A ceremony was held at the Fincantieri shipyard in Italy celebrating the cutting of the first piece of steel for the bow section of the fourth Royal class cruise ship for Princess Cruises.
This currently unnamed vessel is scheduled for delivery in 2019 and will be roughly 142,000 gross tons in size and carry 3,600 passengers. The ship will have all of the great features of the Royal class ships including the huge Piazza, the Seawalk that extends over 128 feet over the water, the Enclave thermal suite, and the largest outdoor TV screen at sea. Additional details about the ship will be released at a later time.
Keith Taylor, Princess Cruises executive vice president of fleet operations, gave the following statement: “Today’s steel cutting of Hull 6268 signals the continuation of a 16 year partnership that has delivered some of the most spectacular and innovative cruise ships at sea for Princess Cruises. We are delighted with the longevity of our partnership with Fincantieri and know that this next ship will follow on the successful design platform demonstrated with her sister ships.”
(From left to right) Firouz Mal, Newbuild Project Manager, Keith Taylor, Executive Vice President of Fleet Operations, Elio Autiero, General Manager of Human Resources and Carlo Febbraro, Director of Shipboard Technical Personnel, at the steel cutting ceremony for the new Princess ship.
How about letting the West Coast (L.A.) home port one of these Royal Class Ships in the future ? It’s a huge mega-market there, & Corporate Home to Princess Cruises as well ….Also how about a “naming” contest for this 4 th Royal Class vessel ?