Two new ships arriving soon!

[ActiveTraveler]

I just read this on Cruise Critic's Princess company profile: Carnival, owner of Princess, signed contracts for two new ships to be built for the Princess brand. Both ships will be big enough to carry 3,600 passengers and have balconies on all outside cabins. One of them will begin her maiden voyage in 2013. The other will do that in 2014. Surprisingly I did not see anything about this on the Princess website. :)

Of course, I am not waiting for them to go into service, but I assume some people are if they want the experience of being on a ship's maiden voyage. :rolleyes:

[ActiveTraveler]

It's Official: Two New Cruise Ships are Coming! In February, we reported that Carnival Corporation had signed a memorandum of agreement with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri to construct two new cruise ships. Today, the contract has been finalized.

 

In a press release, the shipyard has announced an order to build two prototype ships for the Princess Cruises brand. The ships will measure 141,000 tons and carry 3,600 passengers, making them the largest in the Princess fleet. Every oceanview cabin will have a balcony (which amounts to 80 percent of all cabins onboard). Expect also an expanded spa and Sanctuary area, bigger restaurants and larger public spaces, such as the Piazza.

 

The ships are scheduled for delivery in spring 2013 and 2014. We'll publish more information about the new cruise ships as it is received.

 

Until recently, major mainstream cruise lines have been hesitant to commit to building new ships. Carnival Cruise Lines ordered a third Dream-class ship in December, breaking what was a bit of a drought.

 

Is this the official end of the dry spell? Will other lines follow suit?

 

Stay tuned....

 

--by Melissa Paloti, Managing Editor

[RickEk]

:D Kinda old news around here... LOL... there have been some major threads concerning these two new-builds in recent weeks...

[Pam in CA]

This was announced in early May. Here's the article on the Princess website: http://www.princess.com/news/article.jsp?newsArticleId=na1097

[SeaTheWorldBySea]

I just read this on Cruise Critic's Princess company profile: Carnival, owner of Princess, signed contracts for two new ships to be built for the Princess brand. Both ships will be big enough to carry 3,600 passengers and have balconies on all outside cabins. One of them will begin her maiden voyage in 2013. The other will do that in 2014. Surprisingly I did not see anything about this on the Princess website. :)

 

Of course, I am not waiting for them to go into service, but I assume some people are if they want the experience of being on a ship's maiden voyage. :rolleyes:

 

Thanks for your post. Good news is always worth hearing more than once. It's good to know that the cruise industry will continue to grow in spite of the lousy economy. I don't know how I feel about ships that are that big, but expect that if timing, itinerary and price are all good I would try one.

[ActiveTraveler]

Thanks for your post. Good news is always worth hearing more than once. It's good to know that the cruise industry will continue to grow in spite of the lousy economy. I don't know how I feel about ships that are that big, but expect that if timing, itinerary and price are all good I would try one.

 

You are right about that - there is nothing wrong with repeating good news for over 7000 cruisers. I think the construction of cruise ships is a sign the U.S. economy is finally in the right direction again - not completely, but getting there. My concerns about the new ships being so big are crowds and tenders. Some people say they do not feel crowded, but others complain Princess should have created more space for more passengers on the Crown, Emerald, and Ruby. So I guess it depends on when and where you sail.

[spongerob]

That total of 3,600 is lower berths only. When you add all the children and sometimes adults sharing cabins in upper berths that number will swell dramatically. Not something I'm interested in dealing with.

[juggles]

That total of 3,600 is lower berths only. When you add all the children and sometimes adults sharing cabins in upper berths that number will swell dramatically. Not something I'm interested in dealing with.

 

 

there were 700 children on my last cruise and I only ever saw the same one at dinner each night and he was very well behaved

[Cruisin' Chick]

You can always find the latest press releases on the Princess site:

 

http://www.princess.com/news/index.jsp

 

You can access this page from the home page, either from where it says

News & Announcements

 

 

or at the bottom of the home page where it says "news".

[Woobstr112G]

I'm sure everyone is waiting to see how the passenger to space ratio turns out.....

 

Bob

[spongerob]

there were 700 children on my last cruise and I only ever saw the same one at dinner each night and he was very well behaved

I didn't say anything about behavior, did I, so your comments begs the question, "Why?" All those upper berths will push maximum capacity up to around 4,500, and that just sounds like far too many people in too little space.

[RickEk]

That total of 3,600 is lower berths only. When you add all the children and sometimes adults sharing cabins in upper berths that number will swell dramatically. Not something I'm interested in dealing with.

 

From what I understand, it is 3,600 max passenger capacity.... Here's the press release from Fincantieri... and they should know... :p

 

http://www.fincantieri.it/cms/data/browse/news/000366.aspx

[caribill]

To compare, from past shipyard press releases:

 

The “Emerald Princess” ..... On board there are 1,539 cabins for a maximum passenger capacity 3,500 guests

 

 

The “Caribbean Princess”......for a maximum of about 3,600 passengers in 1,557 cabins

[Compass Rose]

That total of 3,600 is lower berths only. When you add all the children and sometimes adults sharing cabins in upper berths that number will swell dramatically. Not something I'm interested in dealing with.

Me, too.

