Princess Cruises has announced the departure of two of its ships, Sun Princess and Sea Princess.

The cruise line, owned by Carnival Corporation, announced the sale of the two vessels today (22 September) to undisclosed buyers.

The sale of these vessels is in line with Carnival Corporation’s plan to accelerate the removal of less efficient ships from its fleet, a process it’s implementing across many of its cruise lines.

Princess Cruises president Jan Swartz said: “Sun Princess and Sea Princess contributed to significant growth in Australian cruising.

“Both ships defined the premium cruise experience with Australians and New Zealanders spending close to 14 million nights aboard these ships.

“While it is never easy to say goodbye to any ship in our fleet, this will allow us to deploy newer ships enhancing our offerings for Australia cruisers and focus on bringing into service exciting newbuilds like the upcoming delivery of Enchanted Princess.”

Sun Princess made its Princess debut in 1995 as the first Sun Class ship and one of the biggest cruise ships in the world at the time. Debuting in the Caribbean, the 2,000-passenger ship also sailed in Alaska and the Panama Canal, before becoming homeported in Australia in 2007.

The ship also helped open Princess Cruises up to the Japanese market, becoming the first foreign-flagged cruise ship in 2013 to offer cruises specifically for the Japanese.

Also carrying 2,000 passengers, Sea Princess championed world cruises and has completed six full world cruises since 2013.

Based in Australia, the ship travelled the equivalent of 35 times around the world. Prior to joining Sun Princess in Australia, Sea Princess sailed in Europe and Alaska as well as the Caribbean, including serving as a homeport ship in Barbados in the mid- to late-2000s.

Due to the departure of the two ships, Princess has had to cancel sailings on both vessels, which on Sun Princess run from 28 December 2021 through to 14 August 2021 and 23 December 2020 to 9 November 2021 on Sea Princess.

Guests are in the process of being notified, along with travel agents, and will receive information on how to book another Princess cruise when operations resume. If guests choose to not rebook they will receive a full refund.