Princess Cruises is an British-American owned cruise line, based in Santa Clarita, California
in the United States and incorporated in Bermuda. Previously a subsidiary of P&O Princess Cruises,
the company is now one of ten cruise ship brands owned by Carnival Corporation & plc
and accounts for approximately 19% share of its revenue. Being based in America, executive
control of Princess Cruises was transferred to Carnival Corp following its acquisition
of P&O Princess in 2002. The company was made famous by The Love Boat TV series, in which
its ship, Pacific Princess was featured. In May 2013, the brand new Royal Princess became
the flagship of Princess Cruises, and in May 2014 was joined by her new sister-ship Regal
Princess.
History
Princess Cruises began in 1965, when founder Stanley McDonald chartered Canadian Pacific
Limited's Alaska cruise ship Princess Patricia for Mexican Riviera cruises from Los Angeles
during a time when she would have usually been laid up for the winter. However, Princess
Pat, as she was fondly called, had never been designed for tropical cruising, lacking air-conditioning,
and Princess ended her charter in favor of a more purpose-built cruise ship Italia.
The Italia had originally been ordered in 1963 and was one of the first to implement
modern design elements, such as lifeboats mounted lower on the ship, allowing for uncluttered
upperdecks, and engines placed far in the rear, allowing for spacious public rooms amidships.
Gustavo Finali and Romano Boico had designed the ship's interiors, designers whose résumés
included such ships as the Augustus and Raffaello and the Oceanic and Homeric.
Construction proceeded slowly, and accordingly, the Italia was not launched until the spring
of 1965, and during the fitting out, both the owners and the builder were declared bankrupt.
The Italia was passed onto a bank who created a company to charter or sell the ship, and
consequently, the company chartered the Italia to Princess.
Princess, who marketed the ship as Princess Italia but never officially renamed her, used
the ship to inaugurate their Mexican Riviera cruises out of Los Angeles, and did not even
receive the Princess logo on her funnel until 1967.
In 1969, the Princess Italia was used on Alaskan cruises from San Francisco, but by 1973, the
charter was canceled, and the Italia returned to Europe on charter to Costa Cruise Line.
Princess's third charter ship was none other than Costa's Carla C. Originally, Compagnie
Générale Transatlantique's Flandre, the ship had been purchased by Costa in the late
1960s and given a major rebuilding. Almost immediately after completion, the ship was
chartered to Princess, and it was on board the ship, which was marketed as, but again
not officially renamed, Princess Carla, that Jeraldine Saunders wrote the first chapters
of her nonfiction book The Love Boats. Britain's Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation
Company, which by 1960 was the world's largest shipping company, with 320 oceangoing vessels,
acquired Princess Cruise Lines in 1974 and their Spirit of London was transferred to
the Princess fleet, becoming the first Sun Princess.
The two ships that were to be featured heavily in the television series The Love Boat were
built in 1971 at Nordseewerke for Flagship Cruises and originally named the Sea Venture
and Island Venture. In 1974, P&O purchased them for their Princess division, and they
served as the Island Princess and Pacific Princess respectively.
A part-time addition to the Princess fleet was the former Swedish transatlantic liner
Kungsholm, purchased by P&O from Flagship Cruises in 1978, and then restyled and rebuilt
in Bremen as the Sea Princess. She was initially based in Australia as a P&O ship until 1981
when her role there was taken over by the Oriana. After that, she alternated between
P&O and Princess colours as she moved between fleets. The Sea Princess returned to the P&O
UK fleet permanently and in 1995 and was renamed Victoria to allow a then new Princess ship
to be named Sea Princess. The first P&O Princess Cruises purpose-built
cruise ship was the Royal Princess in 1984, the largest new British passenger ship in
a decade, and one of the first, if not the first, ships to completely dispense with interior
cabins. The ship served in P&O Cruises fleet as the Artemis until 2011. The Swan Hellenic
Cruiseship Minerva II, originally built as the Renaissance Cruises R8 was renamed Royal
Princess in 2007 after an extensive refit during a drydock in Gibraltar.
In 1986, P&O Princess Cruises acquired Tour Alaska, which operated on the Alaska Railroad.
Based in Anchorage, Alaska, Princess Tours now operates ten luxury railcars with full-service
scenic tours of Mount McKinley and can accommodate over 700 passengers per day.
P&O Princess Cruises acquired Sitmar Line in 1988 and transferred all of its major tonnage
to Princess, including three cruise ships then under construction. The Dawn Princess
and Fair Princess were both ex-Cunarders, and the former Sitmar Fairsky became Princess's
Sky Princess. The first of the three new Sitmar ships came into the Princess brand in 1989
as the Star Princess, the largest British exclusively cruising ship. Two 70,000 grt
cruise ships entered service in 1990 as the Crown Princess and Regal Princess, bringing
Princess's fleet up to ten deluxe cruise ships. Princess Cruises was involved in litigation
with GE in 1998 over consequential damages and lost profits resulting from a contract
the two parties entered into. GE was to provide inspection and repair services upon the SS
Sky Princess. Upon noticing surface rust on the rotor, the vessel was brought ashore for
cleaning and balancing, but good metal was unintentionally removed. This destabilized
the rotor, forcing Princess Cruises to cancel two 10-day cruises while additional work was
performed. Princess originally prevailed, being awarded nearly $4.6 million. On appeal,
however, the judgment was reversed in favor of GE, and Princess Cruises only recovered
the price of the contract, less than $232,000. On October 23, 2000, the Peninsular & Oriental
Steam Navigation Company demerged its passenger division to form an independent company, P&O
Princess Cruises. The company subsequently merged with Carnival Corporation on April
17, 2003, to form the world's largest cruise operating company in a deal worth US$5.4 billion.
