When construction started on Royal Princess (III) in 2010, she followed a series of 9 Grand Class Princess vessels, of which Grand Princess (1998) was the first and both Coral Princess and Island Princess which were both introduced in 2002/ 2003.
The name Royal Princess had already been used for two former ships of the line, the first one being Royal Princess of 1984. Today she still sails as Artania for Phoenix Reisen, a German operator, has just been refitted and is in immaculate condition. When she was introduced, she was the world’s first AOC – All Outside Cabin – cruise ship in a long time, meaning that she did not have inside cabins. She was christened by HRH Princess Diana. Later in 2007 a second Royal Princess followed, which made way for a third Royal Princess in 2011 already when she shifted to the P&O fleet as their second Adonia. Today she sails for Azamara Cruises as Azamara Pursuit.
Building of yard number 6223 started on March 15, 2011 at the Fincantieri yards at Monfalcone, Italy. She was floated out in August that year and was finally delivered to Princess Cruises in May 2013.
Some statistics: Royal Princess measures 142,714GRT, has a length of 330 metres, a draught of 8.5 metres and a beam of 38.4 metres (47 including the SeaWalk). Four Wartsila diesel engines produce 84,000hp which is partially used for propulsion to power two electric motors of 24,000 hp which in turn drive two propellors and give her a service speed of 22 knots.
Royal Princess was one of the first passenger ships built to comply with the “safe return to port”- requirements, part of the 2009 SOLAS (Safety of Lives at Sea) rules relating to the increasing size of passenger ships: The more passengers a vessel has on board the longer it takes to evacuate. The point in time is defined when the ship’s crew should still be able to return to port without requiring passengers to evacuate and rules are specified concerning how long a ship needs to remain safe for evacuation to complete.
Royal Princess was christened by the Duchess of Cambridge formerly known as Kate Middleton on June 13, 2013. She carried on the family tradition as the original Royal Princess of 1984 was christened by her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana. During the ceremony in the port of Southampton the Royal Marines and the Pipers of the Irish Guards performed. In the week before the naming ceremony events for travel agents and customers were hosted, as well as a special naming gala on the evening of June 12, the day before the official ceremony.
After two preview cruises to the Channel Islands, Royal Princess departed Southampton on her maiden voyage on June16, 2013 from Southampton to Vigo, Lisbon, Malaga and Barcelona. She then started on a 12-day circuit from Barcelona for the rest of the summer and repositioned to Port Everglades, Florida for Caribbean cruising, and during the fall (Indian Summer) she cruised to Canada and New England. This was her schedule for 6 years. In 2019 she repositioned to Los Angeles and cruised to the Mexican Riviera and shifted to Alaska in the winter season.
She is a vessel appealing mostly to passengers loving a traditional cruise and she has evolved from her predecessors rather than being a trendsetter packed with new spectacular facilities. This is perfectly all right for Princess passengers as they are typically people who like the casual elegance Princess ships offer. Princess clearly positions itself as a slightly more upmarket cruise line compared to its mainstream cruising competitors. Average age is around mid-50s during her Alaskan cruises and slightly higher when sailing in the Caribbean, Mexican Riviera or the Mediterranean, but Princess is also very popular with families during school holidays because of their well-organised family programs and excellent entertainment.
Like on other Princess Cruises ships, Royal Princess offers more of an “old-fashioned” cruise where bingo and quizzes as well as the piano player in an intimate bar are explicitly present in her daily activity schedules. Her impressive array of bars, restaurants but also her high-level entertainment like the production shows performed in the Princess Theatre attract high numbers of repeat passengers as well as first time cruisers.
Speaking of entertainment, on board Royal Princess several impressive production shows are performed like The Secret Silk (via a partnership with award-winning composer Stephen Schwartz) and Encore (inspired by “Bravo!”, the line’s top-rated show uniting opera with pop music and accompanied by a 13- piece orchestra). In addition to the production shows, the Princess Theatre hosts other acts including singers and instrumentalists, but also game shows, workshops and seminars. And during the cruise, passengers can battle who will become the Voice of the Ocean, during a show just like America’s Got Talent, including the famous rotating chairs!
Although as already mentioned she is clearly an improved version of her predecessors, this does not mean that she does not have several interesting novelties. For example the innovative SeaWalk, which is a cantilevered, glass-enclosed walkway extending almost 9 metres beyond the edge of the vessel at a height of over 40 metres above the water, offering incredible views. And there is Watercolor Fantasy show, located on the top deck, where brightly coloured lights illuminate the water together with fountains shooting water over 10 metres high in the air choreographed to music. The Royal Princess’ atrium, the focal point of the ship, is 50 percent larger than any atrium on existing Princess vessels, connecting three decks via elegant staircases. In its open floor area live performances are given. The Bar Piazza is there for the thirsty.
