On 11 March 2001, Norstar suffered a major engine room fire and was subsequently withdrawn from service upon arrival at Zeebrugge.

As a result of this, the MS Norsun was required to go into refit early for subsequent transfer to the Kingston upon Hull – Zeebrugge as had been planned.

The newly renamed Pride of Hull was launched on 11 April 2001,[3] finally being delivered to P&O Ferries on 16 November 2001.

[3] Upon entering service she was the joint title holder of the World's Largest Cruiseferry with her sister, the Pride of Rotterdam On 17 March 2022, P&O announced they were to fire 800 seafaring employees, including the entirety of the Pride of Hull’s crew, in a bid to save costs.

The standoff ended after five hours, when Captain Favier held discussions with P&O bosses, who agreed to provide the relevant documents to the crew, as requested by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers.