By
Elly Yates-Roberts |
Princess Cruises has celebrated three significant construction milestones for its three newest Royal-class ships – Sky Princess, Enchanted Princess and a yet-to-be-named vessel – at Fincantieri’s shipyards in Italy.
Sky Princess was floated out of her building dock for the first time following a blessing from her madrina, Kerry Ann Wright, a second officer for Princess Cruises. The ship will set sail for the first time in October 2019.
Fincantieri also held a keel-laying ceremony for Enchanted Princess, which will homeport in Southampton from June 2020. During the ceremony, an executive started the count-down to the ship’s completion by lowering the 500-tonne keel block into position. Guests then participated in a traditional ‘good luck’ coin ceremony, welding an Ocean Medallion into the ship.
A steel-cutting ceremony was held for the sixth unnamed Royal-class ship, marking the start of the construction of the ship, which will launch in 2022.
“The number of people enjoying cruise holidays has increased on average by more than one million every year over the last decade, an increase of more than 68%,” said Jan Swartz, group president of Princess Cruises and Carnival Australia. “As we continue to grow our fleet with five new ships arriving by 2025 – maintaining our position as the fastest growing premium cruise line in the world – we’re proud to not only celebrate these three major construction milestones in the same day, but also to continue to innovate our product with cutting-edge technology and elevated guest experiences that will be offered on all of these ships.”
Princess Cruises also recently announced some of the features onboard Sky Princess and Enchanted Princess, including the Ocean Medallion, which offers a streamlined embarkation process, keyless stateroom access, on-demand beverage delivery and OceanCompass, providing directions onboard to locate friends and family. There will also be a new jazz lounge called Take Five; a redesigned Vista Lounge and enhanced Princess Theatre; over 25 dining venues; and a redesigned spa-inspired top deck ‘Sanctuary’.
Sky Princess and Enchanted Princess will both spend a short season in the Mediterranean following their launches, with Enchanted Princess sailing through Le Havre, France; Lisbon, Portugal; Gibraltar; Barcelona; La Seyne, France; and Livorno, Italy before arriving in Rome from July 2020.