[1][2] Following delivery, Regal Princess sailed to New York City where she was officially named by the former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on 8 August 1991.

[11] While on a repositioning cruise from Copenhagen to New York in August 2003, a number of passengers and crew on board Regal Princess were infected by the Norovirus.

The number of infected people on board eventually rose to 217, and the decision was made for the ship to drop planned calls in Greenland and Newfoundland in favour of sailing directly to New York.

[2][13] Following an extensive refurbishment, Regal Princess was renamed Pacific Dawn and christened on 8 November 2007 by Olympic gold medalist Cathy Freeman.

In November 2014, the ship was dry-docked in Sydney, Australia for the addition of "The Edge" activities (including a zip-line, "crow's nest experience" and rock-climbing wall), a refurbishment of the Waterfront Restaurant and a cosmetic make-over of the pool deck.

There the ship would be officially handed over to Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV), which intended to rename her Amy Johnson, after the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia.

[17][18] Following the failure of CMV in July 2020, on 28 September P&O Cruises Australia announced that they had retired the ship earlier than planned as the pause in their schedules due to the COVID-19 pandemic offered an opportunity to sell her.

[19] The ship was sold in November 2020 to Marshall Islands company Ocean Builders Central Inc. for about US$9.5 million,[20][21] and named Satoshi, after the presumed creator of Bitcoin.

[22] It was planned that the ship would be anchored in the Gulf of Panama 22 kilometres (14 mi) from the coast and host a floating community of 2,020 people.

The commercial spaces would be operated by individual companies which, in keeping with the cryptocurrency spirit and technology incubator, would accept Bitcoin for purchases.

[26][27] However, she stayed at Panama until March 2021, when it was reported that she had been sold to Wake Asset Co, a single-ship British Virgin Islands company, for operation by an unnamed European cruise start-up;[28] the price was thought to have been $12m.

[28] On 13 May 2021 it was announced that the new operator would be British start-up company Ambassador Cruise Line, and the ship, to be renamed Ambience, would commence sailings in April 2022 after a refit.

[35] While on a cruise from Sydney to destinations in Asia on 15 March 2001, Regal Princess experienced difficulties when entering the port of Cairns, due to high winds.

While she made it safely to the harbour, it was decided to postpone her departure by eight hours, allowing the winds to subside and use more favourable tidal conditions.

In Darwin minor damage to the ship's bulbous bow was discovered, but this did not threaten her safety and Regal Princess was cleared to continue her cruise.

A subsequent study to the causes of the accident concluded Regal Princess was too large to safely traverse the narrow channel leading into Cairns, and that "commercial incentives ... may have influenced the approval process to exceed the limits of a reasonable safety envelope.

New South Wales Health authorities ordered all 2,000 passengers from the ship to stay at home, or in hotel rooms, for seven days as a form of self-imposed quarantine.