During the 2013-14 season Grand Princess will sail roundtrip from San Francisco to:

Alaska — Grand Princess’ first Alaska season features 10-day Inside Passage sailings. The ship will offer 13 voyages featuring the stunning scenery of Glacier Bay National Park or Tracy Arm, with calls at Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan and Victoria. Cruises depart between May 10 and September 7, 2013.

Mexico — Grand Princess will offer two sailings on a new 10-day itinerary to Mexico, featuring two new ports for Princess — Loreto and La Paz, both in Baja California. Passengers will also enjoy calls at Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta. Sailings depart on September 17, 2013 and March 5, 2014.

California Coastal — An increasingly popular Princess itinerary, Grand Princess will take passengers to Santa Barbara, Los Angeles (Long Beach), San Diego, and Ensenada. Four sailings are offered on September 27 and October 19, 2013; plus March 15 and April 6, 2014.

Hawaiian Islands  — Passengers can explore each of the main Hawaiian islands on this 15-day voyage to the Big Island (Hilo), Oahu (Honolulu), Kauai (Nawiliwili), Maui (Lahaina), and Ensenada. Grand Princess will offer 12 departures between October 4, 2013 and April 28, 2014.

Princess will be the first modern day line to base a ship year-round out of the Bay area. This seems strange as the itinerary selection is extremely lacking. Also the fact that other lines, Carnival (Carnival Splendor) and RCCL (Mariner of the Seas) have recently puled ships out of the area due to lack of sales doesn’t help Princess’ case. California has always been a tough region to attract passengers from. On an related unrelated note, Princess HQ is in California.

Located on Royal Princess’ deck 7 just aft of the Piazza, Princess Live! will be a flexible, 280-seat venue based on a television broadcast studio. When the ship debuts in June 2013, Princess Live! will serve as a venue for daily broadcasts of "The Wake Show" with a new twist — a daily live audience. This popular daily show staring the cruise director and special guests from around the ship is a staple across the Princess fleet, but is rarely staged live.

The adjacent Princess Live! Café will surround passengers with interactive, wall-mounted screens showing the ship’s position, ports of call, points of interest and even international newspapers. The café will serve up specialty coffees, teas and freshly squeezed citrus juice, plus will offer a selection of fresh-baked croissants and pastries in the morning.

Princess Cruises deeply regrets that two Panamanian men perished at sea after their boat became disabled in early March. Since we became aware of this incident, we have been investigating circumstances surrounding the claim that Star Princess failed to come to the aid of the disabled boat, after a crew member was alerted by passengers.

The preliminary results of our investigation have shown that there appeared to be a breakdown in communication in relaying the passenger’s concern. Neither Captain Edward Perrin nor the officer of the watch were notified. Understandably, Captain Perrin is devastated that he is being accused of knowingly turning his back on people in distress. Had the Captain received this information, he would have had the opportunity to respond.

We all understand that it is our responsibility and also the law of the sea to provide assistance to any vessel in distress, and it is not an uncommon occurrence for our ships to be involved in a rescue at sea. In fact, we have done so more than 30 times in the last ten years.

We deeply regret this incident and are continuing our investigation to fully understand the circumstances.

They immediately alerted crew (although they didn’t state which crew. It makes a difference.) but they failed to react. Anti-cruise blog Cruise Law goes on to state that the passengers also contacted the coast guard, however, once again, they are left with non-responses.

It wasn’t until recently that the 3 passengers became aware of what it was that they saw. 3 young fisherman had become adfrist after the vessel lost power and at that point had been drifting for 2 weeks. After the Star Princess failed to stop, the 26-ft boat was adrift for another 2 weeks before washing up in the Galapagos Islands. Only one person survived the ordeal.

These allegations, which are in a clear violation of IMO regulations made it all the way to Princess HQ.

We’re aware of the allegations that Star Princess supposedly passed by a boat in distress that was carrying three Panamanian fishermen on March 10, 2012. At this time we cannot verify the facts as reported, and we are currently conducting an internal investigation on the matter.

We were very saddened to learn that two lives were lost aboard the boat, and our thoughts and prayers are with the families involved.

Princess Cruises is dedicated to the highest standards of seamanship wherever our ships sail, and it is our duty to assist any vessel in distress. We have come to the aid of many people at sea, and we will continue to do so.

photo via CruiseLaw

Click for larger

Quite a stubby little bow. Does it look a lot like a Solstice class to anyone else?

We have our first CruiseShipping Miami announcement. Princess announced that their newest 141,000grt ship the Royal Princess have a revamped Dining experience.

The Horizon Court buffet will feature new venues with new cuisine options.They include a taqueria, rotissseie, a sandwich shop and a Japanese hibachi grill.  During the night the Horizon Buffet will become the ‘Horizon Bistro.’ The venue will circulate themes each night of the cruise. Princess teased options that would include a Brazilian-style churasscaria one night, a British pub the next.

Premium options (think addt’l fee) include a "crab shack," a fondue area and a pastry shop.

Rai Caluori, Princess’ executive vice president of fleet operations [regarding the decision to charge for these three]:

"It’s not really done for revenue purposes — it’s done for controlling demand"

for some reason I do not believe him.

Princess will also enhance their main dinning experience by rethinking their Chef’s Table offering. Guests who pay $95 per person (including wine) will be served a dinner exclusively prepared by the executive chef. Onboard the Royal Princess, guests will be treated to a "curtain of light." This surrounds the diners and creates a private, softly lit space in the center of the main dining room. I get the feeling this only ostracizes those privlidged enough to enjoy it. 1%-ers anyone. (In the intrest of full disclusure however, this experience sounds like something I’d enjoy.)

Lastly, Princess announced that they will pair a bar with each specialty restaurant. The Wheelhouse Pub, a British themed bar will be paired up with the Crown Grill. Their famous Italian eatery Sabatini’s will be grouped with Vines, the ship’s wine bar.

The vessel will debut in Europe in June 2013.

Big enough Atrium for you

The Atrium onboard the Royal Princess will be 50 percent larger than on the newest class of Princess ships and will debut a number of brand new features, including Bellini’s Italian cocktail bar, Ocean Terrace seafood bar, a gelateria, and Celebrations, a new gift shop for those marking special occasions onboard.

Favorite passenger spaces also return, many with a new twist, including the International Café, Sabatini’s Trattoria, and Crooners martini bar which will now feature dueling piano entertainment and a dramatic ocean vista. And the stunning Bar Piazza will feature an exclusive twin tea tower with over 300 tea and infusion combinations.

Princess Cruises announced the details of they newest flagship. Her maiden voyage will be a 7-night Iberian Peninsula voyage from Southampton to Barcelona. It departs June 16th 2013. After that she will sail Princess signature 12-day Grand Mediterranean between Barcelona and Venice.

Just prior to her Maiden Voyage, she will sail two 3-night Shake down trips out of Southampton.

Princess cruises has announced that the Crown Princess will return to port early due to an outbreak of norovirus. The ‘cruise ship bug’ has already struck 114 passengers and 59 crew members. The 113,000 grt ship will arrive back in Port Everglades on Thursday, 2 days early. She will stay docked for 2 days while crew thoroughly sanitize the entire ship.

On her last cruise 364 passengers and 30 crew got sick.

photo: wikimedia

And thats how you remove the “shopping cart handle” from a cruise ship. Although for some reason i always found it to be attractive.
And below is what she looks like sailing now.