Jubilee was built in 1986 by Kockums Varv, Malmö, Sweden, for Carnival Cruise Line, along with near-sister ship Celebration.

She arrived in Australia on 9 November 2004 and began year-round cruises from Sydney to the South Pacific and Tropical North Queensland.

[11] Pacific Sun was the only ship of three siblings (with Grand Celebration and Grand Holiday) whose funnel was changed upon leaving Carnival Cruise Lines; her sister's funnels were simply repainted, while Sun had both Carnival's iconic wings and a part of its shielding removed.

Carnival's first newbuilt ship, the slightly older Tropicale (now MS Ocean Dream), also had her Carnival funnel replaced with Costa Cruises's round stove-pipe funnel, which she retained until the end of her career.In late July 2008, 42 passengers were injured in a storm.

[14] Her farewell cruise was an 8-day roundtrip from Portside Wharf in Brisbane, Australia, stopping at Nouméa, Lifou, in New Caledonia, and Port Vila, Vanuatu, with three days at sea.

After several days stuck on board, the 1,659 passengers were flown home via HNA Group's China Hainan Airlines.