbour since 1852.”

Hear from the crew

Youtuber Cruise Crazed Fam spoke to some of the crew, who gave touching tributes of their time working for the cruise line.

Danny, a cast manager of the performers on board for more than 12 years spoke about how he loved being part of the P&O family.

“I feel like P&O Australia has a really good rapport with the guests, we get to interact with the guests a lot, they’re up for a good time and they’re always great in the shows and give us a lot of support. The guests are returners, they come back many times, and we get to meet them, make relationships, and build bonds and that’s kind of the main reason that a lot of us come back, I think.

“The relationship between the guests and the crew is really nice. Also, the shows on P&O are fantastic, they really are.”

Crystal, a room steward has been at P&O for the better part of a decade and is sadly coming to an end of her time at the company.

“I have been at the company for almost 10 years.

“I have been on Pacific Explorer for seven months and I’ll go home when the ship retires in February.

“My favourite thing about my job is my colleagues. As long as they treat us like family and friends, that’s a good thing.”

Mariano works in guest services and feels grateful to P&O for the opportunities he’s been given.

“I’ve been working here at P&O for two years in guest services. I’ve been on Pacific Explorer for 10 months.

“I really like all of my team, they are all of the support I have. Especially on challenging days.

“The company is very good, they’re very professional with us so we have many opportunities to grow and level up ourselves, and that is a very positive thing for us.”

Kiara, a performer on her third contract with P&O Australia says that she hopes the family feel of P&O will continue as it becomes a part of Carnival.

“What’s so lovely about P&O Australia is that it feels intimate, it feels like a family, I hope as it makes the transition it keeps that family aspect. I hope that it still feels the same on Carnival.”

The ship’s history

• The ship has been sailing in Australia since 2006, initially as Dawn Princess under Princess Cruises, before transitioning to Pacific Explorer in 2017.
• Pacific Explorer has been involved in dramatic rescues at sea, always providing extra security to Australian waters.
• In recent years, the ship has been circumnavigating Australia and New Zealand, running turnaround cruises out of Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Fremantle, and more. This presence will be sorely missed by many who loved the chance to cruise from their city, or a city closer to them.
• The ship was the first to use Brisbane’s new international cruise terminal, which now hosts 100s of cruises each season.
• Pacific Explorer helped bring Australians home during Covid and was one of the first ships to resume cruising post-COVID.

What’s happening to the rest of the fleet?

From late March, Pacific Encounter and Pacific Adventure will officially become Carnival Encounter and Carnival Adventure.

The ships will take a short break in Melbourne, where they will be repainted with Carnival colours.

Then on March 29, they will commence their first sailings as Carnival ships.

However, they won’t receive larger internal makeovers until 2026 and 2027 respectively. The exact nature of these changes isn’t known for now.

As far as what we do know about the initial seasons of the newly converted ships, the P&O ships will remain largely with a P&O flavour, keeping most of the same eateries, shows, and activities.