(The Cruise Examiner) In addition to the two ships for Costa Asia and one for P&O Australia, Carnival Corp & plc has ordered a new 143,700-ton ship for its Princess Cruises brand.
Built to carry 3,560 passengers, the latest order will become the line’s fourth “Royal Princess” class vessel. She will feature the same design platform used for the present Royal Princess and Regal Princess, as well as the Majestic Princess, which is scheduled to enter the China market in 2017. And like the rest of the class, 80% of the new ship’s cabins will have balconies.
Scheduled for delivery in 2019 or 2020, Princess Cruises stated that the fourth ship of the class would differ in some ways from the Royal and Regal Princesses, introduced in 2013 and 2014, but would not be releasing these details nor naming the new ship’s home port until a later date.
Princess Cruises’ celebrated its 50th Anniversary last month, marking the first cruise performed by the chartered 347-berth Canadian Pacific cruise ship Princess Patricia in December 1965.
The 700-berth Pacific Princess, now the smallest ship in the Princess fleet, operated a 14-night commemorative cruise from Los Angeles to the Mexican Riviera on the same dates and of the same duration as that first cruise on Princess Patricia. Further celebrations are planned throughout 2016.
Each of the new “Royal Princess” class ships measures as much as twenty-four ships the size of the Princess Patricia, and carries more than ten times as many passengers. The cruise line took its name from the small chartered ship, which was scrapped in 1995.