Golden Princess: she became Pacific Adventure in 2020, then Carnival Adventure in 2025
The Golden Princess left the Princess Cruises fleet in October 2020 and cannot be booked under that name. The ship is still sailing, out of Sydney, and now carries the name Carnival Adventure. She was a Grand-class ship of 109,000 gross tons, 290 metres by 36, drawing 8.05 metres, with 1,299 guest cabins and 627 crew cabins, roughly 2,600 guests at double occupancy and up to 4,160 people aboard with every berth filled. Fincantieri built her at Monfalcone, floated her out on 31 August 2000, maiden voyage 16 May 2001, christened on 17 April 2002 at Saint Thomas by Merlisa George.
A career across seven continents
Golden Princess covered nearly everything Princess sold: Caribbean, Europe, Pacific, Asia, and a last Alaska season in summer 2019 before returning to Melbourne that autumn. People who sailed her remember one thing the Grand class did better than the hulls that followed, the tiered Caribe deck balconies, twice as deep as the others and half covered, at the cost of being visible from the Baja deck above. In March 2020 she was held in quarantine in Akaroa Harbour, New Zealand, at the very start of the pandemic.
What happened to her, in order
Princess announced the transfer in September 2018 and the ship changed hands in October 2020, renamed Pacific Adventure for P&O Cruises Australia. The pandemic pushed her entry into service back to 2022. Capacity rose to 2,636 guests, largely through five-berth cabins aimed at Australian families. A balcony fire broke out off the New South Wales coast on 28 May 2023, and a passenger went overboard on 6 May 2024. Her last cruise under the P&O flag left Sydney on 10 March 2025, as the Australian brand closed, a decision Carnival announced in June 2024.
Where she is now
She became Carnival Adventure in March 2025 and works year-round out of Sydney alongside Carnival Splendor, with a month in Melbourne announced for 2027. Same ship, same hull, same deck plans, under a different brand and a different idea of what a cruise should feel like.
Which current Princess ship comes closest
The Caribbean Princess is the stretched version of the same class and the nearest relative still flying the Princess flag. The Regal Princess offers the larger format, with the cantilevered SeaWalk and the Medallion, the contactless disc that unlocks your cabin and lets you order from anywhere, handy when it works and irritating when the network stutters. Watch the name on the Star Princess: the ship carrying it today is a new Sphere-class hull, not the 2002 sister, which also went to Australia. The whole fleet is laid out on our Princess Cruises page.
