Sky Wonder

The "Sky Wonder" (formerly "FairSky", "Pacific Sky", and "Sky Princess") is a cruise ship built in 1984. As of May 2006, she operates in the Pullmantur Cruises fleet, Spain's biggest cruise and tour operator, owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

History

The "Sky Wonder" was built in 1984 by Chantiers de Nord et de la Mediterranee of La Seyne-Sur Mer in France for the Italian Cruise Company, Sitmar. In keeping with the rest of the Sitmar fleet she was originally named "Fairsky" and was registered in Liberia. In September 1988, when Sitmar was purchased by Princess Cruises, she was renamed the "Sky Princess" and re-registered in London, England.

In October 2000 she was transferred to P&O Cruises Australia under the name "Pacific Sky". Replacing the 1957-built "Fair Princess", "Pacific Sky"'s modernised facilities made her popular with Australian cruise passengers. Between 2000 and 2006, "Pacific Sky" carried 275,000 passengers on 200 cruises. Her popularity prompted the expansion of the P&O Australia fleet to include "Pacific Sun (2004)", and "Pacific Dawn (Nov 2007)".

In May 2006, the transfer from P&O Cruises Australia to Pullmantur Cruises in Spain was made, after a series of 33 seven-day cruises based out of Singapore. Currently registered in Malta, the Sky Wonder displays Valletta as its home port. The US-built "Regal Princess" took SkyWonder's place in the P&O Cruises fleet in mid-2007.

General characteristics

Sky Wonder is 240.4 metres in length and 29.8 metres in width at her widest point. Her draft is approximately 8.5 metres, but this figure varies with respect to the amount of stores, fuel and water onboard. The size of a cruise ship is expressed in gross tonnage, which is actually a measurement of the vessel's volume and not the actual weight. Sky Wonder is rated at 46,087 gross tons.

Sky Wonder is powered by steam turbines, and is one of the last steam turbine cruise ships in the world. While at sea she operates on two or three boilers depending on the speed required. When two are in use, she can achieve a maximum speed of 19.8 knots; when all three boilers are in use then she can steam at a maximum of 21.8 knots, which equates to 29,500 shaft horsepower. At full speed she can consume up to 220 tonnes of fuel oil a day.

The vessel has two fixed pitch propellers and a single rudder. She is fitted with one bow and one stern thruster; these are propellers located within transverse tunnels below the waterline and allow the vessel to maneuver from one side to another during docking and undocking.

Sky Wonder has fitted with two retractable stabilizer fins, which can be extended either individually or together depending on the sea conditions. Each fin is 4 metres long and 1.5 metres wide. They are controlled by hydraulic rams and are fed information from gyroscopes which sense the vessel's rolling motion. When in use they can reduce the amount of the vessels roll by up to 85% but they have no effect on the ship's pitching motion.

Sky Wonder has two anchors, one on each bow. Each anchor weighs a hefty nine tonnes and is attached to approximately 80 tonnes of anchor chain.

