日本最大，かつ最も豪華なフェリーとして，また日本高速フェリーのさんふらわあ5姉妹の最終船として，さんふらわあ 5 とともに大阪 - 鹿児島航路に就航。建造費用は当時の額で60億円ともいわれる。1975年9月に来島どっくに売却，日本高速フェリーがチャーターバックする形で運航を継続。1977年2月から志布志への寄港開始。 1981年9月には、来島どっくで船内設備の改装工事を実施。1993年，さんふらわあさつま の就航に伴い引退，フィリピンのスルピシオラインに売却。

1998年9月19日，Sulpicio Lines Inc. によりマニラ - セブ航路に就航していた Princess of the Orient は，台風7号(Vicky)の強風(75km/h)の吹き荒れる荒天下にマニラ港を出港，1時間足らずで徐々に船体が傾斜，最終的に横転して沈没した。この事故による死者は51名，行方不明者216名。当時は500トン以下の小型船は荒天のため出航禁止令が発令されていたが13,000トン，全長200メートルもの大型船である本船はこの禁止令から除外されていた。船体の整備状態，事故による損傷等はなかったものから，直接の沈没原因は荷崩れであったと考えられている。フィリピンでの大幅なデッキ増設工事により船体が不安定になっていたとも云われる。

She was built as the last of the original Sun Flower series by Nihon Kosoku Ferry (NKF) in 1974. Having 2 funnels and elegantly appointed sleek bow she had quite different appearance from other original Sun Flower ships (Sun Flower, Sun Flower 2, Sun Flower 5, Sun Flower 8). She was the largest and the most luxurious car ferry built in Japan at that time. She was put in the service between Osaka and Kagoshima route first, and later brief stop at Shibushi was included in her route. In 1975, following the bankruptcy of the parent company of Nihon Kosoku Ferry K. K., Terukuni Shipping Co., Ltd. she was sold to Kurushima dockyard. However, the service was uninterrupted as Nihon Kosoku Ferry K. K. chartered her back from the Kurushima Dockyard to continue her operation. In 1986, the service between Shibushi and Kagoshima was suspended as it was considered inefficient to spend 4 hours to go around Osumi peninsla to reach Kagoshima from Shibushi. In 1990, following the bankruptcy of the Nihon Kosoku Ferry K. K., Nihon Enkai Ferry took all the routes operated by Nihon Kosoku ferry together with their vessels, including her. She was then renamed to Sun Flower Satsuma. In 1993, She retired from the service in Japan and sold to the Sulpicio Lines of the Philippines and renamed to Princess of the Orient.

On Sept 19th 1998, tropical Storm Vicky was beating the northern Philippines with 45 mph (75 km/h) winds when Princess of the Orient left Manila at 8 p.m. bound for Cebu. She was reported tilted in a less than an hour from her departure, and later capsized and sunk off Batangas. Death toll was 51 and 216 were reported missing. The authority suspected that improperly tightened cargo was the cause for her loosing stability.
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