''Majestic Princess'' is a British-registered operated by

Princess Cruises Princess Cruises is an American cruise line owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. The company is incorporated in Bermuda and its headquarters are in Santa Clarita, California, Santa Clarita, California. As of 2021, it is the List of cruise lines# ...

, a subsidiary of

Carnival Corporation & plc Carnival Corporation & plc is a British-American cruise operator with a combined fleet of over 100 vessels across 10 cruise line brands. A dual-listed company, Carnival is composed of two companies – Panama-incorporated, US-headquartered Carniv ...

. Built by Italian shipbuilder

Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

Monfalcone Monfalcone (; Bisiacco: ; fur, Monfalcon; sl, Tržič; archaic german: Falkenberg) is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Gorizia in Friuli Venezia Giulia, northern Italy, located on the Gulf of Trieste. Monfalcone means 'falcon mountain' ...

and delivered in March 2017, she became the third ''Royal-''class ship to debut in the fleet.

Design

''Majestic Princess'' was originally outfitted to accommodate the Chinese market, with facilities and amenities originally designed to meet Chinese tastes and needs. This included accommodating all passengers with

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

in signage, announcements, and offerings. Such facilities include a

Cantonese cuisine Cantonese or Guangdong cuisine, also known as Yue cuisine ( or ) is the cuisine of Guangdong province of China, particularly the provincial capital Guangzhou, and the surrounding regions in the Pearl River Delta including Hong Kong and Maca ...

-centered specialty restaurant, a tea bar, a VIP casino, and private karaoke rooms. ''Majestic Princess'' has 18 decks, 15 of which are accessible to passengers. She currently measures , has a length of , a draft of , and a beam of . She is powered by a diesel-electric genset system, with four total

Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. The core products of Wärtsilä include technol ...

engines, producing a total output of . Main propulsion is via two propellers, each driven by an electric motor. The system gives the vessel a service speed of and a maximum speed of . The ship houses 1,780 passenger cabins and 757 crew cabins. Of the 1,780 passenger cabins, 81% have a balcony. The ship has a maximum capacity of 5,600 passengers and crew.

Construction

The then-unnamed vessel was ordered on 30 July 2014 from Fincantieri at a cost of €600 million. The ship was planned to carry the same features and design as her two

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

s, and . In May 2015, Princess announced that their third ''Royal''-class ship would be deployed to China year-round and be modified accordingly. On 9 October 2015, it was unveiled that the ship would be named ''Majestic Princess'', and also carry the conjoining Chinese name, 盛世公主号 (''Shèngshì Gōngzhǔ Hào'', literally ''Golden age princess''), an interpretation selected by Carnival PLC China's employees, which means "Grand World" or "Grand Spirit". On 10 July 2015, the ship's keel was laid at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone. She was floated out on 8 February 2016. In January 2017, she successfully completed her sea trials. ''Majestic Princess'' was delivered to Princess Cruises on 30 March 2017 in Monfalcone.

Service history

''Majestic Princess'' embarked on her inaugural cruise on 4 April 2017, a five-day

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) ...

voyage round-trip from

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, visiting

Kotor Kotor (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Котор, ), historically known as Cattaro (from Italian: ), is a coastal town in Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Bay of Kotor. The city has a population of 13,510 and is the administrative c ...

and

Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

. She spent her first month cruising in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

before embarking on a 49-day re-positioning voyage to Asia from Rome on 21 May 2017. She arrived in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

for her Chinese debut on 9 July 2017 and was christened that day by Yao Ming and

Ye Li Ye Li (; born November 20, 1981) is a Chinese professional basketball player who played for the China women's national basketball team The China women's national basketball team represents the People's Republic of China in international wome ...

. ''Majestic Princess'' was originally planned to sail from Shanghai on a year-round basis, but it was later announced that she would begin sailing from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

for approximately half of a year. She debuted in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

in September 2018. Between 2017 and 2021, ''Majestic Princess'' operated sailings in

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

from

Keelung Keelung () or Jilong () (; Hokkien POJ: '), officially known as Keelung City, is a major port city situated in the northeastern part of Taiwan. The city is a part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area, along with its neighbors, New Taipe ...

between April and August, and in Oceania from

between September and March. Originally slated to debut on the

West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...

in fall 2021 from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

to sail to the

Mexican Riviera The Mexican Riviera refers collectively to twenty cities and lagoons lying on the western coast of Mexico. Although there are long distances between these cities, they are often collectively referred to as the ''Mexican Riviera'' because of the ...

and along the

California coast Coastal California, also known as the California Coastline and the Golden Coast, refers to the coastal regions of the U.S. state of California. The term is not primarily geographical as it also describes an area distinguished by cultural, economic ...

, fleet redeployments later scheduled her to debut several months earlier and begin sailing in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

in summer 2021. In mid-November 2022, the ''Majestic Princess'' reported an estimated 800

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

cases among passengers and crew following a twelve day tour of New Zealand that included

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, the

Bay of Islands The Bay of Islands is an area on the east coast of the Far North District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of the most popular fishing, sailing and tourist destinations in the country, and has been renowned internationally for its ...

, and

Fiordland National Park Fiordland National Park occupies the southwest corner of the South Island of New Zealand. It is by far the largest of the 13 national parks in New Zealand, with an area of , and a major part of the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Site. The park i ...

. The ship departed Auckland on 8 November before docking at

in Australia on 12 November. In 2023, It was announced that ''Majestic Princess'' will do Caribbean and Europe cruises in 2025.

References

External links

* {{Princess Ships 2016 ships Ships built by Fincantieri Ships built in Monfalcone Ships of Princess Cruises