Incidents

Sky Wonder has been involved in many incidents during her career. Some are listed below in chronological order.
* January 2002 - Lorenzo Lombardo, 21, of Greenacre, died after contracting meningococcal disease during a nine-day Pacific island cruise on the Pacific Sky.Fact|date=August 2008
* September 23 2002 - Dianne Brimble, a 42 year-old Australian mother of three, died within 24 hours of boarding Pacific Sky on September 23 2002. Dianne Brimble died apparently of an overdose of the drug "gamma-hydroxybutyrate", otherwise known as "GHB" or "fantasy". Eight men, Mark Robin Wilhelm, Matthew Graham Slade, Dragan Losic, Petar Vladimir Pantic, Ryan Kym Kuchel, Letterio Silvestri, Luigi Vitale and Sakelaros "Charlie" Kambouris, have been named as persons of interest in the case.Cite web|url=http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18586090-2,00.html|title=Dead mother called 'a bitch'|accessdate=2006-06-17|publisher=News.com.au|year=2006|author=King, David] Her semi-naked body was found on the floor of cabin #D182, which belonged to four of the men whom she had met at the ship's disco the previous night.Cite web|url=http://cruisebruise.com/Dianne_Brimble.html|title=Dianne Brimble - Sexually Assaulted Murdered - P & O Cruise Lines - September 23, 2002|accessdate=2006-06-17| publisher=Cruise Bruise|year=2002]
* January 2005 - Pacific Sky was due to begin a scheduled cruise off the Indian coast, but could not sail after a swarm of jellyfish blocked a cooling water intake. The engines had automatically shut down, leaving the vessel stuck fast at its Brisbane River berth. The shutdown also triggered the automatic dumping of vast quantities of distilled water used by the ship's boilers - and a fresh supply had to be trucked. [ [http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Setback-for-sea-search/2005/01/09/1105205972439.html Setback for sea search - National - www.smh.com.au] ]
* January 8 2005 - A major air and sea search failed to find any trace of a 24-year-old man who jumped overboard off the Queensland Sunshine Coast. The man jumped despite passengers' attempts to dissuade him. Witnesses said he had been drinking heavily on the last night of a 10-night cruise as the ship headed for Brisbane. Police later boarded the ship on its arrival in Brisbane to interview passengers and crew. [ [http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Crew-risked-lives-in-bid-to-save-passenger-PO/2005/01/10/1105206029391.html Crew risked lives in bid to save passenger: P&O - National - www.smh.com.au ] ]
* April 01 2005 - P&O Cruises was forced to cancel another two Pacific Sky cruises to allow extended work on the ship’s troublesome starboard gearbox. P&O Cruises said the two-month layoff would lead to the cancellation of five cruises but was confident problems would have been fixed in time for its scheduled June 4 cruise. [ [http://www.travelweekly.com.au/articles/63/0c02f763.asp Two more Pacific Sky cruises cancelled ] ]
* August 23 2005 - A man jumped overboard after an intoxicated argument with his wife. The 52 year old male was rescued in a three hour effort in seas west of Noumea. [ [http://www.cruisejunkie.com/Overboard.html Cruise Passengers Overboard ] ]
* March 07 2006 - Hundreds of passengers on a seven night cruise were left stranded for about 30 hours after the vessel broke down in the Malacca Strait near Singapore. About five hours after leaving Singapore the ship experienced problems with its starboard engine and came to a halt with more than 1300 passengers on board. Crew tried to fix the problem but were unsuccessful. [ [http://www.travelweekly.com.au/articles/e9/0c03dbe9.asp Pacific Sky stranded into troubled waters ] ]
* June 25 2006 - Claims were made by Kasmira Sewpershad, a woman from Auckland, New Zealand that she "was the victim of drink-spiking aboard the ... cruise ship." Ms Sewpershad told Brisbane's Sunday Mail newspaper that she was left "sick and disoriented" after something was slipped into her glass during a 12-day cruise on "Pacific Sky" in December 2005. A P&O spokesman said procedures had been reviewed and improved so any passenger claiming, or suspected, of having been affected by drugs could request a test and it would be paid for by the cruise line. [ [http://www.cruisebruise.com/Kasmira_Sewpershad.html Kasmira Sewershad - Alleged Drink Spiking - Pacific Sky Cruise Ship - December 30, 2005 ] ]
* January 18 2007 - Early in the morning, the Sky Wonder with 1600 passengers ran aground on a sandbar in the Rio Plata, 3 kilometres from the port of Buenos Aires, Argentina. There were no injuries other than a heart problem suffered by a 50 year old male passenger, who was treated ashore. The ship was freed by tugboats at high tide several hours later, so she could reach her destination of Punta Del Este, Uruguay. [ [http://www.playfuls.com/news_10_9799-Cruise-Ship-With-1600-Brazilians-Runs-Aground-Before-Buenos-Aires.html Playfuls.com - Play your life! ] ] She was chartered for CVC Cruises at the time. The grounding was reported to be a navigational error, made by her captain. [ [http://www.20thcenturyliners.com/ol_news.htm 20th Century Ocean Liners - Cruise Ship News - Current ] ]
* March 25 2008 - Sky Wonder once again ran aground whilst attempting to berth in the Turkish resort of Kusadasi. The port was experiencing moderately high winds and choppy seas at the time. One of the tugs in attendance malfunctioned, and subsequently control was lost, allowing the vessel to drift towards the shore. According to unverified rumours, Sky Wonder's reverse gear was out of order at the time. Shortly after drifting, she grounded at the entrance to the adjacent marina. The local tugs were unable to move her, with one almost capsizing and throwing a number of her crew into the water in the process. Assistance was requested from the nearby ports of Izmir and Bodrum. Help arrived the next day in the form of two similar tugs, however, these too proved insufficient, with all attempts at recovery being unproductive. After lying in a precarious position for more than three days, only some fifty metres from the rocks at the entrance to the marina and one-hundred metres from the shore, the "Sky Wonder" was eventually pulled to safety in the early hours of Saturday March 29 2008.Fact|date=March 2008

References

* cite news | title= Statement from P&O Cruises Australia on Safety and Security| date = 13 January, 2006 | publisher=pocruises.com.au
url=http://www.pocruises.com.au/html/statement_from_p_o_cruises_australia_on_safety_and_security.cfm
* cite news | title= Sniffer dogs for Cruise liners | date=April 2, 2006 | publisher=The Advertiser| url=http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,18680699%255E421,00.html
*
* [http://www.pocruises.com.au P&O Australia]
* [http://www.e-cruiseworld.com/pacsky01.htm E-cruiseworld.com]

External links

* [http://www.pullmanturcruises.com/sky.html Sky Wonder page at Pullmantur Cruises]