Island Princess (I) was originally completed in 1971 as Island Venture for Norwegian Cruiseships' subsidiary, Flagship Cruises.  At 19,907grt, her maiden voyage was January 4th, 1972.  Island Venture and her sister ship Sea Venture, were sold in August 1974 to P&O to join their newly-acquired Princess brand and renamed Island Princess and Pacific Princess.  Both ships were to be used eventually in the television show, The Love Boat, which helped popularize the cruise industry in the United States.  She was sold in 1999 to Hyundai Merchant Marine of South Korea, becoming Hyundai Pungak, transporting South Korean pilgrims to religious sites North Korea.  In 2003 she was bought by Voyages of Discovery and was now 20,186grt.  Renamed Discovery, she sails special cruises with an emphasis on educational programs and exploration opportunities in small interesting ports around the world.  From 2013, she was run by Cruise & Maritime Voyages but her parent company, All Leisure Group, announced in 2014 she was loss making and would be out up for sale at the end of summer.  She sailed from Bristol on her farewell cruise on the 26th September 2014, her final ones curtailed, returning on the 6th October.  She departed Bristol in the morning of the 9th October, first port of call being Falmouth.

My mother, Carolyn Hester, took this image of Island Princess on January 26th, 1985.  We were at the port of Los Angeles in San Pedro taking a tour of the QE2.  Island Princess is pictured here at Pier 92, taken from the aft of QE2 at Pier 93.