SEA PRINCESS is Back!!! ROYAL PRINCESS to leave fleet, become P&O ARTEMIS

(Thank you Eroller)

To provide an alternative cruise product for the British market and to satisfy the growing consumer demand for a more informal, upscale cruise experience, the Princess Cruises brand, renowned for its state of the art ships, informality, anytime dining and excellent American-style service, will allocate more of its capacity to the UK market. The 77,000-ton, 1,950-lower berth Adonia, currently sailing as part of the four ship P&O Cruises fleet, will be transferred to Princess Cruises in May 2005. This ship will reclaim the name Sea Princess, which she was originally given at the time of her delivery

by Fincantieri to Princess Cruises in 1998, prior to her subsequent transfer to P&O Cruises.

As the first Princess Cruises ship with itineraries tailored specifically to meet the preferences of British passengers, Sea Princess will spearhead an increase in Princess Cruises' capacity dedicated to the UK market. She will operate cruises from the UK in the summer and 14-day Caribbean cruises in the winter. These itineraries will also be attractive to North American customers.

In May 2005, the Royal Princess, which currently sails for Princess Cruises, will be renamed the Artemis and join the P&O Cruises fleet,

which will bring the number of vessels in the P&O Cruises fleet to five. Already a classic medium-sized ship with all outside staterooms, the 45,000-ton, 1,200- bed Artemis will be converted to a

British-style vessel prior to entering service for P&O Cruises.

The transfers of Adonia to Princess Cruises and the Royal Princess to P&O Cruises will further increase the capacity growth of the successful Princess brand to approximately 16 percent in 2005. The

average age of the Princess fleet will be reduced to approximately four years, the percentage of the fleet's total number of cabins with balconies will increase to 54 percent and the greater consistency of the Princess fleet achieved with these transfers will further improve its ability to provide personal choice cruising and anytime dining.

For P&O Cruises, the net effect of the transfer of ships will result in a 2005 capacity increase of approximately 8 percent and almost 40 percent of the fleet's cabins will then have balconies, a feature

which has become so highly desirable by today's cruisers.

"The tremendous success of the Queen Mary 2, and the potential to grow and offer further choice for UK cruise passengers, prompted these changes. We will now have brands and ships that cater to all

the differing needs of the growing and diversifying United Kingdom passenger base," said Peter Ratcliffe, chief executive officer of P&O Princess Cruises International and an executive director of Carnival Corporation & plc. "Cunard Line, P&O Cruises and Princess Cruises will all benefit from these moves and the changes are a further

fulfillment of the fleet optimization opportunities offered by the recent combination of P&O Princess Cruises plc and Carnival Corporation."

Big news indeed. Anybody know what will happen to the exotic itineraries the Royal currently sails, will there be another ship or will those itineraries die out? E.g. Antartica, Amazon, South America.

Alex

WOW!!!!!!!! 14 day carribean cruises in the winter. That will attract alot of passengers that like the longer cruises. Excellent move, imho. Sue

7 Days on The Star Princess OCTOBER,24,2004

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It's now official. Princess of 'yesteryear' is dead. Artemis just doesn't sound right.

I truly hope Princess builds a vessel worthy of the Royal Princess name and not just another Grand clone!

I can see Carnival's plan already: dust-off the Ultimate Princess plans, construct the world's largest cruise ship, and call her Royal Princess as a true show of one-upmanship in the face of Royal Caribbean.

Now Princess TRULY offers the only Royal experience in the Caribbean.

Hmm...

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jsea:

Artemis just doesn't sound right.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

It does for P&O jsea, she isn't a Princess ship anymore, she's a P&O ship now.

This will take some "digesting" ---I know I will be sorry to see the Royal go! --- our first Princess cruise (inagural year) and still one of the best cruising experiences to be had! Anxiously looking to see what summer 2005 will offer besides the Carribbean (which we find a "sorry" excuse for cruising...apologies to all who love the Carribbean experience - but it's just not "cruising" to us....guess we're "dinosauers"------

PACIFIC PRINCESS Islands of the Pacific Theater

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The Royal "will be converted to a British-style vessel"....how will that impact the refurbishment scheduled for 04-27-04? We are sailing on 05-31-04 and I was hoping for a spiffy looking ship after several reports of how she needed a little work???? Will the dry dock proceed or will it be seen as unnecessary now postponing all work until later?

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by GottoCruise:

Anxiously looking to see what summer 2005 will offer besides the Carribbean (which we find a "sorry" excuse for cruising...apologies to all who love the Carribbean experience - but it's just not "cruising" to us....guess we're "dinosauers"------<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

We agree with you. Looking forward to see if Princess continues with Asia for Summer '05.

Big news! It will be nice to see the Sea Princess return to the fleet. While the Royal will need alteration to fit P&O, some of the changes they made to the Sea prior to her transfer to P&O will have to be un-done. Based on my experience on the Crown before she was transferred to A'Rossa, I would bet that the Royal dry-dock will be primarily mechanical and not very cosmetic. And as to those exotic itineraries, I would look to either the Regal or the Pacific to fill that role.

