Grand Princess stretched

[gottagoacruzn]

Hi guys, for me the medium size ships are the best, now am wonderin if the Grand has ever been stretched? Just might be sailin on that ship in Sept to Alaska. Does anybody know if it has been stretched? Thanks.

Virginia

[brisalta]

I am not sure what you mean by stretched.

When the Grand Princess was launched she was considered very large.

 

The major refit that occurred to the Grand was that the passenger lounge that looked over the water at the stern was removed.  That was back in 2011 to stop it riding bow high. ( Grand was the first ship in its class ). At the same time they added the Piazza. See http://maritimematters.com/2011/02/grand-princess-loses-her-handle/

Edited January 28, 2020 by brisalta

[npcl]

44 minutes ago, brisalta said:

I am not sure what you mean by stretched.

When the Grand Princess was launched she was considered very large.

 

The major refit that occurred to the Grand was that the passenger lounge that looked over the water at the stern was removed.  That was back in 2011 to stop it riding bow high. ( Grand was the first ship in its class ). At the same time they added the Piazza. See http://maritimematters.com/2011/02/grand-princess-loses-her-handle/

I believe that he means the process where a ship is cut in half and a section is added in the middle increasing the length of the ship.

 

the answer to that is no. It is it's original length.

[Colo Cruiser]

No the Grand has not been stretched.

No Princess ship has.

[satxdiver]

Skywalkers, the passenger lounge referred to below, was removed from the Grand due to metal fatigue and had to be replaced.  The sister ships Star and Golden had skywalkers built out of composite material and still remain.  It does cause the ship to ride lower in the water in the stern and makes navigation more difficult.  

 

No Princess ship that I am aware has ever been stretched.  

[Thrak]

When Grand Princess launched she was the largest cruise ship at sea. Ever. Period. It was a pretty darn big deal. She has never been "stretched" and I can't imagine that being "a thing". If it is, it's not a "Princess thing". It sounds weird to me.

[DougH]

When the Grand was launched she was the largest ship in the world.  What do you consider middle sized?   The Sun/Dawn/Sea/Ocean ships or maybe the HAL Statendam/Masdam ships?

[HappyCruiserettu]

2 hours ago, Thrak said:

When Grand Princess launched she was the largest cruise ship at sea. Ever. Period. It was a pretty darn big deal. She has never been "stretched" and I can't imagine that being "a thing". If it is, it's not a "Princess thing". It sounds weird to me.

It is a thing. I don't recall which ship(s) had that, but it has been done. 

[villauk]

36 minutes ago, HappyCruiserettu said:

It is a thing. I don't recall which ship(s) had that, but it has been done. 

 

Royal Caribbean. I think Enchantment of the Seas was cut and the middle section added. 

Edited January 28, 2020 by villauk

[philsuarez]

Fair question but Grand class at the time were very large ships as built. The basic design was copied by P & O for Azura and Ventura. 

[MotownVoice]

4 hours ago, villauk said:

 

Royal Caribbean. I think Enchantment of the Seas was cut and the middle section added. 

 

 

Good god this seems insane to me. 

I know this is basically how they are manufactured in the first place.   But it just seems unnatural to me to splice in new decks and staterooms after she's been christened and set sail.

[phabric]

I have 2 European cruises on the Grand for August 2021.  I noticed under Ocean view cabins - Premier Ocean view - with shower only, Floor to Ceiling window.  I have not seem these cabins on other ships, maybe they put these cabins in when they did their last refurnishment.  There are only 6 cabins (3 on each side on the ship) on Lido deck.  I have 3 cabins booked beside each other.  We are only steps away from outside space, pizza, bar, hamburger, pools/hot tub, buffet without paying for a balcony.

Edited January 28, 2020 by phabric

[beg3yrs]

7 hours ago, Thrak said:

When Grand Princess launched she was the largest cruise ship at sea. Ever. Period. It was a pretty darn big deal. She has never been "stretched" and I can't imagine that being "a thing". If it is, it's not a "Princess thing". It sounds weird to me.

 

Royal Caribbean has done it as another poster showed. NCL did it with their Dream and Wind ships (formerly the Dreamward and Windward). The US Navy used to do it too. Some ships are actually designed to make a future stretch more feasible.

[Mike45LC]

The SS Galileo, which later became the Celebrity Meridian, was "stretched" in the 1980s.  She had been refitted several times, and I no longer recall which one was the "stretching" retrofit, but it was prior to my first cruise on her (as the Meridian) in 1990.

