78

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 six ships in this class to be built for P&O Princess Cruises. Her five sister ships ar Golden Princess 2001, Star Princess 2002, Caribbean Princess 2004, Crown Princess 2006, Emerald Princess 2007 and a yet to be named ship to follow in 2008. 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.

Grand Princess

Grand Princess is mainly based at Galveston & Fort Lauderdale to be operated on cruises throughout the Caribbean, Bahamas & Mexico. Mediterranean & Agean sea cruises for Grand Princess depart from the ports of Southampton, Barcelona, Rome & Venice.

Golden Princess cruises out of Seatle on 7 night cruises - Alaska, and 7 nights from Los Angeles - Mexico.

Star Princess is operated on cruises from Fort Lauderdale - various destinations throughout the Bahamas, Caribbean & Mexico. Eastern Europe & Scandinavian cruises depart from Copenhagen, and Mediterranean cruises depart from Rome.

Caribbean Princess cruises out of Fort Lauderdale - Bahamas & Caribbean.

Crown Princes is operated on cruises out of New York - Caribbean and out of San Juan - Caribbean.

Websites: US www.princess.com. UK: www.princesscruises.co.uk.

Golden Princess

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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