Grand Class Ships of Princess Cruise Lines
Princess Cruise Lines has three ships grouped into the Grand Class. All three were built by Fincantieri and embarked on maiden voyages between 2006 and 2008. The Ruby, Crown and Emerald Princess all share identical design and dimensions.
Each of the three ships consists of nineteen decks. Each is 951 feet long and has a gross tonnage of 113,000. All three have a capacity for 3,080 passengers and 1,200 crew.
Fincantieri is a ship builder founded in 1959 and based in Trieste, Italy. The company’s main product now is cruise ships but they also build ferry boats and military vessels, including aircraft carriers. Cruise ship customers include: Princess, Carnival, Holland America, Disney and Costa Crociere.
Fincantieri was the builder of two cruise ships infamously in the news over the past few years. The Costa Concordia was sunk off the Adriatic coast of Italy when the ship’s captain ran her too close to shore. The Carnival Triumph was in the news in February, 2013 after a fire onboard left her floating adrift in the Gulf of Mexico with no power.
Crown Princess
The Crown made her maiden voyage on June 14, 2006 and is the oldest of the three Grand Class ships. As of May, 2013, the Crown Princess is operating out of Southampton, England and doing itineraries in Western Europe, the Baltic and the Mediterranean.
The Crown will leave Southampton on October 26 for a 14 day journey across the Atlantic and re-positioning in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. On February 15, 2014, the ship will embark on a 49 night odyssey around the whole of South America and arriving in Los Angeles, California. Following that, the Crown will bounce along the Pacific coast, doing various cruises from Mexico to Alaska.
Emerald Princess
The middle child, the Emerald made her maiden voyage on April 11, 2007. As of May, 2013, the Emerald is operating out of Copenhagen, Denmark and Warnemunde, Germany for the summer months.
On September 10, 2013, the Emerald Princess leaves Copenhagen for New York City, by way of Norway, Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, Greenland and Canada. The ship begins its winter Caribbean season on November 9, based out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The Emerald returns to Europe on its Trans Atlantic Princess repositioning cruise in April. The ship departs Ft. Lauderdale on April 18, 2014 and will take a 15 day journey to Southampton, England.
Ruby Princess
The Ruby Princess is the newest of the three ships with her maiden voyage taking place on November 8, 2008. Currently, as of May, 2013, the Ruby Princess is touring the Mediterranean, bouncing between the three home ports of Piraeus, Greece; Civitavecchia, Italy and Venice, Italy. In October, 2013, the ship will run a few back to back 24 night cruises from Barcelona to Rome, stopping in France, Italy, Greece and Turkey.
On November 29, 2013, the Ruby departs Europe for Ft. Lauderdale to spend the winter. She’ll only spend a short time in the Caribbean before heading back to Europe on April 27, 2014. The spring 2014 Trans Atlantic re-positioning cruise will leave Ft. Lauderdale for Southampton, England.
