Class of ships?

[alyssa0922]

I am trying to determine which ships are similar or in the same class. Princess just has their ships listed whereas RCI has their ships organized by class. Are all of the Princess ships pretty much the same? Also, where would I find when the ship was last revitalized or updated?

Thank you!

 

 

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[A1A]

I am trying to determine which ships are similar or in the same class. Princess just has their ships listed whereas RCI has their ships organized by class. Are all of the Princess ships pretty much the same? Also, where would I find when the ship was last revitalized or updated?

Thank you!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

As far as "class" goes, this is from the Princess website. Needs a little current updating as the Royal has launched.

 

Princess Cruises Fleet

Princess' fleet basically falls into five categories. Its Explorer Class consists of Ocean Princess and Tahitian Princess, a pair of identical 680-passenger ships that offer both a cozier onboard ambience -- and, due to their small size, exotic itineraries.

 

Its Sun Class ships, which include Sun Princess, Dawn Princess, Sea Princess carry 1,950 to 1,970 passengers. These days, they're considered medium-sized ships, with some of Princess' contemporary innovations, such as a high percentage of balcony cabins, a handful of alternative eateries and expanded kids clubs.

 

Its two 92,000-ton Coral Class ships -- Coral Princess and Island Princess -- divide their time between Alaska and the caribbean, offering transits through the Panama Canal: the only two Princess ships in the fleet small enough to get through the locks.

 

When Grand Princess, the cruise line's first Grand Class ship, was launched in 1998, it heralded a new era for Princess. Successors, ranging from Caribbean Princess and Crown Princess to Sapphire Princess and Ruby Princess hold between 2,594 and 3,080 passengers. Innovations that debuted with this class of ships (and that were later expanded to others) include MUTS, the Sanctuary adults-only sun deck, and the controversial jutting-out balconies of its mini-suites.

 

Princess' newest series of ships, the Royal Class, debuts in mid-June 2013 with 3,600-passenger Royal Princess. A nearly identical sibling, Regal Princess, will launch in spring 2014. Signature features of this newest ship evolution include an expanded Piazza; the first-ever SeaWalk, a cantilevered, glass-enclosed walkway; and an interactive television studio called Princess Live!.

 

Ken

[Pam in CA]

Most Princess ships are very much alike. Except for the small ships, the Sun Class, the Coral/Island, and the Royal/Regal, the rest are similar. There are some structural differences such as an extra deck, some restaurants and amenities, if you board one, you'll feel at home on the others. The Sapphire/Diamond have four smaller Anytime dining rooms instead of two large ones (the large ones were split in half for the Sapphire/Diamond) and the Grand had Skywalkers removed a couple if years ago. Cabins are essentially the same, passenger decks are essentially the same.

Edited April 27, 2014 by Pam in CA

[J-D]

Current Princess ship classes in increasing order of (approx.) GRT, with lower-berth capacity and space ratio:

 

Ocean, Pacific -- 30,277 GRT (672 pax, 45 GRT per pax)

 

Sun, Dawn, Sea -- 77,441 (1998, 39)

 

Coral, Island -- 91,627 (1974, 46)

 

Grand, Golden, Star -- 107,517-108,977 (2600, 41-42)

 

Caribbean -- 112,894 (3082, 37)

 

Crown, Emerald, Ruby -- 113,561 (3082, 37)

 

Diamond, Sapphire -- 115,875 (2670, 43)

 

Royal, [Regal] -- 142,229 (3560, 40)

 

John

[alyssa0922]

Thank you to all of you for your help!😃

 

 

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[alyssa0922]

Thank you for the breakdown John! 🚢

 

 

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[IECalCruiser]

Current Princess ship classes in increasing order of (approx.) GRT, with lower-berth capacity and space ratio:

 

Ocean, Pacific -- 30,277 GRT (672 pax, 45 GRT per pax)

 

Sun, Dawn, Sea -- 77,441 (1998, 39)

 

Coral, Island -- 91,627 (1974, 46)

 

Grand, Golden, Star -- 107,517-108,977 (2600, 41-42)

 

Caribbean -- 112,894 (3082, 37)

 

Crown, Emerald, Ruby -- 113,561 (3082, 37)

 

Diamond, Sapphire -- 115,875 (2670, 43)

 

Royal, [Regal] -- 142,229 (3560, 40)

 