 

Yes, as Viva UK's photo shows, they cut the ship in the middle and insert a new section.  I have not heard of any modern ship breaking apart after this kind of work.

[jeromep]

I'm only operating from memory right now, but the ship stretches I'm aware of are all being done by lux lines who have much smaller ships, typically the size of Pacific Princess or smaller.  I read an article someplace pointing out that the economics of stretching a 20+ year old ship, is a win-win for the cruise line relative to a new build ship.  I don't think the economics work out as well for much larger ships.

 

Also, while the Grand Princess was the largest cruise ship in the world when launched, it was quickly replaced by one of the ships from RCI.  RCI takes great pride in having large ships.  The battle of the large ships is not one that Princess seems to want to participate in, and it isn't their strength either.

 

There used to be a series of videos on YouTube about the removal of Skywalkers from the Grand Princess.  Those were produced in the spring of 2011 when she was at the Grand Bahama shipyard for a dry dock.  That is about the biggest modification Princess has ever done to a ship in drydock.  Her sisters retained their Skywalkers because the superstructure for Skywalkers on the Golden and Star was made of lighter materials than on the Grand.  As soon as the Grand went to sea it was discovered that she sailed bow high due to the weight of Skywalkers.  Golden, Star and Caribbean got the lighter weight Skywalkers after they discovered the problem on Grand.  Subsequent variations on the Grand class ship had Skywalkers lowered and moved to aft of the funnel, which further improved ship performance.  The only way to keep Grand in the fleet was to remove Skywalkers completely.  I also suspect that the cost of that drydock and amortizing off the expense is why the Grand remains in the Princess fleet and doesn't seem to be scheduled to be transferred to another Carnival owned cruise line like sisters Golden and Star.

[Justalone]

16 hours ago, gottagoacruzn said:

Hi guys, for me the medium size ships are the best, now am wonderin if the Grand has ever been stretched? Just might be sailin on that ship in Sept to Alaska. Does anybody know if it has been stretched? Thanks.

Virginia

 

Stretched?  Like a stretched limo?

Edited January 28, 2020 by Justalone

[polmcs]

14 hours ago, DougH said:

When the Grand was launched she was the largest ship in the world.  What do you consider middle sized?   The Sun/Dawn/Sea/Ocean ships or maybe the HAL Statendam/Masdam ships?

At the time of her launch in 1995, the Sun Princess was classed as the largest cruise vessel in the world. How things have changed. 

[Thrak]

Well I definitely learned something here. I had never heard of "stretching" a ship. When it comes to things I don't know the category includes just about everything there is to know. Glad to have learned something new today.

[ITNurse]

Windstar is stretching its 3 motor yachts.  Passenger count will go from 212 to 315.  While the ship is "open" they're replacing the engines with more efficient models.  Each ship will be out of service for a several months for this "surgery."  Fincantieri (builder of many Princess ships) is doing the work.

 

Article referenced here has a video and information about other ships that have been stretched.

 

(39 days until this Princess cruiser's first Windstar cruise)

[Cruise Raider]

16 hours ago, Thrak said:

When Grand Princess launched she was the largest cruise ship at sea. Ever. Period. It was a pretty darn big deal. She has never been "stretched" and I can't imagine that being "a thing". If it is, it's not a "Princess thing". It sounds weird to me.

 

We sailed on the NCL Wind, which had been stretched back in the late 90's.  There was a display onboard of how they did it.  The cut her right down the middle and added extra cabins on the passenger decks and additional public areas on those decks.  They even pointed us to the areas on the ship where the middle section was added.  Very interesting ....

But, you are right, there is currently no Princess ship out there that has been 'stretched'.  

[SeaDog-46]

Ships are not stretched - the correct term in JUNBOISED.

In 1972 I was on a tanker that we delivered to Japan to be jumboised for Mobil Oil.

So this is not something new & has been going on for decades.

[gottagoacruzn]

1 hour ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

We sailed on the NCL Wind, which had been stretched back in the late 90's.  There was a display onboard of how they did it.  The cut her right down the middle and added extra cabins on the passenger decks and additional public areas on those decks.  They even pointed us to the areas on the ship where the middle section was added.  Very interesting ....

But, you are right, there is currently no Princess ship out there that has been 'stretched'.  

Hi, thanks guys for all your input. I jest like sailin on the medium size ships!!

[Essiesmom]

The Lirica class of MSC have all been stretched.  EM