History
Princess Cruises began in 1965, when founder Stanley McDonald chartered Canadian Pacific Limited's Alaska cruise ship Princess Patricia for Mexican Riviera cruises from Los Angeles during a time when she would have usually been laid up for the winter. However, Princess Pat, as she was fondly called, had never been designed for tropical cruising, lacking air-conditioning, and Princess ended her charter in favor of a more purpose-built cruise ship Italia.
The Italia had originally been ordered in 1963 and was one of the first to implement modern design elements, such as lifeboats mounted lower on the ship, allowing for uncluttered upperdecks, and engines placed far in the rear, allowing for spacious public rooms amidships. Gustavo Finali and Romano Boico had designed the ship's interiors, designers whose résumés included such ships as the Augustus and Raffaello (of Italian Line) and the Oceanic and Homeric (of Home Lines).
Construction proceeded slowly, and accordingly, the Italia was not launched until the spring of 1965, and during the fitting out, both the owners and the builder were declared bankrupt. The Italia was passed onto a bank who created a company to charter or sell the ship, and consequently, the company chartered the Italia to Princess.
Princess, who marketed the ship as Princess Italia but never officially renamed her, used the ship to inaugurate their Mexican Riviera cruises out of Los Angeles, and did not even receive the Princess logo on her funnel until 1967.
In 1969, the Princess Italia was used on Alaskan cruises from San Francisco, but by 1973, the charter was canceled, and the Italia returned to Europe on charter to Costa Cruise Line.
Princess's third charter ship was none other than Costa's Carla C. Originally, Compagnie Générale Transatlantique's Flandre, the ship had been purchased by Costa in the late sixties and given a major rebuilding. Almost immediately after completion, the ship was chartered to Princess, and it was on board the ship, which was marketed as, but again not officially renamed, Princess Carla, that Jeraldine Saunders wrote the first chapters of her nonfiction book The Love Boats.
Britain's Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) which by 1960 was the world's largest shipping company with 320 ocean going vessels acquired Princess Cruise Lines in 1974 and their Spirit of London (originally to have been Norwegian Cruise Line's Seaward) was transferred to the Princess fleet, becoming the first Sun Princess.
The two ships that were to be featured heavily in the television series The Love Boat were built in 1971 at Nordseewerke for Flagship Cruises and originally named the Sea Venture (for the original Sea Venture, the 1609 wreck of which resulted in the settlement of Bermuda) and Island Venture. In 1974, P&O purchased them for their Princess division, and they served as the Island Princess and Pacific Princess respectively.
A part time addition to the Princess fleet was the former Swedish transatlantic liner Kungsholm, purchased by P&O from Flagship Cruises in 1978, and then restyled and rebuilt in Bremen as the Sea Princess. She was initially based in Australia as a P&O ship until 1981 when her role there was taken over by the Oriana. After that, she alternated between P&O and Princess colours as she moved between fleets. The Sea Princess returned to the P&O UK fleet permanently and in 1995 and was renamed Victoria to allow a then new Princess ship to be named Sea Princess.
The first P&O Princess Cruises purpose-built cruise ship was the Royal Princess in 1984, the largest new British passenger ship in a decade, and one of the first, if not the first, ships to completely dispense with interior cabins. The ship now serves in P&O Cruises fleet as the Artemis. The Swan Helenic Cruiseship Minerva II, originally built as the Renaissance Cruises R8 was renamed Royal Princess in 2007 after an extensive refit during a drydock in Gibraltar.
In 1986, P&O Princess Cruises acquired Tour Alaska, which operated on the Alaska Railroad. Based in Anchorage, Alaska, Princess Tours now operates ten luxury railcars with full-service scenic tours of Mount McKinley and can accommodate over 700 passengers per day.
