The original Royal Princess (1984)

Yesterday the original Royal Princess called into Bergen, Norway under her current name of Artania. I've added a full batch of photos to my hobby blog for those of you who are interested: http://shipsinbergen.blogspot.no/2017/05/artania.html

As a cruise ship enthusiast she's always struck me as a stylish ship that was ahead of her time. As Artania she was still looking clean and smart, despite 30+ years of service behind her.

Did anyone here sail on her during those early years as Royal Princess? Was she a noticeable step forwards back then, or 'just another cruise ship'? I'd be intereseted to hear your thoughts! :)

Nice looking ship. Thanks for posting

 

Did anyone here sail on her during those early years as Royal Princess? Was she a noticeable step forwards back then, or 'just another cruise ship'? I'd be intereseted to hear your thoughts! :)

 

Sailed on "Her" twice.

Outstanding Ship at the time.

First Cruise was to the North Cape; second Cruise was to the Amazon.

There was a Portrait of Princess Diana by the PSD.

Sailed on Royal Princess Baltic itinerary in 1996 for our 25th anniversary. Wonderful experience that got us "hooked" on cruising.

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She was definitely ahead of her time. Didn't she have no inside cabins?

I remember when her brochures came out as my Mom had sailed with Princess in the 80's. She looked so beautiful.

We sailed her to the Amazon in 1999. Certainly a few steps up from my previous cruises in 1972/73! EM

She was definitely ahead of her time. Didn't she have no inside cabins? .

Correct -- All Outside Cabins.

Thanks for sharing the pictures! I sailed on her twice with my parents. The first time was a Baltic cruise and the second time was a British Isles cruise. My parents also sailed her on a partial transit of the Panama Canal. It was a great ship. I loved the activities and met lots of nice people. We usually booked inside cabins, but as Coral mentioned there were no inside cabins so we had an obstructed view cabin.

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I sailed on the Royal twice. In 1986, a Les Brown Big Band cruise, 14 day Panama Canal San Juan to LA. There a dozen or so of us under 50, truly an absolutely wonderful experience seeing everyone dressed up every evening, gave you a feeling of how cruising was years ago (even in 1986)!

In 2001, a New England cruise, we left New York on 9/10 headed for Montreal, sailed past the towers, woke up to the horror of 9/11. The cruise continued, somewhat subdued, but Princess did an excellent job under stressful circumstances.

I loved the Royal Princess, certainly a ship way ahead of her time!

If I only knew when I started cruising (late 90's) that the older ships were the gems, I would have sailed on them before they left the fleet. Older and wiser, I know it is the older ships are the gems and they are my choices when looking at ships.

We did a Baltic cruise on the Royal, l997... great trip.

We took a Scandinavian cruise with an overnight in St Petersburg in'99. And because of a sale had a cabin with a butler.

The original Royal Princess was a very elegant lady.

Sailed on her several times between '99 and '05: Manaus (Brazil) to San Juan; eastern Med, including Egypt and Turkey; and her last cruise, a three continent cruise, from Manaus to Rome. After Rome, she sailed to Southampton to be refit and turned over to P&O.

I was once in Kusadasi on the RPII and she was docked next to us.

Nice shot! Thanks.

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We sailed on her in 2000 on what is still one of our most memorable cruises--South America around Cape Horn. She was a lovely ship!

Really enjoyed seeing those pictures. Can only wish we could have sailed on her as looks like a ship we would have enjoyed.

One of my favorite ship's. 1st time I was on was reposition Ft Lauderdale to Tilbury 10days no ports in 1991. 3 other trips, Then the last was World Cruise 2001. This bucket list trip was wonderful.

We sailed our most memorable cruise on her back in 2003. It was a 48 day cruise from Athens to Cape Town to Antarctica to Santiago. It was amazing, especially Antarctica. It was 48 days,15 countries, and 15179 nautical miles. Dr. Bernard Stonehouse was on board & his lectures about Antarctica and his work there were phenomenal. Almost getting stuck in the ice was also exciting. It was also the cruise Nick Nash crashed her into the dock in Malta & he left the ship in Gibraltar.

We also sailed on her RT to Orinoco. Loved the ship, especially the library. The cabins with the fold down beds were really weird.

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We sailed on the next cruise after 9/11.

Don

Here's a video tour of the ship.

Sailed her once on a short cruise in 1998 with my dad. We had a nice big cabin, A223 if the numbering system is the same from when it was Artemis, that's the only deck plan I could find that looked the same. :D

:cool:

We did the British isles and Western Europe on her in 2004, our first trip abroad, and now we're doing the British Isles with Liverpool on the new Royal in 2018 for our 50th anniversary.

Did a Baltic cruise in 1991. Then 3 more cruises -- Norwegian Fjords, Canada/New England and a transatlantic in 2001. Docked in NYC the day before 9/11. She was a wonderful ship.

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Really enjoyed seeing those pictures. Can only wish we could have sailed on her as looks like a ship we would have enjoyed.

I agree with you.

Tony

This is only a slight bit of thread hijacking. We were in a port a few years back and the ship MV Athena was also in port. Our ship's captain announced that the Astoria used be be named the Stockholm which was the ship that was involved with the collision with the Andrea Doria. Sort of cool.

The Stockholm was originally launched in 1946 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Astoria.- which made her the 2nd oldest active ocean going passenger ship.

DON