Sun Princess, the largest cruise ship to ever be based in Australia, has arrived at her new home port in Melbourne.
The 77,000
Princess Cruises ship made her debut in 1995 and features a wrap-around promenade deck, wine and caviar bar, four swimming pools and a spa with ocean-view gymnasium.
Sun Princess can accommodate 1,950 passengers in her ample accommodation which includes more than 400 staterooms with balconies.
"My friend asked me to go on a cruise and I thought, why not? It's an amazing boat. I genuinely can't believe how big it is," cruise passenger Joyce Turner from Port Macquarie told Australian newspaper the Age.
As the ship sailed into port at 7:30 am local time, a helicopter accompanied it, trailing a banner which read "Melbourne welcomes the
Sun Princess".
The cruise ship had docked safely after completing a 28-day circumnavigation of Australia and will be based in Melbourne until March 2009 during which time it will complete a number of world cruises.