P&O Princess Cruises acquired Sitmar Line in 1988 and transferred all of its major tonnage to Princess, including three cruise ships then under construction. The Dawn Princess and Fair Princess were both ex-Cunarders, and the former Sitmar Fairsky became Princess's Sky Princess. The first of the three new Sitmar ships came into the Princess brand in 1989 as the Star Princess, the largest British exclusively cruising ship. Two 70,000 grt cruise ships entered service in 1990 as the Crown Princess and Regal Princess, bringing Princess's fleet up to ten deluxe cruise ships.
Princess Cruises was involved in litigation with GE in 1998 over consequential damages and lost profits resulting from a contract the two parties entered into. GE was to provide inspection and repair services upon the SS Sky Princess. Upon noticing surface rust on the rotor, the vessel was brought ashore for cleaning and balancing, but good metal was unintentionally removed. This destabilized the rotor, forcing Princess Cruises to cancel two 10-day cruises while additional work was performed. Princess originally prevailed, being awarded nearly $4.6 million. On appeal, however, the judgment was reversed in favor of GE, and Princess Cruises only recovered the price of the contract, less than $232,000.
On October 23, 2000, the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) demerged its passenger division to form an independent company, P&O Princess Cruises PLC.
Future ships
In early 2010, Fincantieri and Carnival Corporation & plc reached an agreement to build two ships for Princess Cruises. The agreement is subject to the execution of a definitive contract, financing and other customary conditions.
The contract was then finalized on May 4th, 2010. While in the midst of Economic downturn, Princess managed to finalize the contract with the help of Italian Export Credit Companies, particularly SACE S.p.A.
The two ships are designed to have a tonnage of 141,000-GT, with a passenger capacity of 3,600. The new ships are predicted to enter service in Spring 2013 and 2014 and will be the largest newbuilds to date for Princess Cruises. The ship's design will be evolutionary, from the current Princess fleet and will offer new innovations in the fleet. 100% of its outside staterooms will have balconies, which will comprise the 80% of all staterooms. The signature Piazza atrium will have an expansion. Other innovations is yet to be unveiled in the upcoming months.
Royal Princess is scheduled to leave the Princess fleet in May 2011 when it joins P&O Cruises as MS Adonia.
Mid-March 2011 Princess released a video of their new 'Royal Princess' to debut in May 2013. New features include a cantilevered walkway and bar on the top deck; enlarged Sanctuary with adult-only pool and the largest Movies Under The Stars screen Princess has built so far.
Former fleet
Princess Italia (1967-1973) - Since 2002 sailing for Louis Cruise Lines as Sapphire.
Island Princess (1972—1999) - Since 2003 sailing for Discovery World Cruises as Discovery.
Sun Princess (1974—1989) - Since 2004 sailing for Cruise Elysia as New Flamenco. - Recently sold for scrap at Alang, India in 2010
Pacific Princess (1975—2002) - Since 2008 sailing for Quail Cruise as Pacific.
Sea Princess (1979—1995) - Since 2008 sailing for Lord Nelson Seereisen as Mona Lisa.
Royal Princess (1984—2005) - Since 2005 sailing for P&O Cruises as Artemis.
Fair Princess (1988—1997) - Scrapped in Alang, India 2005.
Dawn Princess (1988—1993) - Scrapped in Alang, India 2004.
Star Princess (1989—1997 ) - Since 2003 sailing for Ocean Village as Ocean Village. Recently in 2010, transferred to P&O Cruises Australia and sails as Pacific Pearl.
Golden Princess (1993–1996) - Since 2005 sailing for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines as MV Boudicca.
Regal Princess (1992—2005) - Since 2007 sailing for P&O Cruises Australia as Pacific Dawn.
Crown Princess (1992—2002) - Since 2004-2009, sailed for Ocean Village as Ocean Village Two. Recently in 2009, transferred to P&O Cruises Australia and sails as Pacific Jewel.
Sky Princess (1983—2000) - Since 2006 sailing for Pullmantur Cruises as the Sky Wonder.
Ocean Princess (2000—2002) - Since 2002 sailing for P&O Cruises as Oceana.
Royal Princess (2007—2011) - Since 2011 sailing for P&O Cruises as Adonia.
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