Dawn Princess: she left for P&O Australia in 2017 and sails today as Star Voyager
The Dawn Princess left the Princess Cruises fleet in May 2017 and no sailing can be booked under that name. The ship still exists and is still working, under a different name and flag: Pacific Explorer for P&O Cruises Australia from 2017 to 2025, then Star Voyager for Star Cruises since March 2025. She was a Sun-class ship of 77,441 gross tons, 261 metres by 32.2, ten passenger decks, 1,998 guests and 924 crew, built by Fincantieri at Monfalcone, floated out on 11 July 1996 and sailing her maiden voyage on 10 May 1997.
Twenty years with Princess, then eight in Australia
Carnival Corporation announced the transfer on 7 October 2015, nearly two years before it happened. Dawn Princess entered drydock on 26 May 2017 for conversion, was re-registered in the United Kingdom, and arrived in Sydney on 19 June 2017. She was renamed Pacific Explorer there on 2 July 2017, with the cartoon character Dora the Explorer standing in as godmother. Her final P&O Cruises Australia crossing left Fremantle for Singapore on 17 February 2025. Carnival had announced the closure of the Australian brand in June 2024, effective March 2025.
What people liked about her
Eight restaurants, four pools, five spas, seven lounges and bars, two children's centres on a 77,000-ton hull: this was the format Princess eventually walked away from. Two thousand people rather than four thousand, short lines, a pool deck that never quite overflowed. The trade-off was real. A 1997 hull carried far fewer balcony cabins than today's ships, and nothing on board resembled the Medallion or the Sanctuary, both of which arrived long after she left.
Where she is now, and what that means for you
Resorts World Cruises announced the purchase in February 2025. She was to be called Star Scorpio and ended up as Star Voyager. She is operated by Star Cruises, owned by Probiz Investments Ltd, registered in Nassau, and took Singapore as her home port on 26 March 2025. We do not sell this ship and she is no longer part of the Princess offering.
Which current Princess ship takes her place
Closest in spirit is the Grand Princess, the generation that directly followed the Sun class and still keeps a human scale at 2,602 guests double occupancy. The Royal Princess shows what the line did next, with wider balconies and an atrium open across three decks. And the name of her older sister came back in 2024 on a brand-new hull: the Sun Princess, first of the Sphere class, which shares nothing with the 1995 ship but the name. The full fleet and its formats are laid out on our Princess Cruises page.