As a result of the merger, Carnival Corporation and P&O Princess were integrated to form Carnival
Corporation & plc, with a portfolio of eleven cruise ship brands. It is a dual listed company,
registered in both the United States and the United Kingdom, with the former P&O Princess
Cruises being relisted as Carnival plc, more commonly known as Carnival UK. As an American-based
company, executive control of Princess Cruises was transferred to Carnival's American operations,
with Carnival UK taking control of Southampton-based Cunard Line. Princess and Cunard have offices
at Carnival's head offices in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
On April 3, 2008 Micky Arison, the chairman of Carnival Corporation & plc, stated that
due to the low value of the US dollar, inflation and high shipbuilding costs, the company would
not be ordering any new ships for their US-based brands before the economic situation improves.
On February 17, 2010, Carnival Corporation & plc and Fincantieri builders reached an
agreement for the construction of 2 new cruise ships for Princess Cruises. These ships are
scheduled to enter service in Summer 2013 and 2014.
On May 4, 2010, Carnival Corporation & plc finalized the contract for the two new ships.
2015 Rose Parade Float Entry In 2015, Princess Cruises will celebrate its
50th Golden Anniversary of the company's founding it features the Regal Princess float in the
126th Tournament of Roses Parade. Future ships
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. The contract was then finalized on May 4,
2010. 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.
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. The ship '​s design will be evolutionary
from the current Princess fleet, and will offer new innovations. 100% of its outside
staterooms will have balconies, which will comprise 80% of all staterooms. The signature
Piazza atrium will have an expansion. Other innovations are expected 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. 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.
On July 30, 2014, Princess announced that it has placed another order for an unnamed
3rd Royal Class cruise ship. It will debut in 2017.
Current fleet Royal Class
Grand class Coral class
These two ships each have a capacity of 1,970 passengers and 895 crew.
Sun class These three ships each have a capacity of
1,990 passengers and 924 crew. R Class
These two ships each have a capacity of 680 passengers and 373 crew.
Future fleet Royal class
Former fleet
Princess Patricia - First Princess ship in the fleet. Built 1949, scrapped in Taiwan,
1995. Princess Italia - Between 2002 and 2010, sailed
for Louis Cruise Lines as the Sapphire. She was sold for scrap in 2012.
Carla C - Former Flandre (1951) of the French Line. Owned by Costa Cruises and marketed
as the Princess Carla while under charter to Princess, though never formally renamed.
Later sold by Costa to Epirotiki Lines and renamed Pallas Athena. She was sold for scrap
after being destroyed by a fire in 1994. Island Princess - Since 2002, sailing for
Voyage of Discovery as Discovery; will also sail for Cruise & Maritime Voyages in 2013.
Sun Princess - Since 2012, sailing for Runfeng Ocean Deluxe Cruises Limited as the Ocean
Dream. Pacific Princess - Since 2008, sailing for
Quail Cruises as Pacific; as of 2013 she is laid up awaiting scrapping at Aliaga, Turkey.
Sea Princess - Since 2008, sailing for Lord Nelson Seereisen as Mona Lisa; as of 2012
she is known as the Veronica and is a hotel ship in Oman.
Royal Princess - From 2005 to 2011, sailed for P&O Cruises as the Artemis. Since 2011,
transferred to Phoenix Reisen and sails as the Artania.
Fair Princess - Originally built for the Cunard Line as the Carinthia in 1956, scrapped in
Alang, India, 2005. Dawn Princess - First sailed as the Sylvania
for Cunard Line in 1957. Scrapped in Alang, India, 2004.
Sky Princess - Last sailed for Pullmantur Cruises in 2011, as the Atlantic Star; she
was scrapped at Aliaga, Turkey in 2013. Star Princess - Sailed for Ocean Village as
the Ocean Village. In 2010, transferred to P&O Cruises Australia and sails as the Pacific
Pearl. Crown Princess - Between 2004 and 2009, sailed
for Ocean Village as the Ocean Village Two. In 2009, transferred to P&O Cruises Australia
and sails as the Pacific Jewel. Regal Princess - Since 2007, sailing for P&O
Cruises Australia as Pacific Dawn. Golden Princess - Since 2005, sailing for
Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines as Boudicca. Ocean Princess - Since 2002, sailing for P&O
Cruises as the Oceana. Royal Princess - Since 2011, sailing for P&O
Cruises as the Adonia. References
External links Official website
Cruise Critic review Princess Cruises fleet location in Google
Maps