John

I would group them a bit differently and put all of the Grand variants into one class. The general layout and features of those ships is quite similar and the cabin and balcony arrangements basically the same on all nine of the ships. True that Skywalkers and the Wheelhouse Bar are in different locations, some have a Club Fusion and some have a Vista lounge, the Caribbean, Crown, Emerald and Ruby have a Cafe Caribe and on the Crown, Emerald and Ruby Sabatini's is on the Sun deck but they are more alike than different and IMHO not really different classes,

 

Explorer Class

Ocean, Pacific -- 30,277 GRT (672 pax, 45 GRT per pax)

 

Sun Class

Sun, Dawn, Sea -- 77,441 (1998, 39)

 

Coral Class? (Panamax)

Coral, Island -- 91,627 (1974, 46)

 

Grand Class

Grand, Golden, Star -- 107,517-108,977 (2600, 41-42)

Caribbean -- 112,894 (3082, 37)

Crown, Emerald, Ruby -- 113,561 (3082, 37)

Diamond, Sapphire -- 115,875 (2670, 43)

 

Royal Class

Royal, [Regal] -- 142,229 (3560, 40)

[J-D]

I would group them a bit differently and put all of the Grand variants into one class. The general layout and features of those ships is quite similar and the cabin and balcony arrangements basically the same on all nine of the ships. True that Skywalkers and the Wheelhouse Bar are in different locations, some have a Club Fusion and some have a Vista lounge, the Caribbean, Crown, Emerald and Ruby have a Cafe Caribe and on the Crown, Emerald and Ruby Sabatini's is on the Sun deck but they are more alike than different and IMHO not really different classes,

...

Grand Class

Grand, Golden, Star -- 107,517-108,977 (2600, 41-42)

Caribbean -- 112,894 (3082, 37)

Crown, Emerald, Ruby -- 113,561 (3082, 37)

Diamond, Sapphire -- 115,875 (2670, 43)

...

 

The nine "Grand variants" are certainly more similar to one another than to any of the other Princess ships, but some of the differences are fairly major in my opinion. If I were to group them at all, I'd put

- Grand, Golden, Star, Diamond and Sapphire in one group,

107,517 - 115,875 GRT (2600-2670 pax, space ratio 41-43), and

- Caribbean, Crown, Emerald and Ruby in a different group,

112,894-113,561 GRT (3082 pax, space ratio 37).

 

However, the Diamond and Sapphire are significantly different from the original Grand-class (Grand, Golden, Star) in that they are broader in beam and thus more spacious, have relocated Skywalkers farther forward, were built by Mitsubishi in Japan rather than Fincantieri in Italy, etc. (Of course, Skywalkers has been removed altogether from Grand.)

 

The last four ships differ notably from the five listed first in that they have the extra deck of cabins, many more passengers, and less space per person. The Caribbean is much like an original Grand-class ship, but with the extra deck and poorer space ratio. The later-built Crown, Emerald & Ruby have various refinements relative to the earlier Caribbean

 

Overall, I think those nine ships are best thought of as being of four closely related classes, with differences that matter to some people and are unimportant to others. Of course, there are also differences within the four Grand-variant classes, and these differences proliferate as individual ships are modified during periodic visits to dry-docks.

 

John

Edited April 27, 2014 by J-D

[mreasier]

Also, where would I find when the ship was last revitalized or updated?

http://www.cruisedeckpalns.com has the date each ship entered service and when last refurbished.

[bhopal21]

www.cruisedeckpalns.com has the date each ship entered service and when last refurbished.

 

I'm sure he meant http://www.cruisedeckplans.com

 

Mike:)

[rdsqrl]

I would group them a bit differently and put all of the Grand variants into one class. The general layout and features of those ships is quite similar and the cabin and balcony arrangements basically the same on all nine of the ships. True that Skywalkers and the Wheelhouse Bar are in different locations, some have a Club Fusion and some have a Vista lounge, the Caribbean, Crown, Emerald and Ruby have a Cafe Caribe and on the Crown, Emerald and Ruby Sabatini's is on the Sun deck but they are more alike than different and IMHO not really different classes,

If you have to spend that much time spelling out the differences, then I don't think they belong in the same "class." Not for the purposes of the general cruiser seeking information. Yeah, sure, maybe technically or pedantically or in real maritime-speak, they're the same class, but from the point of the view of the passenger, there are major differences between the Grand, the Golden/Star, the Sapphire/Diamond, and the Crown/Emerald/Ruby. By lumping them all together, it's terribly misleading to the questioner.

