Pacific Princess sold as 16th ship of 19 planned to exit Carnival Corp.

This makes the 16th announced ship exit in what Carnival Corp. & plc most recently said would be 19 leaving.

Built as R3 in 1999

Pacific Princess joined the Love Boat line in 2002 after being built in 1999 as R3 for Renaissance Cruises. It has capacity for 670 passengers.

As Pacific Princess, the ship sailed more than 1.6m nautical miles and 11 world cruises.

Memorable moments

'The Love Boat’s' Capt. Stubing and Princess Ambassador Gavin MacLeod was on the navigational bridge as the ship sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time to begin its inaugural Alaska season from San Francisco in May 2003.

Another historic moment for Pacific Princess was a throwback cruise, recreating the line's first Mexican Riviera sailing in celebration of the 50^th anniversary of Princess Cruises on Dec. 3, 2015. On hand were MacLeod, Fred Grandy (Gopher, the chief purser), Ted Lange (Isaac, the bartender), Bernie Kopell (Doc, the ship’s doctor), Lauren Tewes (cruise director, Julie) and Jill Whelan (Vicki, the captain’s daughter).

'While it’s difficult to say goodbye to our "Love Boat," our world cruise and exotic itineraries continue on board our Medallion Class-enabled Island Princess and Coral Princess, featuring the best Wi-Fi at sea, allowing guests to keep in touch with loved ones and share vacation memories along the way,' Princess President Jan Swartz said.

Closely follows other former R ship news

The exit of Pacific Princess is announced just three days after Royal Caribbean Group disclosed the sale of its Azamara brand to private equity firm Sycamore Partners. Azamara's fleet consists of three other former R-class ships originally built for Renaissance.