SANTA CLARITA, Calif., Oct. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Princess Cruises, the world's fastest growing international premium cruise line, today took delivery of Sky Princess from shipbuilder Fincantieri at an official handover ceremony at the shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy. The first ship designed from the ground up as a Princess MedallionClass ship, the 143,700-ton, 3,660-guest Sky Princess features an evolution of the design platform used for the cruise line's previous Royal-Class ships.
The milestone handover ceremony was attended by executives from Carnival Corporation & plc including Micky Arison, Chairman of Carnival Corporation; Arnold Donald, President and CEO of Carnival Corporation; Stein Kruse, Group CEO of Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, Carnival Australia and Carnival UK, and Jan Swartz, Group President of Princess Cruises and Carnival Australia, Fincantieri was represented by Giuseppe Bono, CEO.
"We wish to extend our sincere gratitude to our long-time shipbuilding partner Fincantieri who delivered Sky Princess to us today," said Jan Swartz, president of Princess Cruises. "As our new flagship in the fleet, Sky Princess represents the absolute best Princess Cruises has to offer our guests by connecting them with what matters most, unique destinations, loved ones, and new friends, while enjoying all the state-of the-art experiences in comfort and style."
With the debut of Sky Princess, Princess Cruises marks the first time a ship has been purpose-built as a Princess MedallionClass™ ship. Featuring the complimentary OceanMedallion™ wearable device, MedallionClass vacations deliver an entirely new level of service and creates a vacation that is more seamless, effortless and personalized.
Considered a breakthrough in the vacation industry and a CES® 2019 Innovation Award Honoree, the OceanMedallion wearable device is complimentary for all guests and features leading-edge technology that delivers personalized service through enhanced guest-crew interactions, eliminates friction points and enables interactive entertainment.
Princess MedallionClass Vacations are resulting in high guest satisfaction scores, thanks to a portfolio of experiences specifically designed to enhance their cruise vacation, including:
- Expedited Arrival - From curbside to poolside in a breeze: Personalization starts pre-cruise as guests become OceanReady™ before arriving at the port. Guests who arrive at the terminal having uploaded their travel documents (i.e. passports) to their profile enjoy a streamlined and expedited check-in process that gets their vacation started even sooner.
- On-Demand Services - Food, beverage, retail orders and service delivered to your location: Using smart devices and stateroom TVs, guests have the ability to order drinks, food and retail items like sunscreen with OceanNowTM and have them delivered directly anywhere on board.
- Family and Friends Locator - Finding travel companions and directional ship information: Accessible on portals throughout the ships and via guests' smart devices, OceanCompassTM leverages the OceanMedallion to easily locate and chat with friends and family on board, as well as enables point-to-point wayfinding throughout the ship. OceanCompass guides guests throughout their journey, providing directional information so they can seamlessly navigate to their next point of interest.
Other innovative features of the Princess MedallionClass experience include:
- Keyless stateroom entry: Access to staterooms is a seamless experience where each guest is securely validated as the door automatically unlocks. Personalized greetings, including loyalty level recognition and celebrations, welcome the guest on their door portal.
- Interactive voyage timeline: Available on ship portals and via guests' smart devices, JourneyViewTM is an interactive timeline that lets guests scroll through all of the events available on board during their voyage and bookmark activities they are interested in to their own personalized itinerary. Voyage itineraries are available as many as 60 days in advance, allowing guests to start planning before they leave home.
- Wager-based gaming: On smart devices and on select portals via Ocean Casino™, lets guests wager real money on games including slots, poker, bingo, roulette, keno and lottery from anywhere on board.
- Interactive game play: On portals located shipwide and on smart devices PlayOcean™ helps guests enjoy a new level of fun with interactive games, a digital scavenger hunt, customizable avatars and more. PlayOcean also transforms guests' mobile devices into game controllers for interactive gaming on the massive Movies Under the Stars screen.
Sky Princess will start her inaugural season in Europe on a seven-day Mediterranean & Adriatic maiden voyage from Athens to Barcelona on Oct. 20, 2019. The ship will sail a series of Mediterranean voyages before debuting in North America on Dec. 1, 2019, for a season of Caribbean cruises from Ft. Lauderdale.
Sky Princess shares all of the spectacular style and elegance of her sister ships - Regal Princess, Royal Princess and Majestic Princess. The ship also debuts the new luxurious Sky Suites, with expansive views from the largest balconies at sea. In addition, two new entertainment experiences are offered - Phantom Bridge, a world's first game combining digital and physical elements for the ultimate immersive escape room, and Take 5, the only jazz theater at sea, celebrating the iconic sounds, culture and history of jazz.
The Princess Cruises fleet continues to expand with Enchanted Princess in June 2020, Discovery Princess in November 2021 and two additional ships in 2023 and 2025.
Additional information about Sky Princess and Princess Cruises is available through a professional travel advisor, by calling 1-800-PRINCESS (1-800-774-6237), or by visiting the company's website at www.princess.com.
About Princess Cruises
One of the best-known names in cruising, Princess Cruises is the fastest growing international premium cruise line and tour company operating a fleet of 18 modern cruise ships, carrying two million guests each year to 380 destinations around the globe, including the Caribbean, Alaska, Panama Canal, Mexican Riviera, Europe, South America, Australia/New Zealand, the South Pacific, Hawaii, Asia, Canada/New England, Antarctica and World Cruises. A team of professional destination experts have curated 170 itineraries, ranging in length from three to 111 days and Princess Cruises is continuously recognized as "Best Cruise Line for Itineraries."
In 2017 Princess Cruises, with parent company Carnival Corporation, introduced MedallionClass Vacations enabled by the OceanMedallion, the vacation industry's most advanced wearable device, provided free to each guest sailing on a MedallionClass ship. The award-winning innovation offers the fastest way to a hassle-free, personalized vacation giving guests more time to do the things they love most. MedallionClass Vacations will be activated on five ships by the end of 2019. An activation plan will continue across the global fleet in 2020 and beyond.
Princess Cruises continues its multi-year, "Come Back New Promise" – a $450 million-dollar product innovation and cruise ship renovation campaign that will continue to enhance the line's onboard guest experience. These enhancements result in more moments of awe, lifetime memories and meaningful stories for guests to share from their cruise vacation. The product innovations include partnerships with award-winning Chef Curtis Stone; engaging entertainment inspired shows with Broadway-legend Stephen Schwartz; immersive activities for the whole family from Discovery and Animal Planet that include exclusive shore excursions to onboard activities; the ultimate sleep at sea with the award-winning Princess Luxury Bed and more.
Two new Royal-class ships are currently under construction - Enchanted Princess, scheduled for delivery in June 2020, followed by Discovery Princess in November 2021. Princess previously announced that two new (LNG) ships which will be the largest ships in the Princess fleet, accommodating approximately 4,300 guests are planned for delivery in 2023 and 2025. Princess now has four ships arriving over the next five years between 2020 and 2025. The company is part of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE:CUK).
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SOURCE Princess Cruises
Negin Kamali, 661-753-1539, nkamali@princesscruises.com, Alivia Owyoung Ender, 661-753-1542, aowyoung@princesscruises.com
