Grand Princess
_IMO_9104005,_in_Split,_2011-10-13.jpg) Grand Princess in Split, Croatia, showing refitted stern
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Grand Princess |
| Owner |
|
| Operator | Princess Cruises |
| Port of registry | |
| Ordered | 8 February 1994 |
| Builder | Fincantieri |
| Cost | US$450 million |
| Yard number | Monfalcone, 5956 |
| Launched | 20 May 1998 |
| Christened | 29 September 1998, by Olivia de Havilland |
| Maiden voyage | 27 May 1998 |
| Refit | May 2011, March 2019 |
| Identification |
|
| Status | Halted |
| Notes | [1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Template:Sclass- |
| Tonnage | 107,517 GT |
| Length | 289.86 m (951 ft 0 in) |
| Beam | 35.97 m (118 ft 0 in) |
| Height | 61.26 m (201 ft 0 in) |
| Draught | 7.92 m (26 ft 0 in) |
| Decks | 17 |
| Propulsion | Two shafts; fixed-pitch propellers |
| Speed | 22.5 knots (41.7 km/h; 25.9 mph) (cruising) |
| Boats & landing craft carried | 6 tenders |
| Capacity |
|
| Crew | 1,100 |
| Notes | [1] |
Grand Princess is a Template:Sclass- cruise ship owned by Princess Cruises, which was built in 1998 by Fincantieri Cantieri Navali Italiani in Monfalcone, Italy, with yard number 5956, at a cost of approximately US$450 million. She was the largest and most expensive passenger ship ever built at the time. Grand Princess was the flagship in the Princess Cruises fleet until the new Royal Princess took that title in June 2013.
Design
Grand Princess was the first of the Template:Sclass-s, and has a different decor scheme to her sister ships, using darker woods, and the interior decor is more similar to the smaller Template:Sclass- ships. When Grand Princess was launched, she featured in the Princess Cruises brochures as a Sun-class ship; it was only with the subsequent launch of Golden Princess that the Grand class appeared in brochures.
She is the sister ship of Star Princess and Golden Princess. Grand Princess was the setting for a task in the second series of the UK version of the reality TV show The Apprentice.
Grand Princess has a large theater, a large central performance lounge, and an aft show lounge.
In May 2011, Grand Princess completed the most extensive dry-dock in Princess Cruises history that included a refit and removal of the passengers lounge from her stern.[2] This resolved her tendency to sail bow high, and has improved her fuel economy by about 3–4%. The bow high tendency was peculiar to Grand Princess, and does not affect any of the other Grand-class ships (or the derivative classes) as unlike Grand Princess they have aluminium upper decks. In March 2019, Grand Princess underwent another dry-dock refurbishment.
Ports of call
As of August 2019, Grand Princess is based year-round in San Francisco, California, sailing on itineraries for Alaska, Hawaii, the Mexican Riviera, and the California coast.[3]
Incidents
On 9 August 2017, a dead whale was found at the bow of the ship while docked in Ketchikan, Alaska.[4]
In March 2020, it was reported that two passengers of the ship's cruise to Mexico of 11–21 February 2020, had contracted the COVID-19 coronavirus disease and one of them had died.[5][6] The announcement came as the ship approached San Francisco with 2,500 passengers aboard, some of whom were reporting symptoms consistent with the disease, and the ship was held offshore by authorities for quarantine and testing of some of the passengers and crew.[6]
Another Princess-owned Grand-class ship, Diamond Princess, also had experienced an outbreak of the disease in February 2020, and had been quarantined for nearly a month in Yokohama, Japan; at least 696 out of the 3,711 passengers and crew had contracted the virus, and six of them had died.[7][8]
On 5–6 March 2020, while the ship was near the coast of California, the California National Guard's 129th Rescue Wing dropped off and retrieved coronavirus tests.[9][10] As of 6 March 45 people on the ship had been tested, and 21 tested positive, including 19 crew and 2 passengers. Among the other 29, one test was inconclusive and the others tests were negative.[11] Grand Princess will be allowed to dock at a non-commercial port in California on 7 or 8 March 2020, and all disembarking passengers will be tested for the coronavirus.[12]
References
Notes
- ^ a b "Grand PrincessVessel Details and Current Position". Marine Traffic. 2012. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
- ^ Peter Knego (10 February 2011). "Grand Princess To Lose Her 'Handle'". MaritimeMatters. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
- ^ "2019 Cruise Schedule at the Port of San Francisco" (PDF). sfport.com.
- ^ Joling, Dan (9 August 2017). "Dead whale found on bow of cruise ship entering Alaska port". The Canadian Press. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
- ^ "Report: Two former guests form a U.S. based cruise ship have COVID-19". The Maritime Executive. 3 March 2020. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ a b "Coronavirus: What happens when cruise ship with exposed passengers reaches San Francisco?". The Mercury News. 5 March 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
- ^ "COVID-19 Coronavirus Outbreak". worldometers.info. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
- ^ INC, SANKEI DIGITAL (5 March 2020). "クルーズ船感染者数６９６人に訂正 厚労省". 産経ニュース.
- ^ "Video: See Air National Guard members board a cruise ship with coronavirus test kits". MilitaryTimes. 6 March 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
- ^ Rodriguez, Olga R. (7 March 2020). "21 positive for coronavirus on cruise ship off California". Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
- ^ Fuller, Thomas; Mervosh, Sarah; Arango, Tim; Gross, Jenny (6 March 2020). "21 Coronavirus Cases on Cruise Ship Near California" – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ "US cruise ship in limbo as anti-virus controls spread". 7 March 2020 – via newschannel6now.com.
Bibliography
- Saunders, Aaron (2013). Giants of the Seas: The Ships that Transformed Modern Cruising. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 9781848321724.
- Smith, Peter C. (2010). Cruise Ships: The World's Most Luxurious Vessels. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Pen & Sword Maritime. ISBN 9781848842182.
External links