And some of the already familiar features are present too, like The Sanctuary, the adults only retreat which has been enlarged by 20% and features private cabana’s with TV’s and refrigerators and the adjacent Retreat Pool which has also been expanded and offers private poolside cabanas. But also the well-known Movies Under the Stars has been repeated which is now the largest on the seven seas with its 300-square feet LED screen. It has a 69,000-watt sound system (this outdoor cinema is 30% larger than on other Princess ships). Finally Gelato has now been enlarged and is the largest ice cream bar at sea.
An abundance of bars and lounges is there for passengers to enjoy, like Crooners Lounge & Bar, Churchill’s Lounge & Bar (cigar bar), Bar Piazza situated in the atrium, Club 6 Disco & Bar, Bellini’s Bar; Vines Bar (wine,seafood and sushi bar), Seaview Bar ,Wheelhouse Bar (which is a piano bar during the day and an English pub at night), SkyLight Bar, Princess Live Lounge; Vista Lounge; Concierge Lounge (for suite guests only).
Dining choices are endless as well with a total of 16 spots to eat. In her three main dining rooms (all with the same menu) Royal Princess offers “anytime” and “traditional” dining: The Allegro offers set-tablemates and -seating, but there is also a possibility to dine at the “Chef’s Table” which is private dining for 12 guests, $115 p.p., while restaurants Concerto and Symphony have open seating between 5:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Compared to her older fleetmates, the Horizon Court buffet restaurant was much improved offering double the number of seats found on e.g. Emerald Princess, Ruby Princess and Crown Princess, providing space for 350 guests outdoors and 900 indoors with a bigger variety of table styles, including 2-tops and bistro-style tables.
Other eateries include Trident Grill & Prego Pizzeria (a complimentary fast food bar with self service), Sabatini’s Restaurant (Italian specialty restaurant, with a la carte menu), Calypso Cabana (food bar offering picnic baskets, but also champagne and wine packages), Trident Grill & Prego Pizzeria (a complimentary fast food self service restaurant), Ocean Terrace (specialty seafood bar), Alfredo’s Pizzeria (seats 121 and is said to be the largest complimentary pizzeria at sea), Crown Grill (steakhouse/seafood restaurant) and finally Swirls Bar (for ice cream).
On board Royal Princess there is a total of 1780 staterooms in 6 main categories: Suite, Club Class, Mini-Suite, Deluxe balcony, Balcony, Interior, so plenty of choice. 1438 of these have private balconies, 724 of her staterooms are 220 square feet balcony rooms. All outside cabins have balconies, there are no ocean view cabins with just a window or porthole. Her most impressive staterooms are the Balcony Suites (440 square feet, double the size of the standard balcony room!).
Royal Princess supports Ocean Medallion, an innovative personalization technology which can be coupled to several apps. It is a small disk replacing the cabin keycard, but can also be used during embarkation and disembarkation to speed things up, register food and drink preferences, of course ordering drinks, locating your travel companion on board and so forth. Ocean Medallion will be introduced fleetwide and at the time of writing (August 2020) is available on Caribbean Princess, Crown Princess, Regal Princess, Royal Princess, Ruby Princess and Sky Princess. Princess call this new experience the “Ocean Medallion-class experience”.
From a wellness point of view, Princess has collaborated with “leading board-certified sleep expert” Dr. Michael Breus to create “the ultimate luxurious and comfortable new bed featuring a scientifically engineered mattress and bed springs, a plush two-inch pillow top, European-inspired duvets and 100% luxurious Jacquard-woven linens” as they explain on their website. It has been introduced to Royal Princess in 2019 being part of a fleet-wide roll-out.
On 22 September 2013, while sailing a on 12-day Mediterranean cruise from Venice Royal Princess fell victim to a power outage while sailing between Mykonos and Naples. A back-up generator was needed to provide power for essential services, and the cruise terminated in Naples. Emergency repairs were carried out at sea en route to Barcelona where she could depart on time for her next cruise.
In the BBC television series The Sea Cities, a 3-part documentary covering several ports across the United Kingdom to view their day to day activities as well as meet the ships that visit them and their crews, Royal Princess appeared (aired on BBC2 February 18, 2016) in the episode featuring Liverpool, showing what goes on behind the scenes of a large cruise vessel whilst in port.
On 13 May 2019, during an excursion, six people died when two floatplanes, both carrying passengers from Royal Princess, collided in midair near Ketchikan, Alaska. The ship was sailing on a 7-day Alaska cruise from Vancouver to Whittier, Alaska at the time of the incident, and was docked in Ketchikan when the disaster occurred.
After 5 years of service, Royal Princess was partly refurbished and technically overhauled during a wet dock in Freeport, Bahamas in December 2018.
Launched in 2013, Royal Princess is the leading Royal-class vessel in the Princess Cruises fleet. Her Royal-class fleetmates are Regal Princess (2014), Majestic Princess (2017), Sky Princess (2019), Enchanted Princess (planned for delivery in 2020 but this is postponed to 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic) and Discovery Princess (originally planned to be taken into service in 2021 but this is also likely to be postponed). From this same class is also the P&O UK ship Britannia (2015), she is instantly recognizable by her two funnels, the Princess-ships only have one.