[SandG]

To compare, from past shipyard press releases:

 

The “Emerald Princess” ..... On board there are 1,539 cabins for a maximum passenger capacity 3,500 guests

 

 

The “Caribbean Princess”......for a maximum of about 3,600 passengers in 1,557 cabins

 

That's a very helpful stat. If that's true, then I would be interested. Same number of people as the CB with more space sounds like a welcome change to me, as opposed to what they were doing with grand class and adding another deck with the same amount of public space.

 

The number of children is highly variable on the time of year you sail. We saw tons of kids on CB in July in 2008, not many at all in May of 2010.

[Hunwolf]

I'm not sure I get all the complaints about kids on here. I've seen it on frequent cruise specific boards. If anything...the most "asshattery" behavior and disruption I've seen on ships is from the adults.

 

With today's ship design and excellent youth/tween/teen programs...you hardly even see or notice the under 18 population.

 

Puzzling comments to say the least.

[caribill]

I'm not sure I get all the complaints about kids on here. I've seen it on frequent cruise specific boards. If anything...the most "asshattery" behavior and disruption I've seen on ships is from the adults.

 

With today's ship design and excellent youth/tween/teen programs...you hardly even see or notice the under 18 population.

 

Puzzling comments to say the least.

 

Adults rarely:

Press every button on the elevators and then get off

Run down the hallways shouting at 3 AM

Break balloons on cabin doors

Spend time in the elevator sitting on the floor and just riding up and down

[Hunwolf]

Adults rarely:

Press every button on the elevators and then get off

Run down the hallways shouting at 3 AM

Break balloons on cabin doors

Spend time in the elevator sitting on the floor and just riding up and down

 

The only one of those I've ever seen is the first one (the elevator levels/buttons). I agree that one is annoying...but on our last cruise (the Emerald) we darn near boycotted the elevators. Had to get some exercise somehow. ;) That doesn't solve that issue for folks that need/rely on elevators though.

 

I have run into the hallway noise issue...in hotels. But (fortunately I guess) I've never had that issue on a cruise.

[rdsqrl]

Adults rarely:

Press every button on the elevators and then get off

Run down the hallways shouting at 3 AM

Break balloons on cabin doors

Spend time in the elevator sitting on the floor and just riding up and down

I have to say, the last one is just silly. Who cares if they're sitting on the floor, riding up and down? It's not like they're knife-wielding gang members who are gonna slice you for invading "their" turf (elevator), they're just kids goofing around. Let's not suck all the whimsy out of life. . . .

[CMHF]

More often than not the biggest problems are adult’s who I run into on a cruise who are either rude, over demanding, or treating the crew like they are their personal slaves. I usually greet those people with a calm, "We are having fun, and you are NOT; So I think you should just leave"-but of course this said with a psychotic look on my face that makes most feel for their lives, so most just shut up & leave.

Harvey

[Cruisin' Chick]

I'm not sure I get all the complaints about kids on here. I've seen it on frequent cruise specific boards. If anything...the most "asshattery" behavior and disruption I've seen on ships is from the adults.

 

With today's ship design and excellent youth/tween/teen programs...you hardly even see or notice the under 18 population.

 

Puzzling comments to say the least.

 

I have to say, the last one is just silly. Who cares if they're sitting on the floor, riding up and down? It's not like they're knife-wielding gang members who are gonna slice you for invading "their" turf (elevator), they're just kids goofing around. Let's not suck all the whimsy out of life. . . .

 

More often than not the biggest problems are adult’s who I run into on a cruise who are either rude, over demanding, or treating the crew like they are their personal slaves. I usually greet those people with a calm, "We are having fun, and you are NOT; So I think you should just leave"-but of course this said with a psychotic look on my face that makes most feel for their lives, so most just shut up & leave.

Harvey

 

On only one cruise did I see kids under 18 misbehaving, and they were all from the same extended family. With parents that just let them run around, unsupervised. According to my daughter, these kids didn't take part in the kids' program. They threw things overboard, they sat on the stairwells looking bored, they ran around hallways at all hours of the night knocking on doors.

 

Even before having a kid, I always thought the kids onboard seemed happy and busy doing kid things with the kids' program.

 

So if you do see a kid unsupervised and running around, look for the parent. That's where the problem lies.

 

The comment about the elevator reminds me of one day years ago when we were in a shopping mall elevator. I recognized one person (an actress) who was with her son == about 6 or 7 years old maybe. When the door opened, we got out and I held open the door. The actress said, just go ahead, my son has a thing about riding up and down the elevator.

[Colo Cruiser]

I have to say, the last one is just silly. Who cares if they're sitting on the floor, riding up and down? It's not like they're knife-wielding gang members who are gonna slice you for invading "their" turf (elevator), they're just kids goofing around. Let's not suck all the whimsy out of life. . . .

 

 

OMG!! You crack me up. :D

[captainron]

Adults rarely:

Press every button on the elevators and then get off

Run down the hallways shouting at 3 AM

Break balloons on cabin doors

Spend time in the elevator sitting on the floor and just riding up and down

 

It has been seen on numerous occasions on various vessels that adults:

 

YES...Do all of the above. It all depends how late they stay in Explorers. :rolleyes:

 

Ciao for now!!!

[Woobstr112G]

I have to say, the last one is just silly. Who cares if they're sitting on the floor, riding up and down? It's not like they're knife-wielding gang members who are gonna slice you for invading "their" turf (elevator), they're just kids goofing around. Let's not suck all the whimsy out of life. . . .

 

:D:D:D...This is too funny...:D:D:D

 

Bob