Princess Cruises’ new ships to be largest in fleet’s history

Princess Cruises, a subsidiary of travel giant Carnival Corporation, has announced it will be supplementing its fleet with an order of two new ships from Italian shipwrights Fincantieri. The first of the new vessels is expected to arrive by the end of Q4 in 2023, with the second slated for delivery, two years later, in 2025.

The newly commissioned ships will be the largest by capacity in the company’s fleet. They will also be the first Princess Cruise owned cruise liners to be dual-fuel powered and will incorporate state-of-the-art fuel technology which the company believes will “significantly reduce air emissions and marine gasoil”.

Beyond the ships size and weight, which stand at 175,000 tonnes with a max capacity of approximately 4,300 guests, details of the new ships design and features have yet to be confirmed.

“LNG-powered cruise ships will introduce innovative design and leisure experiences”

Jan Swartz, president of Princess Cruises, said: “This revolutionary platform for next-generation, LNG-powered cruise ships will introduce innovative design and leisure experiences driven by the future vacation and lifestyle trends of our guests – further evolving the already best-in-class Princess Cruises experience we deliver today.

“We look forward to collaborating with Fincantieri to bring our vision for this next-generation premium cruise ship into service.”

“We proudly do this with an all-time record project, both in terms of size and technology”

Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincantieri said: “We are proud to extend our long-established partnership with Princess Cruises, a brand we have been tied to since our return to the cruise ship building industry in 1990. After so many years, we are ready to enter, together, a new era of this industry, increasingly aimed at reducing even more of our environmental impact.

“We proudly do this with an all-time record project, both in terms of size and technology. We believe that there are no more significant milestones than these to reaffirm our market-leading position. This builds upon the solid partnership between our country and Carnival Corporation — the largest foreign investor in Italy – while at the same time building upon our technological strength and increasing employment.”

The latest orders come in addition to three new Royal-class ships Princess already has on order with Fincantieri, including Sky Princess, which is currently under construction and scheduled for delivery in October 2019.