Fairsky84

I park my car in public. Does that mean it's ok for anyone to take my car? This attitude about online content drives me crazy, and it causes a lot of harm. Websites generate revenue through ads. Payment from advertisers is determined by how much traffic a website gets. RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com paid for a drone photographer to capture photos of Icon, and then published those photos exclusively on their website in order to generate views, traffic, and revenue. When someone takes those photos and re-posts them on another side (like this one) they are guilty of two things: 1. Taking someone's property without permission and, 2. Stealing their revenue by reducing their site traffic and ad sales. I know most people just think anything on the internet is free to use, take, and repost. We seem to think digital property is different from physical property, but it's not. As a content creator myself, I do care how my work is misused or stolen online. It does have real $ impact.

I wonder if Disney wants it for the Asian market. The ship was designed from the keel up for the Chinese market, and Disney has 3 parks there (Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai). I don’t see a Disney-fied Global Dream working for the US cruise market, but it could be an inexpensive way for DCL to enter the China market.

Icon's bow looks so, SO much better than the parabolic bow on Celebrity's Edge-class.

I've been trying to figure out how this outline of Icon we've seen in many places fits with what's actually taking shape in Turku. I overlaid the silhouette on the actual ship in this image. The new blocks added to the top deck just don't seem to line up well and may make the ship look far less sleek than the silhouette would suggest. Here's hoping I'm wrong.

I looks like the website has simply made educated guesses about what the different venues are. I wouldn't take these plans as accurate.

Definitely not a roller coaster. This is aluminum, not steal, and not gauged large enough for a coaster. I’d guess is some structural part of the aquadome which, being high on the ship, is certainly constructed from aluminum to save weight and keep the center of gravity low.

Your flawless experience on Reflection's 2nd cruise was more likely due to the fact that she was the 5th Solstice-class ship delivered to Celebrity. That meant most of the crew on Reflection already had experience on another identical ship. They were familiar with the galleys, facilities, procedures, etc. Where things get more challenging is when a new ship is a prototype...meaning, the first of a new class. The crew is entirely unfamiliar with the ship's features and it can cause some issues with service. Sun Princess is a prototype and I expect the first season of cruises will have some hiccups until the crew gets acclimated.

I wonder if the climbing walls may be installed on these blank spaces?

I suspect it will function like the large LED pieces in the atriums of other Carnival or NCL ships. It will display different images, themes, ect. Here's Carnival Horizon...

In a way, the three SUN PRINCESS ships represent the three eras of the modern cruise industry. The three ships have grown from 17,000 tons, to 77,000 tons, to 175,000 tons. Sun Princess (1974) was a small cruise ship (17,000 tons) designed for a tiny cruise market. She was intended to be a sister ship to NCL's Southward, but the unfinished hull was purchased by P&O and became part of the Princess fleet when P&O bought the small, American cruise line. Sun Princess (1995) was the largest cruise ship in the world when she was launched (77,000 tons). She was also the first ship purpose-built and designed ship by Princess to compete with Carnival Corp and Royal Caribbean following the company's purchase of Sitmar Cruises in 1988. The three ships added to the fleet from 1989 to 1991 (Star, Crown, Regal) were actually ordered and designed by Sitmar before merging with Princess. This was an era of massive growth, mergers, and innovation for the industry. Sun Princess (2023) shows what the cruise industry has become and its focus on massive scale with huge ships. She will be 175,000 tons. Ships with sleek lines taking passengers to intimate ports have been exchanged for huge floating boxes with gaudy hull art, designed to maximize on-board spending with upcharged restaurants, class-based rooms, and amusement park attractions.

Here's a close up of the 'sphere'... really just bumped out balconies. Also, this is the first Princess ship with 'hull hole' balconies below the lifeboats. And you can see a wide promenade above the lifeboats similar to recent CCL and NCL ships. I assume this will include bars, restaurants, and other venues. Finally, the image of the rear deck shows an infinity pool over the stern and public space similar to on MSC Seaside and Nor Prima.

One more image of the new Sun Princess. The shape has a lot in common with the Virgin ships, but I'm happy to see Princess is not going with the vertical bow like everyone else.

Yes, but only on the upper decks, not below the lifeboats/promenade deck as seen on this new Sun.

A few observations from this hi-res image... 1. There are "hull hole" balconies below the lifeboat deck. A first for a Princess ship. 2. There appears to be a wide promenade deck similar to recent NCL ships. 3. Behind and around the funnel looks like either a Bolt-like rollercoaster track or perhaps something like Carnival's SkyRide suspended bikes. 4. Also behind the funnel looks like a ropes course.

I'll say this much... at least it's not a clone of the LNG ships from Costa/Carnival/P&O/Aida. This does appear to be a design unique to Princess.

Sun Princess...

I'm guessing we're only seeing the very tops of the funnels. But from the shape, I think we can expect the funnels to be much more round or cone-shaped than on Oasis-class. And will the funnels be blue? The same color as the hull? That would be very different for Royal Caribbean. Overall, it's interesting to see how many curves Icon has. The bridge, stern, and even the point of the bow curves downward. It could be a much more elegant design than recent RCI ships.

I really hope they name the ship PACIFIC PRINCESS. (And they should name the 2nd Sphere-class ship ATLANTIC PRINCESS.) They have a perfect marketing narrative with that name. "The NEW Pacific Princess...Fall in Love with Cruising All Over Again!" The original Love Boat revolutionized the cruise industry and introduced millions of people to cruise vacations. The new Pacific Princess could be pitched as the next revolution in cruising with innovative new features, clean LNG power, etc. It's also the image rehabilitation the cruise industry and the Princess brand need after Covid.

I'm kinda getting Eugenio Costa vibes from these funnels...

Are these Icon's funnels?!

Ok, this is getting ridiculous. When will we get any news, images, or itineraries for the new Princess ship? Construction on the ship began a year ago and a lot of it must already be assembled in the dry dock at Fincantieri. Why aren't we seeing any photos? We get tons from other shipyards in France, Germany, and Finland. I'm eager for anything about this new class.

Agreed. It looks sleek and far more stylish than the vertical bows on Edge or Prima-class ships.

Nice! Looks much sharper and streamlined than either the Edge-class or Prima-class bows which look ok from a profile view, but rather lumpy and awkward from any other angle.