The 14 day Caribbean is definitely interesting as is having the Sea based out of Dover in the summer. I've always thought the Sun-class ships would be awesome in Europe.

Cruisin' Chris

 5/19/04 Grand Princess Baltic Heritage

I am sad to see the Royal go - I wish I would have a chance to sail her before she leaves the fleet but am thrilled to see the Sea Princess back - my first Princess ship

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I am sad to see the Royal go - I wish I would have a chance to sail her before she leaves the fleet but am thrilled to see the Sea Princess back - my first Princess ship <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I'm with Coral - Royal's leaving the fleet in mid-2005 does not bode well for me being able to sail her and I was hoping she'd be around a little longer so that I could. But I do find it a positive step that Sea Princess is on her way back...

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I can see Carnival's plan already: dust-off the Ultimate Princess plans, construct the world's largest cruise ship, and call her Royal Princess as a true show of one-upmanship in the face of Royal Caribbean.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Now, now. I think we really have to wait and see what happens. Princess touts the fact that it is a global cruise line and offers some excellent itineraries...even if they do build a mega-mega-liner (and remember Mickey Arison said there would be no new builds for Carnival Corporation for a few years) it would probably be based in the Caribbean and limited to doing the entry level 7-day stuff...

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Sun Princess, 03/2004; Pacific Princess, 07/2003; Star Princess, 05/2003; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Sun Princess, 05/2001; Sun Princess, 04/2001; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Regal Princess, 10/1999; Sun Princess, 08/1998; Holiday, 05/1998; Westerdam, 09/1997; Regal Princess, 11/1996; Royal Odyssey, 09/1995; Starward, 11/1993

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jsea:

Royal was truly an innovative vessel. Not to mention beautiful. She won't look nearly as good with a mustard yellow stack. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

No ship looks good with a mustard yellow stack

I bid farewell to a wonderful lady......

Kinda sad to see the Royal go..she is beautiful, I had the chance to take a tour of her when she was very new in Juneau Alaska. I was on the orginal Island Princess at the time and the Royal seemed huge then..I hope they bring back the Ocean Princess I love that ship as well.

Scandinavian Sun

Emerald Seas

Island Princess

Seaward

Norway

Westward

Sensation

Facsination

Majesty of the Seas

Dawn Princess

Inspiration

Norwegian Dream

Norwegian Sun

Grandeur of the Seas (June 2002)

Carnival Paradise (Sept 2002)

Grand Princess (June 2003)

Disney Magic (Sept 2003)

Diamond Princess (June 2004)

Here we come for our honeymoon on the Diamond Princess!!

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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jsea:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Coral:

I am sad to see the Royal go...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Royal was truly an innovative vessel. Not to mention beautiful. She won't look nearly as good with a mustard yellow stack.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well it's actually called "Buff" which is sort of a golden yellow, and AURORA and ORIANA look great with them, after all it is the tradtional P&O Funnel color.

Sorry to hear that Princess has decided to transfer the Royal Princess to UK--P&O.We have sailed on her 3 times and is our favorite ship.

We are also scheduled to sail on her again in April 2005 to the Amazon. This will be one of her last cruises prior to re-positioning to Europe. A great loss to those who have enjoyed this ship. I also wonder what may happen to her Exotic itineraries.

Well at least Regal Princess has escaped the clutches of the Ocean Village fleet for the time being....however, I can't see her staying too much longer - Carnival seem determined to reduce the average age of the fleet....

I would suggest that Regal Princess will get the Royal exotics...just a hunch on my part. I wouldn't think the Tahitian/Pacific Princesses large enough. Regal allows for some expansion in passengers on those routes.

This action is sort of contrary to what I was told by one of the revenue managers on Pacific Princess last year. Our conversation included the thought that Royal and Regal would remain in the fleet indefinitely to serve the longer, more exotic itineraries. Putting old/new Sea Princess in the Caribbean for 14 day itineraries certainly meets that objective, but with a much larger ship than we discussed...in fact he was mentioning something along the 700 passenger size...

One thing's for sure - the management of Princess cruises has certainly been less than boring the last few years...

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Sun Princess, 03/2004; Pacific Princess, 07/2003; Star Princess, 05/2003; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Sun Princess, 05/2001; Sun Princess, 04/2001; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Regal Princess, 10/1999; Sun Princess, 08/1998; Holiday, 05/1998; Westerdam, 09/1997; Regal Princess, 11/1996; Royal Odyssey, 09/1995; Starward, 11/1993

Royal Princess' new identity:

I don't think the funnel looks too bad....

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by bdjam:

One thing's for sure - the management of Princess cruises has certainly been less than boring the last few years...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sorry bdjam, I have to be a pessimist and alter slightly what you said:

"...the management of Carnival Corp. has certainly been less than boring the last few years..."

