Sea Princess: sold in 2020, she sails in Asia as Dream

The Sea Princess left the Princess Cruises fleet in November 2020 and cannot be booked under that name. The ship is still sailing, in Northeast Asia, as Dream, for Tianjin Orient International Cruise Line. She was a Sun-class ship delivered by Fincantieri in 1998, near-identical to Dawn Princess: around 77,000 gross tons, 261 metres by 32, ten passenger decks, close to 2,000 guests at double occupancy and some 900 crew, diesel-electric propulsion turning two six-bladed propellers 5.2 metres across.

Two spells with Princess and a British detour

She served Princess from 1998 to 2003, then went on loan to P&O Cruises and was renamed Adonia on 21 May 2003 by the Princess Royal and her daughter Zara Phillips, in the first double ship naming ceremony ever held in the United Kingdom, alongside sister ship Oceana. She returned to Princess in 2005, took the Sea Princess name back in a ceremony led by the actress Joanna Lumley, and from 2019 she was homeported in Australia, with a 2020-2021 season planned out of Fremantle and Adelaide that never took place.

The less flattering pages of her record

Two norovirus outbreaks, in 2006 and in January 2018. And in August 2016 Australian authorities seized 95 kilos of cocaine hidden in suitcases aboard and arrested three Canadians. These episodes belong to the ship's history and deserve to be stated, though none of them had anything to do with the hull or its design.

What became of her, and a common mix-up

Princess announced the sale on 21 September 2020 and the ship was delivered on 13 November 2020 to Sanya International Cruise Development as Charming. She stayed laid up through the pandemic, was bought in January 2023 by Tianjin Orient International Cruise Line, renamed Dream, and resumed cruising in September 2023 out of Tianjin toward Jeju in South Korea and Japanese ports. She is sometimes confused with Villa Vie Odyssey, the residential ship run by Villa Vie Residences. That is a different vessel: Odyssey is the former Fred. Olsen Braemar, a 1993 hull with no Princess history.

Which Princess ship to look at instead

Her real successors are the larger Grand-class ships, two decks taller than the Sun class. The Crown Princess and the Emerald Princess carry the same feel on board, with the tiered Caribe deck balconies, deeper than the rest and half covered. The Ruby Princess completes the trio and works the longer formats. All three run on the Medallion, which smooths embarkation and annoys anyone who preferred a plain cabin card. The full fleet is laid out on our Princess Cruises page.