Two more Royal-class ships ordered for Princess Cruises

[dmwnc1959]

I saw this coming a couple of years ago when I said there'd be at least five of them built:

 

"Carnival Corporation today announced that it has finalized contracts with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri S.p.A. to build five new cruise ships as part of a memorandum of agreement announced in 2015.

 

The five new ships include two that will be built for Costa Asia for deployment in China, two ships for Princess Cruises and one designated for P&O Cruises Australia, with deliveries expected in 2019 and 2020.

 

The contracts were formalized during a signing ceremony held today as part of the official handover ceremony for Holland America Line's ms Koningsdam at Fincantieri's shipyard in Marghera, Italy, attended by Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Graziano Delrio, Carnival Corporation Chairman Micky Arison, Carnival Corporation CEO Arnold Donald and Fincantieri CEO Giuseppe Bono.

 

Also in attendance were Stein Kruse, CEO of Holland America Group, which includes the company's Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises Australia and Seabourn brands; Michael Thamm, CEO of Costa Group, which includes AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises and Costa Asia; Neil Palomba, president of Costa Cruises; and Orlando Ashford, president of Holland America Line.

 

The new ships for both Costa Asia and P&O Cruises Australia are expected to be 135,500-ton vessels with the capacity to carry 4,200 passengers. The 143,700-ton, 3,560-passenger ships for Princess Cruises will be the brand's fourth and fifth Royal-class vessels, featuring the design platform used on Royal Princess, Regal Princess and the new Majestic Princess coming in 2017.

 

"Today has been especially exciting for our company, our partners and our guests, as we celebrated the arrival of our amazing ms Koningsdam ship and officially signed agreements with Fincantieri to build five new cruise ships for the future," said Arnold Donald. "Supporting our goal to exceed guest expectations on every cruise, these new ships will create a whole new level of excitement and opportunity to deliver experiences that our guests will not only remember for the rest of their lives, but will also share with others. Using our strategic fleet enhancement plan to delight our guests is 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."

 

"We are extremely proud of the strong commitment between Carnival Corporation and Fincantieri over the years, which signifies our dedication to excellence in product diversification and quality," said Giuseppe Bono. "Today, we further strengthen the relationship with our friends at Carnival Corporation, a partnership that has enabled both groups to grow over the years and which is further reinforced by an unprecedented strategic agreement. Thanks to our strategic partnership, we look forward to the future, and the potential to develop new projects while working together to meet the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities that the market will present us."

 

Source: Cruise Industry News

 

:D

[sunsetbeachgal]

Makes my day to see a post from you[emoji3]. Hope all is well!

Edited April 2, 2016 by sunsetbeachgal

[Working 2 Cruise]

Thanks Dave!

 

I thought an announcement for the fourth Royal class for Princess had been already announced a few months ago.... but now, there will be a fifth!

 

Hopefully, then, we may get one of the Royal class ships on the West Coast, however, we may have to wait a bit.

 

It looks like, despite all of the naysayers, that the Royal and Regal are doing very well!

[paul929207]

Glad to see more ships in the pipeline

[cruisingpeople]

Dave,

As Sunsetbeachgal said, it is really great to "hear" from you again.

 

Joe

[tothemall&beyond]

Sad to hear this. They really goofed with the design and layout of these ships.

[Loreni]

Maybe they will send these to Asia and bring back the Diamond and Sapphire.

[dmwnc1959]

Makes my day to see a post from you[emoji3]. Hope all is well!

 

Hi Carole,

 

Yes, all is well. I'm in the middle of a thirty-five classical music concert and Broadway National Tour series. This recent add-on of the 2016-2017 season will keep me busy well into next year. No plans on returning to cruising until at least 2019/2020, and then it'll be on one of these brand new gorgeous ships. Won't cruise on anything else. Looking forward to the day I return.

 

It'll be interesting to see what they choose as the names for these two Royal-class ships, continuing with the Royal/Regal/Majesty line.

 

 

Dave,

As Sunsetbeachgal said, it is really great to "hear" from you again.

 

Joe

 

Thanks, Joe! :D

 

 

.

Edited April 2, 2016 by dmwnc1959

[dmwnc1959]

Thanks Dave!

 

I thought an announcement for the fourth Royal class for Princess had been already announced a few months ago.... but now, there will be a fifth!

 

Hopefully, then, we may get one of the Royal class ships on the West Coast, however, we may have to wait a bit.

