NAME
|
GRAND PRINCESS
|
CLASS
|
CRUISE SHIP
|
ENT/SERVICE
|
1998
|
BUILT
|
FINCANTIERI SHIPBUILDERS / MONFALCONE /
ITALY
|
WEIGHT
|
109,000 TONS
|
LENGTH
|
951 FEET
|
WIDTH
|
118 FEET
|
SPEED
|
22 KNOTS
|
PROPELLERS
|
2 - FIXED PITCH + 6 THRUSTERS
|
|
ENGINES
|
6 - 16 CYLINDER SULZER DIESEL ELECTRIC -
93,972 HP
|
|
Grand Princess was the first of four
ships in this class built for P&O Princess
Cruises. Her three sister ships ar
Golden Princess 2001, Star
Princess 2002 and Caribbean
Princess 2004. Caribbean Princess
has an extra deck and a larger volume of
112,894 gross registered tons.
The Diamond Princess class
that includes Saphire Princess
2004, Crown Princess 2006,
Emerald Princess 2007 and Ruby
Princess 2008 are a slightly different
design with the aft spoiler situated further
forward.
Although Grand Princess was
the world’s largest passenger ship in
1998, she only held that title for one year as
the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's 142,000-ton
Voyager of the Seas
entered service in 1999. P&O Princess
Cruises are now regarded as the third largest
cruise line; only Carnival and Royal Caribbean
carry more passengers. Grand
Princess has 15 decks, 748-seat theatre,
4 pools, casino, fitness center and 12 bars.
One of these bars is the spectacular Skywalkers
bar/disco situated on deck 15 in the aft
spoiler 140 feet above the waterline. She has
366 inside cabins, 930 outside cabins of which
710 have verandas, can carry over 2,600
passengers and a crew of 1,100.
The image below shows Grand
Princess with her aft spoiler. The spoiler
was removed during a refit in 2011 to give her
a sleeker look. Large image of Grand
Princess without the spoiler.
|
|
|
|
Grand Princess
Itinerary is mainly from San
Francisco - Alaska, Mexico and Hawaii.
Reviews.
Golden Princess
Itinerary is out of Seatle on 7 night
cruises - Alaska, and out of Los Angeles -
Mexico. Cape Horn cruises depart from Buenos
Aires, Rio de Janeiro & Santiago.
Reviews.
Star Princess
Itinerary is from Seatle - Alaska,
Los Angeles - Hawaii, and Cape Horn cruises
depart from Santiago & Buenos Aires.
Reviews.
Caribbean
Princess Itinerary is out of Fort
Lauderdale - Bermuda, Galveston - Caribbean,
New York to Bermuda, Eastern Caribbean and
New England, and European cruises out of
Southampton/London. Reviews.
Websites: US www.princess.com. UK:
www.princesscruises.co.uk.
Below: Caribbean Princess at St
Thomas, Virgin Islands, Large
Image.
|
|
Stanley Mc Donald founded Princess Cruises
in 1965 when he chartered the 6,000-ton
Canadian Pacific steamship Princess
Patricia. The Princess part of that
ships name was adopted for the new company
and used in all their ships names thereafter.
This line’s first cruises were from
California - Mexico and later from Canada -
Alaska. P&O took over Princess Cruises
and their three aging steamships in 1968 with
the intentions of expanding their fleet. The
first ships to be added were the cruise ships
Island Venture and Sea
Venture, acquired from Falgship
Cruises. These two 20,636-ton ships were
renamed Island Princess and
Pacific Princess. Both became
famous after being used in the filming of the
long running television show Love Boat. The
success of that show led to a massive
increase in people booking cruises and cruise
lines ordering fleets of new ships.
P&O Princess Cruises took over Sitmar
Cruises in 1988 adding another four ships to
the fleet. To date, P&O Princess Cruises
have 18 ships with many more on order. The
line now comprises, P&O/UK, Swan
Hellenic/UK, Princess Cruises/North America,
Aida Cruises, A’rosa and Seatours
International/Germany, and P&O
Cruises/Australia. P&O founded a new
cruise line in 2003 named Ocean Village. This
new company operates the former 63,525-ton
Arcadia under the name Ocean
Village out of Palma/Majorca on seven
night cruises throughout the
Mediterranean.
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