Princess Cruises has welcomed the Royal Princess to its Australian fleet for the first time – and announced some major changes to deployments as a way of showing the love to one of its most important markets.
The line’s president John Padgett affirmed: “Australia is very important to Princess, and is getting the best of Princess”.
He said two Royal Class ships would be in Australia this year – Royal Princess and Majestic Princess.
At an event to mark the start of its season in Australia, he also announced Discovery Princess, another Royal Class vessel, will be arriving in Australia for the 2025/26 season. She will be one of the newest Princess ships to sail in Australian waters.
The Royal and Majestic ships, along with Grand Princess and Coral Princess, means the line will have more capacity this season than ever.
The 142,229-tonne Royal Princess was christened by HRH, Catherine, Princess of Wales, in the United Kingdom 10 years ago.
Royal Princess details
At 330 metres, and 19 decks high, the 3560-guest ship will be based in Sydney until April next year, offering 14 round trip cruises from the city during its six-month deployment.
Princess Cruises Senior Vice President Asia Pacific, UK + Europe Stuart Allison said: “Royal Princess set new standards for premium cruising when it was launched and continues to turn heads wherever she sails around the globe.
“Not only is she a fantastic looking ship, she’s packed with wonderful features for guests, from superb cuisine to world-class entertainment and facilities. We know guests will especially love the Sanctuary and Retreat areas over the summer season.”
He said details of the line’s longest world cruise of 114 nights would be announced shortly and go on sale on November 29th – usually a bumper booking day for Princess.
Royal Princess has 11 restaurants, 9 bars and additional lounges, and entertainment options. It has a Sea Walk, a glass-bottomed enclosed walkway that extends nearly 9 metres beyond the ship’s edge, treating guests to awe-inspiring views while suspended 39 metres above the water.
It also include private poolside cabanas, two main pools, 8 top deck spas, the Enclave and Lotus Spa featuring Princess’ largest-ever thermal suite, and an exquisite Chef Lumiere dining option, where guests are magically surrounded by a curtain of light.
More than 80 per cent of the ship’s staterooms offer a private balcony.
Medallion Class
Like all Princess ships she carries the Medallion connection device that helps personalise service and allows guests to board within minutes as all formalities have been completed at home.
It is expected that Australian guests will get their Medallions delivered at home so they can start booking onboard experiences before they even arrive at the port for boarding.
Mr Allison told Cruise Passenger the 2025/26 season would mean Discovery Princess, Crown Princess will replace Coral Princess.
While not yet finalised, Majestic Princess and Royal Princess will likely be deployed elsewhere.
Mr Allison added that Princess will continue its popular Across the Ditch program on all Princess ships sailing to New Zealand.
“We’ll be revealing some new features and exciting product enhancements to the program highlighting authentic cuisine and local entertainment. These fantastic guest experiences bring the best of New Zealand onboard further showcasing our leadership in this magnificent and much-loved destination,” Mr Allison said.
Mr Padgett also spoke about the line’s newest and biggest ever ship, saying the Sun Princess is not a major departure for the premium line. Some Princess fans had shown concern that the line was departing from its core values with a bigger ship.
“It just takes everything to the next level,” he declared “It’s all about taking what Princess does best to the next level. There are a lot of Princess guests who are very conservative and get concerned about change.”
He said guests would get the same level of service, large ship amenities and amazing value.
“Thinking of the Sun Princess, it has 21 decks 4,300 guests, amazing entertainment features – not different, just to the next level.”
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The line’s president John Padget’s comment that “a lot of Princess guests who are very conservative and get concerned about change” shows he is typical of many corporate senior executives in not understanding his customers. The main reason many of us do not like the big ships is that it reduces the opportunities to go to many ports which were accessible to the smaller ships hence it limits the diversity of itineraries. Also the big ships do not provide the romantic feel of the smaller ocean going ships nor do they provide the opportunity to get to know the crew like in smaller ships. Many long time loyal Princess passengers do not want these floating amusement parks and shopping malls and are now looking elsewhere. Mr Padget needs to talk to passengers on board and hear the growns whenever the new ships are mentioned!
Why are these ships no longer operating from Fremantle, At this time everybody in our largest state have to fly to the eastern states to get on a cruise this greatly increases the cost of a cruise holiday