 

It looks like, despite all of the naysayers, that the Royal and Regal are doing very well!

 

 

I can't remember if they'll fit under the Bridge of the Americas, but I can't see why they wouldn't send one out west.

 

:D

[macusr]

Hi Carole,

 

Yes, all is well. I'm in the middle of a thirty-five classical music concert and Broadway National Tour series. This recent add-on of the 2016-2017 season will keep me busy well into next year. No plans on returning to cruising until at least 2019/2020, and then it'll be on one of these brand new gorgeous ships. Won't cruise on anything else. Looking forward to the day I return.

 

It'll be interesting to see what they choose as the names for these two Royal-class ships, continuing with the Royal/Regal/Majesty line.

 

 

 

 

Thanks, Joe! :D

 

 

.

 

 

Hey Dave great to see you back on the boards! What Broadway Tour are you on? We see all the touring Broadway musicals when they come through St. Louis.

 

Was excited to hear this morning that Princess was getting a 2nd new build! Scott has already put his money on Sovereign Princess as the name for ship #4, and I'm going with Noble Princess as the name for ship #5.

[dmwnc1959]

Hey Dave great to see you back on the boards! What Broadway Tour are you on? We see all the touring Broadway musicals when they come through St. Louis.

 

Was excited to hear this morning that Princess was getting a 2nd new build! Scott has already put his money on Sovereign Princess as the name for ship #4, and I'm going with Noble Princess as the name for ship #5.

 

I have subscriptions to the Broadway Across America series when they come to Pittsburgh. That, along with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 "Pops" and "Grand Classic" series, I've been seeing a LOT of shows.

 

Sovereign Princess and Noble Princess sound wonderful. I like those!

 

And as much as I personally LOVE the Royal-class, I'd also love to see the Sapphire Princess return to the Caribbean.

 

:D

.

Edited April 2, 2016 by dmwnc1959

[GUT2407]

Nothing new in these announcements saw them weeks ago.

 

All are too big in my opinion.

[dmwnc1959]

Nothing new in these announcements saw them weeks ago.

 

All are too big in my opinion.

 

 

You may have seen 'something' weeks ago, but the contracts were only just formalized. Hence the announcement.

 

"The contracts were formalized during a signing ceremony held today (March 31, 2016) as part of the official handover ceremony for Holland America Line's ms Koningsdam at Fincantieri's shipyard in Marghera, Italy, attended by Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Graziano Delrio, Carnival Corporation Chairman Micky Arison, Carnival Corporation CEO Arnold Donald and Fincantieri CEO Giuseppe Bono."

 

:D

Edited April 2, 2016 by dmwnc1959

[cruisequeen4ever]

Yay! Now hopefully they'll actually come to the U.S.!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Mom33]

Hi Dave, Glad to see you posting and doing well. So you are filling your time with Broadway shows and musical experiences, something we have in common. Our daughter and her husband have both performed in opera and musical theater productions. They currently have their own music conservatory teaching children voice and musical theater. :D

 

Thanks for bringing us the news of 2 new Royal class ships. Apparently Princess has found this design to be a successful endeavor. :D

[Shogun]

Hi Dave

 

Assuming each time they build one they learn from their mistakes,

 

by the 5th one they might get it right,

 

Have you been able to see the UK TV series The Cruise about The Regal,

 

well worth watching.

 

yours Shogun

[slwmjd]

Sad to hear this. They really goofed with the design and layout of these ships.

 

Curious, what is wrong with the design and layout of ship? I have been on the Regal 3 times and there is nothing wrong with it.

[dmwnc1959]

Hi Dave

 

Assuming each time they build one they learn from their mistakes,

 

by the 5th one they might get it right,

 

Have you been able to see the UK TV series The Cruise about The Regal,

 

well worth watching.

 

yours Shogun

 

 

 

Hi Steve!

 

No, I haven't seen the series, but I have seen it mentioned here recently on another thread. I don't remember if I'm able to stream it from YouTube or an online network?

 

As for the Royal-class series, I was quite fine with the lead ship of the class. I know we ALL have our own preferences, likes and dislikes, favorite ships, and a laundry-list of what we require to make each cruise experience as perfect as possible, but the two weeks I spent on Royal Princess were wonderful beyond words.

