The former Sea Princess is now officially the Charming Princess, having received a new livery during a drydock in China.
The vessel was drydocked at China Merchants Industry Holding Co shipyard at Mazhou Island, according to Crew Center.
Also appearing on the ship is the brand Foresee Cruises. The vessel was sold by Carnival Corporation to Sanya International Cruise Development Co. in 2020.
Cruises are expected to start in May aboard the 1998-built ship.
Holland America Line is preparing for a gradual restart and is said to be moving six cruise ships toward the U.S. citing positive signs and a new conversation around the return to service.
The news came in a letter sent to crew from President Gus Antorcha, reported by Crew Center, and also obtained by Cruise Industry News.
“Following in-depth discussions with the CDC, other government agencies, and medical and science authorities, we have decided to start moving six Holland America Line ships toward U.S. waters over the next several weeks to begin completing the requirements for conditional sailing,” Antorcha said in the letter sent to the crew.
The ships heading to U.S. waters are the Koningsdam, Nieuw Statendam, Nieuw Amsterdam, Westerdam, Zuiderdam, and Noordam. Holland America did not specify port information but the line has traditionally had a strong presence in the winter from Port Everglades and Tampa, which would pull from a large drive-to market.
“While there is still much to be done, this is an important first step toward our goal of resuming cruise operation,” the letter said.
“Holland America Line will continue to work with the CDC on our eventual return to guest cruise operations. We are fully aligned with the CDC on our top priorities for compliance, protecting the environment, and the health, safety, and well-being of our guests, the people in communities we touch, our crew, and shoreside employees.”
P&O Cruises is still planning a celebration for when new ship Iona arrives in Southampton to begin her maiden sailings but said it would “judge the mood of the nation” first.
President Paul Ludlow said the new ship was looking “stunning” and would be “unlike anything ever seen before for the British market”.
He said: “It’s our intention to keep her in Europe when she comes to Southampton and we will absolutely celebrate her arrival into the UK. It will be such a feel-good moment that it would be remiss of us not to. But we will have to judge the mood of the nation.
“It’s difficult to predict the future at the moment, so until things are more certain, we will hold back with details of this event.”
Speaking as he launched the line’s summer 2022 programme, Ludlow said Iona’s sister ship was still on track for delivery in December 2022 and that steel-cutting for this vessel was due to take place in Germany before the end of this year.
He said bookings for the second half of 2021 were at the “upper end of historic levels”, those for spring 2022 had “surpassed the upper end of historic levels” and that summer 2022 pre-registrations were “akin to previous years”.
Ludlow said some bookings for 2022 were by customers whose 2020 cruises had been cancelled and who were redeeming their Future Cruise Credits.
“The majority of people took FCCs over a refund when their cruises were cancelled,” he said. “And of those who took an FCC, 50% have utilised it already. So that leaves 50% who are still waiting to utilise it. There were some who had bookings for 2020 and 2021, so they have been waiting to use the 2020 FCC in 2022.”
Ludlow also said that not all bookings were by loyal guests and that the “new to cruise market hasn’t completely gone away”.
“In the first, three or four months, new to cruise volumes actually exceeded my expectations,” he said. “That’s slowed down a little bit but even so, it’s exceeded my expectations as to how many new-to-cruise people wanted to book.”
Ludlow added: “For people taking their first cruise, the consideration period is lengthy. By the time they had invested all that time, [the pandemic] has not been enough for them to say ‘it’s no longer for me’.”
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