Now that Carnival, Costa, Cunard, HAL and P&O have at least one, it will only be a matter of days before they announce a Vista Class vessel for Princess! (Thanks to eroller, i.e. Ernie, for pointing this out.)

Thanks jsea...now I'm really sad I'm not sure the return of Sea Princess will make up for this loss to the fleet.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Sorry bdjam, I have to be a pessimist and alter slightly what you said:

"...the management of Carnival Corp. has certainly been less than boring the last few years..."

Now that Carnival, Costa, Cunard, HAL and P&O have at least one, it will only be a matter of days before they announce a Vista Class vessel for Princess! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Easy, now. Remember that through the delivery of Diamond, Caribbean and Sapphire Princesses, the line's been following their own ideas of expansion. I think Mickey's Money (a.k.a. Carnival Corp) has made it easier, but given the time it takes to put a ship in service, the plans had to be laid prior to Carnival's aquisition. This latest move may have some Carnival management behind it, but still notice that excpet for Jubilee going to P&O Australia, all fleet moves have been within the P&O family...if that means anything.

And personally, I think a Vista Class ship for Princess would be a plus - Coral and Island Princess have been doing well, although Chantiers had some issues with delivery. Give us a couple more the same size and passenger density and give the contract back to Fincantieri where it belongs...sounds good to me.

They just MUST retire the Royal Princess name.

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Sun Princess, 03/2004; Pacific Princess, 07/2003; Star Princess, 05/2003; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Sun Princess, 05/2001; Sun Princess, 04/2001; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Regal Princess, 10/1999; Sun Princess, 08/1998; Holiday, 05/1998; Westerdam, 09/1997; Regal Princess, 11/1996; Royal Odyssey, 09/1995; Starward, 11/1993

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by APH:

I don't think the funnel looks too bad....<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I agree APH, provided that's what they really do. With Adonia and Oceana, however, they merely painted the birdcage funnels with yellow paint which to me looked awful. Every time I see a real photo of them, I have to look twice because I swear they are all bad Photoshop jobs. But all in all, the preview image of Artemis isn't bad. Not great, but not bad.

Royal was the first ship Princess designed from scratch... she was born to have a seawitch on her funnel.

(I hope it doesn't come off as if I am obsessing over this, because, really, I promise, I'm not )

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> (I hope it doesn't come off as if I am obsessing over this, because, really, I promise, I'm not) <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Don't know about you, jsea, but I'm kind of in shock...I guess this was expected, but I didn't think it would be so soon...

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Sun Princess, 03/2004; Pacific Princess, 07/2003; Star Princess, 05/2003; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Sun Princess, 05/2001; Sun Princess, 04/2001; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Regal Princess, 10/1999; Sun Princess, 08/1998; Holiday, 05/1998; Westerdam, 09/1997; Regal Princess, 11/1996; Royal Odyssey, 09/1995; Starward, 11/1993

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by bdjam:

Don't know about you, jsea, but I'm kind of in shock...I guess this was expected, but I didn't think it would be so soon...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Nor did I. I was under the impression that Royal Princess had a very loyal following and Princess was, in a way, operating a brand within a brand. I haven't gotten a Captain's Circle in quite some time (but those darn ads keep coming), but I recall a certain couple from Beverly Hills who spend a good part of the year in the Princess Penthouse on Royal. I wonder if Princess had to get their permission first before agreeing to transfer RP?

(What is wrong with me - why am I using so many smilies today? Perhaps I'm delirious.)

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Nor did I. I was under the impression that Royal Princess had a very loyal following and Princess was, in a way, operating a brand within a brand. I haven't gotten a Captain's Circle in quite some time (but those darn ads keep coming), but I recall a certain couple from Beverly Hills who spend a good part of the year in the Princess Penthouse on Royal. I wonder if Princess had to get their permission first before agreeing to transfer RP?

(What is wrong with me - why am I using so many smilies today? Perhaps I'm delirious.) <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I'm just off Sun Princess and I heard last week that that couple - actually the Mr. passed and it's just the Mrs. now - offered to buy the Suite and Princess said "no." I wonder if they'll go over to P&O with the ship!

I was also under the impression that Royal had the loyal following and that was one of the corner-stones for the "fleet within a fleet" ideology...the guy I talked to said Princess/Carnival recognized it and intended to cultivate it. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the fleet is shifted...and if that "fleet within a fleet" is too expensive - relatively, of course - to run.

I was booked for 10 days on Royal Princess a year or so ago and had to cancel...darn work got in the way. Now I'm kicking myself.

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Sun Princess, 03/2004; Pacific Princess, 07/2003; Star Princess, 05/2003; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Sun Princess, 05/2001; Sun Princess, 04/2001; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Regal Princess, 10/1999; Sun Princess, 08/1998; Holiday, 05/1998; Westerdam, 09/1997; Regal Princess, 11/1996; Royal Odyssey, 09/1995; Starward, 11/1993