Carnival Encounter

Carnival Encounter is a Grand-class cruise ship operated by Carnival Cruise Line, sailing year-round from Brisbane, Australia. She was constructed by the Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri at its yard in Monfalcone and originally entered service as Star Princess for Princess Cruises. The vessel was ordered in January 1998, launched on 10 May 2001, and formally christened on 25 January 2002 by Gunilla Antonini, wife of Fincantieri's chairman, at a reported building cost of around 425 million US dollars. She was the third member of Princess Cruises' Grand class, a series of large ships that set new standards for size and onboard variety at the turn of the millennium.

Measuring roughly 290 metres (about 951 feet) in length with a beam of 36 metres and a draft of 8.05 metres, the ship has a gross tonnage of approximately 109,000 (measured at 108,977 GT). She rises across 18 decks, of which around 14 are accessible to guests and seven contain staterooms, with 1,299 passenger cabins in total. A large share of accommodations offer outside views and more than half feature private balconies. Her standard passenger capacity sits near 2,600, though she can carry well over 3,000 at maximum occupancy, supported by a crew of roughly 1,100. Propulsion is provided by a diesel-electric system driven by six Sulzer engines, giving the ship a top speed of about 23 knots.

Star Princess began commercial sailing with a maiden voyage from Los Angeles on 10 March 2002, and for a time she ranked among the largest cruise ships based year-round on the North American West Coast. Over the following years she ranged widely, operating itineraries that included the Mexican Riviera, Alaska, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, the Baltic, Southeast Asia, South America, and Antarctica. She also became a notable presence in Australian waters, reported as the first vessel exceeding 100,000 gross tons to sail there when she arrived in Sydney in November 2003.

The ship's most serious incident occurred in the early hours of 23 March 2006, while she was en route from Grand Cayman to Montego Bay, Jamaica. A fire broke out around 3:00 am, believed to have been ignited by a burning cigarette left on a stateroom balcony. The blaze spread rapidly along the exterior of the ship, aided by combustible balcony partitions, deck tiles, and plastic furniture that generated dense black smoke. Roughly 79 cabins were destroyed and hundreds more damaged; one passenger died from smoke inhalation and about thirteen others were significantly affected. The vessel reached Montego Bay under her own power, where passengers disembarked and received full refunds. She was subsequently repaired at the Lloyd Werft shipyard in Bremerhaven, Germany, returning to service on 15 May 2006. In response to the tragedy, sprinkler systems were fitted to all balconies and flammable furnishings were replaced with non-combustible materials, changes echoed across much of the industry.

In October 2020 the ship was transferred within the Carnival Corporation family to P&O Cruises Australia, a move brought forward from its originally scheduled 2021 timing amid the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. Renamed Pacific Encounter, she underwent an extensive refit at the Sembcorp Marine shipyard in Singapore beginning in January 2021, which reworked her lounges and public rooms, revamped the atrium, and introduced new dining venues suited to the Australian market. Based in Brisbane, she began operating Pacific Encounter voyages, with her maiden season under the P&O banner commencing in August 2022, sailing to destinations across the Queensland coast, the South Pacific islands, and Melanesia.

P&O Cruises Australia's parent announced the retirement of the long-running brand, and following its closure in mid-2024 the operation was folded into Carnival Cruise Line, taking effect in early 2025. After a roughly two-week wet docking in Melbourne in March 2025, the ship emerged rebranded as Carnival Encounter, continuing to serve the Australian cruise market from her Brisbane home port. As one of the older and larger ships in the Carnival fleet, she is distinctive for retaining much of the original Princess-derived interior architecture, including a spacious central atrium, rather than adopting Carnival's typical layout and styling.

Onboard, Carnival Encounter carries a broad mix of dining and drinking venues. The Waterfront serves as the complimentary main restaurant, complemented by specialty options such as Angelo's for Italian fare, the Asian-themed Dragon Lady, a grill featuring dishes by a celebrity chef, and a casual pasta-focused trattoria. More recent additions have expanded the lineup with a Bonsai Sushi Express counter and a Fahrenheit 555 steakhouse, while The Pantry offers a marketplace-style buffet with multiple food stations. Social and entertainment spaces include the Piazza atrium with live performances, the elevated Altitude nightclub and observation lounge at the stern, a piano lounge and pub, a cabaret theatre, and a Cloud 9 Spa with thermal facilities.

The top decks are built around active family recreation, headlined by the Twin-Racer waterslides that run approximately 142 metres in length, alongside main and family swimming pools and several jacuzzis. Additional attractions include the adults-only Byron Beach Club retreat with its own pool and cabanas, an adventure park incorporating a zipline and a climbing wall, and lawn areas for mini-golf and games. From Brisbane, Carnival Encounter offers a year-round program ranging from short getaway cruises of three to four nights to longer voyages of a week or more visiting the Great Barrier Reef, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea, with additional summer capacity provided by fleetmate Carnival Luminosa. She remains in active service and carries the IMO number 9192363.