Ocean Princess: sold to Oceania Cruises in 2016, she sails today as Sirena
The Ocean Princess left the Princess Cruises fleet in March 2016 and cannot be booked under that name. She is still sailing, for Oceania Cruises, as Oceania Sirena. She was the smallest ship in the fleet: 30,277 gross tons, 181 metres by 25, eleven decks of which nine are open to guests, about 350 cabins, 688 guests at double occupancy and 826 with every berth filled, with close to 380 crew. Built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique at Saint-Nazaire in 1999.
First R Four, then Tahitian Princess
The hull was ordered by Renaissance Cruises as R Four. That company failed in 2001 and Princess picked the ship up, putting her into service at the end of 2002 as Tahitian Princess, assigned to French Polynesia, which is where the name came from. Princess renamed her Ocean Princess in November 2009 to give her a wider brief than the South Pacific.
What people came aboard for
Six hundred and eighty-eight guests is a quarter of a Grand-class ship. That changes everything: berths the big hulls cannot reach, calls at small ports, long itineraries, and a crew you recognise by the third day. In exchange you accepted a 1999 ship with none of the modern deck attractions, and a crowd of repeat guests that was never really a family crowd.
What became of her, and one confusion worth clearing
Princess sold her to Oceania Cruises for 82 million US dollars. A 35-day, 40-million refit in Marseille turned her into Sirena, christened and in service on 27 April 2016. Another Princess ship carried the Ocean Princess name between 2000 and 2002, and it was not this one: that was a 77,000-ton Sun-class hull, later Oceana for P&O Cruises and now Queen of the Oceans for Seajets, with no active service. If the ship you remember carried 688 guests, Sirena is the one.
Where to look now
Within Princess, the two smallest ships still working are the Coral Princess and the Island Princess, around 2,000 guests, built for the Panama Canal and for anyone who wants a Princess ship without the crush. The Diamond Princess steps up in size and carries the line's Japan seasons, put together with a care you can see in the choice of calls. One thing to know before you compare: nothing at Princess drops below 2,000 guests any more, and all three run on the Medallion, the contactless disc that unlocks your cabin and lets you order from wherever you are, which reached the fleet after Ocean Princess had left it. The current Princess fleet is laid out on our Princess Cruises page.
