US-based P&O Princess Cruises has acquired the former Renaissance Cruises ships, R3 and R4, through a lease purchase agreement costing approximately $150 million.
The ships, both 684 passengers, originally entered service in 1999.
P&O Princess will deploy the ships in the Pacific Ocean region for at least the first two years of their operation. The R4 will be renamed the Tahitian Princess and will stay in French Polynesia year-round for a further three years, home porting in Papeete, Tahiti.
The R3 will be renamed the Pacific Princess and will operate six months of the year as a Princess ship with itineraries in the Pacific and French Polynesia.
The other six months it will operate as a part of P&O Australia, sailing out of Sydney to French Caledonia and elsewhere in the South Pacific, primarily for the Australian market.