Edited April 28, 2014 by rdsqrl

[Lanwood]

The online enyclopedia "Wikipedia" is a good resource for these type of questions.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Cruises

 

This will have a list of all the ships listed under their "class" with the date they where built, who it was built by, size etc.

 

you can also fine tune the information on a ship by ship basis (although the princess website would be more informative on that front).

 

You can do this excercise for any cruise line.

Edited April 28, 2014 by Lanwood

[J-D]

The varying propulsion equipment is another notable difference among various of the "Grand variant" ships. I have no "inside information" on this. However, from public sources, it appears that

 

- Caribbean, despite its increased size, has the same types of diesel engines as in the Grand/Golden/Star -- four larger and two smaller diesel engines in each ship.

 

- Diamond and Sapphire have four diesel engines with less total power than in the aforementioned four ships. However, Diamond/Sapphire also have a large gas-turbine engine embedded out of sight high up behind the exhaust stacks. That engine is a derivative of the large CF-6 jet engines used on many early wide-body aircraft. (The Coral and Island are the only other Princess ships with combined diesel and gas turbine (CODAG) propulsion.)

 

- Crown/Emerald/Ruby have four large and two somewhat smaller diesel engines, with slightly more total power than the six diesel engines on the Grand / Golden / Star and Caribbean.

 

These engineering details are probably not of interest to most passengers, but are another indication of fundamental differences among the four groups of Grand-variant ships.

 

Rgds... John

Edited April 28, 2014 by J-D

[johnmik1]

As far as "class" goes, this is from the Princess website. Needs a little current updating as the Royal has launched.

 

Princess Cruises Fleet

Princess' fleet basically falls into five categories. Its Explorer Class consists of Ocean Princess and Tahitian Princess, a pair of identical 680-passenger ships that offer both a cozier onboard ambience -- and, due to their small size, exotic itineraries.

 

Its Sun Class ships, which include Sun Princess, Dawn Princess, Sea Princess carry 1,950 to 1,970 passengers. These days, they're considered medium-sized ships, with some of Princess' contemporary innovations, such as a high percentage of balcony cabins, a handful of alternative eateries and expanded kids clubs.

 

Its two 92,000-ton Coral Class ships -- Coral Princess and Island Princess -- divide their time between Alaska and the caribbean, offering transits through the Panama Canal: the only two Princess ships in the fleet small enough to get through the locks.

 

When Grand Princess, the cruise line's first Grand Class ship, was launched in 1998, it heralded a new era for Princess. Successors, ranging from Caribbean Princess and Crown Princess to Sapphire Princess and Ruby Princess hold between 2,594 and 3,080 passengers. Innovations that debuted with this class of ships (and that were later expanded to others) include MUTS, the Sanctuary adults-only sun deck, and the controversial jutting-out balconies of its mini-suites.

 

Princess' newest series of ships, the Royal Class, debuts in mid-June 2013 with 3,600-passenger Royal Princess. A nearly identical sibling, Regal Princess, will launch in spring 2014. Signature features of this newest ship evolution include an expanded Piazza; the first-ever SeaWalk, a cantilevered, glass-enclosed walkway; and an interactive television studio called Princess Live!.

 

Ken

 

I was always under the impression that the sun class ships were panamax ships.

Edited April 28, 2014 by johnmik1

[J-D]

I was always under the impression that the sun class ships were panamax ships.

 

The Sun-class are very close to the Panamax limit in terms of beam (around 106 ft), but are considerably shorter than the limit (857 ft vs. Panamax limit of 965 ft). In contrast, the Coral and Island are at almost exactly the upper limit in both of those dimensions.

 

John

Edited April 30, 2014 by J-D

[IECalCruiser]

The Sun-class are very close to the Panamax limit in terms of beam (around 106 ft), but are considerably shorter than the limit (857 ft vs. Panamax limit of 965 ft). In contrast, the Coral and Island are at almost exactly the upper limit in both of those dimensions.

 

John

As you say, the Sun class ships are narrow enough to sail through the current locks, but the Coral and Island are Panamax ships, having the maximum length (965 ft) and width (106 ft) allowed for passage through the current locks. The New Panamax limits will be 1,200 feet long and 161 feet wide.

 

 

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[johnmik1]

As you say, the Sun class ships are narrow enough to sail through the current locks, but the Coral and Island are Panamax ships, having the maximum length (965 ft) and width (106 ft) allowed for passage through the current locks. The New Panamax limits will be 1,200 feet long and 161 feet wide.

 

 

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So the Sun class ships can transit the canal,correct?