Princess Cruises reveals new fleet livery

A new livery is to be introduced across the Princess Cruises fleet in a move which reflects UK-based sister line P&O Cruises.

The ‘ocean waves’ design will feature on the bow of the ships, with the first to feature on new vessel Majestic Princess which was floated out in its building dock at the Fincantieri shipyard in Italy yesterday.

The design, featuring the company’s iconic logo, will be introduced across the fleet over the next few years. This follows P&O Cruises introducing the union flag to the front of its ships.

The 3,560-passenger Majestic Princess, designed specifically to sail from China, is due to enter service next year.

The line’s president, Jan Swartz, said: “For nearly half a century our Princess logo has represented the adventure of cruise travel around the globe.

“Now our ships sail to more than 360 ports of call worldwide and will be instantly recognised from afar.

“As the very first cruise ship built for China, we take great pride that Majestic Princess is our first ship to proudly display our new livery design.”

Majestic Princess will offer many of the same features as Royal Princess and Regal Princess but will include a number of new venues and experiences created for Chinese passengers. Details will be revealed in the coming months, according to the company.

Carnival Corp to build four new ships as part of ‘growth strategy’

Carnival Corporation has announced it will build four new cruise ships for its Costa Asia, P&O Cruises and Princess Cruises lines.

Two of the four new ships will be built for Costa Asia for deployment in China, and one will be built each for P&O Cruises Australia and Princess Cruises.

This takes the company’s total number of new ships scheduled to be delivered by 2020, to 17.

The four new ships will be built by Fincantieri at the company’s shipyards in Monfalcone and Marghera, Italy, with deliveries expected in 2019 and 2020.

The two new 135,500-ton ships for Costa Asia and one new ship for P&O Cruises Australia will carry 4,200 passengers.

Princess Cruises’ new 143,700-ton ship will carry 3,560 passengers and will be its fourth “Royal Princess” class vessel, featuring the same design platform used on Royal Princess, Regal Princess and Majestic Princess.

 

Chief executive of Carnival Corporation, Arnold Donald, said: “These ships will be great additions to our fleet that support our goal to exceed guest expectations and create great vacation memories for each guest onboard our ships.

“These strategic investments in new ships that wow our guests are an important part of our measured growth strategy, which includes replacing less efficient ships with newer, larger and more efficient vessels over a very specific period of time.”

The company said specific features and amenities for the ships, along with deployment details, will be revealed in the coming months.

New Princess ship to debut in Europe before China deployment

Majestic Princess.

Princess Cruises’ new ship Majestic Princess is to make its debut in Europe before being deployed to its year-round base in China.

The 3,560-passenger vessel enters service in April 2017 with a short maiden season of five to 28-day Mediterranean cruises from Barcelona, Athens and Rome before moving to China in July.

Sister ships Royal Princess and Regal Princess will be among a further six ships to be based in Europe in 2017.

Royal Princess will run new 11-day Grand Mediterranean and 10-day Western Mediterranean itineraries which can be combined into a 21-day sailing. Seven, 14, 21 and 28-day sailings throughout the Mediterranean will also be available.

Regal Princess, launched last year, returns to northern Europe for cruises to Scandinavia and Russia including an overnight stay in St Petersburg.

The 3,080-passenger Crown Princess will be based in Southampton from April to September to run seven and 14-night cruises to the Mediterranean and Scandinavia.

The 3,140-passenger Caribbean Princess will operate the line’s largest British Isles season with 12 departures from Southampton including  a new late evening stay in Belfast and overnights in Dublin on selected cruises.

Smaller Pacific Princess, carrying 680 passengers, will sail from Dover from June to September on northern Europe itineraries.

Both Crown Princess and Pacific Princess will offer North Cape voyages to the Arctic Circle during the peak midnight sun period around the summer solstice.

The 2017 sailings, covering 153 departures to 119 destinations across 27 countries, are open for booking on December 3 from 4pm.

Princess Cruises’ president, Jan Swartz, said: “Our 2017 Europe season is sure to inspire our guests with our newest and largest ships in the Mediterranean and northern Europe.

“We’re especially excited to debut Majestic Princess in the Mediterranean before she officially sails to Asia for her maiden China cruise season.”