MS Princess Seaways is a cruiseferry operated and owned by the Danish shipping company DFDS Seaways on a route connecting North Shields, England, to IJmuiden in the Netherlands. She was built in 1986 as Peter Pan by Seebeckwerft, Bremerhaven, Germany for TT-Line. Between 1993 and 2002, the ship was operated by TT-Line Company of Tasmania under the name Spirit of Tasmania a service across the Bass Strait. In 2002, the ship was sold to Fjord Line and renamed Fjord Norway for service from Denmark. In 2006, she was sold to DFDS Seaways and sailed as Princess of Norway before being given her current name in 2011.
History
Princess Seaways was built as the Peter Pan (the third TT-Line ship to bear the name) at Seebeckwerft, Bremerhaven, in 1986. Peter Pan began operations on the Travemünde–Trelleborg route on 6 February 1986. In 1990, TT-Line (Tasmania) decided it was time to replace the ferry Abel Tasman and arranged to buy the large ferry.[1] It was expected they could get the ferry in late 1992 but TT-Line (Germany) could not let her go until 1993. She sailed from Germany in October 1993 and began sailing from Devonport to Melbourne in late November. She sailed four return trips a week. The crossings were overnight and one day/night and took approximately 15 hours.
Princess of Norway swapped routes with the Queen of Scandinavia in May 2007, joining her sister ship King of Scandinavia on the IJmuiden - Newcastle route. Because of the equal capacity and layout of these sister ships, caravans are accepted at every sailing.[3] In 2011, she was renamed Princess Seaways.
Sister ships
The third Peter Pan was the first of four sisters in the Peter Pan class, the others being:
Olau Hollandia was the third of the vessels and built by Schichau Seebeckwerft for TT-Line's sister company Olau Line to a modified design. With her Olau sister Olau Britannia she was charted in 1994 to P&O Ferries and renamed Pride of Le Havre. In 2005, she stopped operating for P&O and was subsequently sold to SNAV in Italy and renamed SNAV Sardegna.