 

I'm not sure what will happen after 2020, and if Princess Cruises will come out with a new design. If they do I imagine it won't be "brand new" new, but a hybrid design of the Royal-class and the next generation of ships. I've yet to see what Celebrity's new ships will look like, and not to dig up the old "positioning of the lifeboats debate", but the Koningsdam has hers deck-mounted. I don't foresee any of the mainstream mass market ships returning to full wrap-around sheltered promenade decks like those found on the Grand Class. And I hope they don't do what they did to Island Princess and start building cabins out there. :eek:

 

:D

[dmwnc1959]

Curious, what is wrong with the design and layout of ship? I have been on the Regal 3 times and there is nothing wrong with it.

 

 

As for the interior layout, I posted this back in 2014:

 

"For all intent and purposes the Royal-class and Grand-class aren't that much different in their general layouts:

 

- Main showrooms (Princess Theater and aft main showroom) are in the exact same place.

 

- Main Dining Rooms (all three of them) are in the same exact place.

 

- Atrium and it's three main venues (International Cafe, Vines, Crooners) are in the exact same locations.

 

- The gift shops are all pretty much in the same area.

 

- Not all Sabatini's and Crown Grill restaurants are in the same place on all Grand Class, nor are all casinos, however...

 

- The Casino is still basically in the same place.

 

- The three elevator banks are in the same place.

 

- The alternate entertainment venue (Princess Live) is in the exact same place as it's corresponding venue on the Grand-class ships.

 

- The main interior thoroughfare on Promenade Deck (from Princess Theater at the very front of the ship to the aft showroom at the stern) still runs along the same path.

 

- The main pool deck venues (Prego, Trident Grill, soft serve ice cream, Mermaids Tail bar) are all in the same general areas as on the Grand-class.

 

- The Horizon Court and Outrigger Bars are in the same place.

 

- The Sanctuary is in the same place.

 

Now, if you're more specific and say that that the new location of the Fitness Center wasn't where you'd like it to be, or the combination venue of the Crown Grill and Wheelhouse Bar doesn't work for you, or the atrium was too big for you, or the Spa location and Photo Gallery location was weird, then we have specifics. But that's all still just personal opinion.

 

I spent two weeks on Royal Princess and on Day 1 found it very easy to make my way around the ship. I'm sure having studied the deck plans for six months helped, but the general layouts of the Royal Princess really isn't that much different than Ruby Princess."

[WolfpackFan]

Great news!!

[Astro Flyer]

Hopefully, then, we may get one of the Royal class ships on the West Coast, however, we may have to wait a bit.

The main thing I don't like about the Royal-class ships is that none are sailing on the West Coast from LA. :p

 

Dave...thanks for the info & I still use your amazing info to share on this forum (always giving you the credit!). Maybe you'll return to posting before the new ships begin sailing. ;)

 

Here's a link to a Carnival Corporation press release from today which includes more details about the new ships:

 

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=140690&p=irol-newsArticle_Print&ID=2152603

[Shogun]

Hi Dave,

 

You can get it on ITV catch up on net, you need to mask IP address,

 

As to Princess product has changed so much, that we have gone from two or three cruises to one per year to none booked

Yours Shogun

[dmwnc1959]

The main thing I don't like about the Royal-class ships is that none are sailing on the West Coast from LA. :p

 

Dave...thanks for the info & I still use your amazing info to share on this forum (always giving you the credit!). Maybe you'll return to posting before the new ships begin sailing. ;)

 

Here's a link to a Carnival Corporation press release from today which includes more details about the new ships:

 

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=140690&p=irol-newsArticle_Print&ID=2152603

 

 

Hi Frank,

 

Thank you for continuing to carry the torch. As with the Majestic Princess there won't be new threads from me on Royal #4 and #5. I'll just sit back and wait for the christening ceremonies.

 

I look forward to the construction of the two new ships since they'll most likely be built specifically for traditional cruise markets. It'll be interesting to see what redeployment plans Princess Cruises will pull out of the magician's hat.

 

:D

[dmwnc1959]

Hi Dave,

 

You can get it on ITV catch up on net, you need to mask IP address,

 

As to Princess product has changed so much, that we have gone from two or three cruises to one per year to none booked

Yours Shogun

 

Steve,

 

Nothing wrong with none booked. It'll give you plenty of time for other distractions like land-tours, raising more pups, and catching up on just relaxing at home on stay-cations. Or, find a new favorite cruise line. There are so many newbuilds coming out in the next five years the opportunities are endless.

 

:D

[srpilo]

Maybe they will send these to Asia and bring back the Diamond and Sapphire.

 

+1

 

 

Srpilo