Photo Tour of The Grand Princess

The first of the three ships that I sailed on during my recent month of cruising with Princess Cruises was Grand Princess. For students of recent maritime history, Grand Princess’ arrival on the scene in 1998 was a milestone event. She was so much bigger and looked so radically different than traditional cruise ships. It turned out to be a very successful design as well as 10 subsequent cruise ships now sailing for Princess and P&O Cruises are based upon her design.




OK, one might say, Grand Princess may have been a great ship in her day but what is she like now? Last year, Princess undertook the most extensive refit of a ship that it has undertaken to date. It significantly changed the look of the ship both inside and out. On the outside, the ship’s nightclub, which was suspended high over the stern of the ship was removed giving her sleeker lines. (I am told that the nightclub is now a man-made reef). On the inside, the ship was given features that have been so popular on the later Grand Class ships (Crown, Emerald, and Ruby Princesses) such as the Crown Grill steakhouse, Vines Wine Bar and the International Cafe. Other existing areas such as the Horizon Court buffet and the casino were made over. She was also given new features such as Alfredo’s Pizzeria and Leaves tea lounge that debuted on the post re-fit Grand Princess.



In my opinion, the refit worked well. The ship’s public areas are like a new ship. Moreover, in this regard, she is a first rank new ship comparable to any in the Princess fleet.



This does not mean that Grand Princess does not have a personality of her own. Perhaps because she carries less passengers than her younger relations, she has a surprisingly intimate feel for a big ship.



Because Grand Princess is in effect a new ship, I have removed her existing Beyondships profile and photo tour and posted a new profile and photo tour that is much more extensive than the one done in 2007. Even the URLs are different. The profile is now at http://www.beyondships.com/Princess-GP-Profile.html  It has new menus, prorgams (Princess Patters) and other information about the ship. The multi-page photo tour begins at http://www.beyondships.com/Princess-GP-Tour-1.html