Royal-class cruise ship

The Royal Princess, the lead vessel in the Royal Class.
Class overview
Builders: Fincantieri Monfalcone
Operators: Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises
Preceded by: Grand class
In service: 2013-2019 (planned)
Building: 1
Planned: 5
Completed: 3
Active: 3
General characteristics
Type: Cruise Ship
Tonnage: 141,000 GRT - 143,000 GRT
Length: 330 m (1,083 ft)
Beam: 38 m (126 ft)
Decks: 15
Capacity: 3,600 Passengers
Royal Princess and the Regal Princess being constructed in Fincantieri, Italy

The Royal class cruise ships will be a class of cruise ships operated by Princess Cruises. The lead vessel of the class, Royal Princess, was delivered in June 2013 for Princess Cruises. The 2015 MV Britannia is a similar design to the Royal class ships and is operated by P&O Cruises.

History

In early 2010, Fincantieri and Carnival Corporation & plc reached an agreement to build two ships for Princess Cruises. The agreement is subject to the execution of a definitive contract, financing and other customary conditions.[1]

The contract was then finalized on May 4, 2010.[2] While in the midst of Economic downturn, Princess managed to finalize the contract with the help of Italian Export Credit Companies, particularly SACE S.p.A.[2]

The two ships are designed to have a tonnage of 141,000-GT, with a passenger capacity of 3,600. The new ships are predicted to enter service in Summer 2013 and 2014 and will be the largest newbuilds to date for Princess Cruises.[1] The ship's design will be evolutionary, from the current Princess fleet and will offer new innovations in the fleet. 100% of its outside staterooms will have balconies, which will comprise the 80% of all staterooms.[2] The signature Piazza atrium will have an expansion.[2] Other innovations is yet to be unveiled in the upcoming months.

The first of the two ships will become the new Royal Princess; the former Royal Princess left the Princess fleet in May 2011 when it joined P&O Cruises as MV Adonia.

In mid-March 2011, Princess released a video of their new Royal Princess, planned to debut in spring 2013. New features include a cantilevered walkway and bar on the top deck, an enlarged Sanctuary bar, an adult-only pool and the largest Movies Under The Stars screen Princess has built so far.

It was announced on August 29, 2012 that the sister ship to the new Royal Princess will be named the Regal Princess.[3]

On April 9, 2013, Princess announced that Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, would be godmother to Royal Princess and would attend its naming ceremony in Southampton, UK, on June 13, 2013.[4]

On 22 September 2013, Royal Princess suffered a power outage while sailing between Mykonos and Naples in the Mediterranean. The power failure occurred at 1:30 pm local time and emergency generators kicked in to provide hotel services to the passengers.[5] Prior to the power loss, the anchor motor failed and left 90 feet of anchor hanging for over four hours until a new motor could be installed. It delayed the ship on its trip from Mykonos to Naples. The second half of the cruise was cancelled and all of the passengers were flown home early with flights out of Rome and Naples. The Royal Princess cancelled her visits to Rome, Livorno, Toulon, and sailed directly to Barcelona effecting repairs on the way and embarked her next cruise in Barcelona as planned.

On July 30, 2014, Princess announced a third sister to the Royal Princess and Regal Princess planned for delivery in 2017, she would be a little bigger at 143,000 GRT. More details would be released into the coming months.[6] It what is announced that she will be named Majestic Princess and she will be based in China. Another Ship is planned for delivery in 2019.

Ships

Princess Cruises

Ship Built Builder Entered service
for Princess 		Gross Tonnage Flag Notes Image
Royal Princess 2013 Fincantieri June 2013 141,000 tons  Bermuda Currently the largest ship built for Princess Cruises and the 10th World's Largest Passenger Ship so far, and can hold 3,600 passengers.
Regal Princess 2014 Fincantieri May 2014 141,000 tons  Bermuda Sister ship to the Royal Princess, currently the 11th World's Largest Passenger Ship.
Majestic Princess 2017 Fincantieri Expected Summer 2017 143,000 tons  Bermuda Sister ship to the Royal Princess and Regal Princess.[6]
TBA 2019 Fincantieri Expected End of 2019 143,700 tons  Bermuda Sister ship to the Royal Princess, Regal Princess and Majestic Princess.[6]

P&O Cruises

On 1 June 2011, Carnival Corporation & plc announced an order from Fincantieri for a new 145,000 ton cruise ship for P&O Cruises.[7] The ship, unnamed at the time of the announcement, is to have a capacity of 3,611 people, and will enter service in 2015.[7] According to the P&O Peninsular club magazine, the new ship will have 14 passenger decks and 1,819 cabins. P&O Cruises have also teamed up with British Hotel designers, Richmond International to design the interior of the new ship. On 15 May 2013, the keel of the new ship was laid at the Monfalcone shipyard of Fincantieri near Trieste, in Italy. The keel laying involved the placement in the dry dock of the first section of the ship’s hull.[8] The ceremonial float out took place on the afternoon of the 14 February 2014, with the traditional champagne bottle smashed against the vessels hull.[9] On 24 September 2013 it was reported that the ship would be named Britannia.[10] Britannia arrived in Southampton on 6 March 2015, was named by HM Queen Elizabeth II on 10 March and entered served on 14 March 2015.[11]

Ship Built Builder Entered service
for P&O 		Gross Tonnage Flag Notes Image
Britannia 2015 Fincantieri March 2015 141,000 tons  UK Fleet flagship, largest ship built specially for the British market.

References

  1. 1 2 "Fincantieri to build two prototype ships for Princess Cruises". Cruise Industry News. 17 February 2010. Retrieved 17 February 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Carnival Corp. finalizes contracts for two new Princess ships". Cruise Industry News. 4 May 2010. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  3. ↑ "Princess Cruises Announces Name of Next New Ship Will Be Regal Princess - Cruise Industry News | Cruise News". Cruise Industry News. 2012-08-28. Retrieved 2013-03-02.
  4. ↑ "Kate Middleton to be godmother to Royal Princess". Travel Weekly (UK). Travel Weekly Group. 2013-04-09. Retrieved 2013-04-10.
  5. ↑ September 22, 2013 (2013-09-22). "Royal Princess Suffers Power Outage in the Mediterranean". Cruisefever.net. Retrieved 2016-02-13.
  6. 1 2 3 "Princess Orders Third Royal-class Ship for 2017 Delivery - Cruise Industry News | Cruise News". Cruise Industry News. 2014-07-30. Retrieved 2016-02-13.
  7. 1 2 "USA: Fincantieri Receives Order from Carnival Corps to Build New Cruise Ship". Shipbuilding Tribune. 2 June 2011. Archived from the original on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  8. ↑ "Keel Laid for P&O Cruises’ 141,000-Ton Cruise Ship". World Maritime News. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  9. ↑ "Britannia rules the waves! - P&O's Britannia". On Board Boats. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  10. ↑ King, Martin (24 September 2013). "P&O unveils mega-cruise ship Britannia". Independent. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  11. ↑ "New P&O cruise ship Britannia arrives in Southampton". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-02-13.
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