The ''Royal''-class cruise ship is a class of

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...

s constructed by

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 ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and 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. As of 2021, it is the second largest cruise line by net revenue. It w ...

and

P&O Cruises P&O Cruises is a British cruise line based at Carnival House in Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. It was originally a subsidiary of the shipping company P&O and was founded in 1977. Along ...

, both subsidiaries 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 ...

. There are seven ''Royal''-class ships, with six operated by Princess and one by P&O. The

lead vessel The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...

of the class, , debuted in June 2013 for Princess. is a derivation of design from Princess' version and debuted in 2015. The final ''Royal''-class ship, the entered service in spring 2022.

History

Orders

In early 2010,

and Carnival Corporation reached an agreement to build two

s for

. The agreement was subject to the execution of a definitive contract, financing and other customary conditions. The contract was finalized on 4 May 2010. While in the midst of economic downturn, Princess managed to continue the contract with the help of Italian Export Credit Companies, particularly SACE S.p.A. On 1 June 2011, Carnival Corporation announced an order for a new 141,000-ton cruise ship for

. Estimated at a cost of €559 million, the ship would become the largest ship built specifically for the British market. On 30 July 2014, Carnival Corporation announced it was ordering the third ''Royal''-class vessel for Princess, at a cost of €600 million. In March 2015, Carnival Corporation signed a strategic agreement with Fincantieri, which included the fourth and fifth ''Royal''-class vessels for Princess. The contract for these ships were finalized on 2 April 2016. In January 2017, Carnival Corporation signed a memorandum of agreement with Fincantieri for the sixth and final ''Royal''-class ship for Princess.

Planning and design

The two first ships of the ''Royal'' class were designed to have a gross tonnage of , with a passenger capacity of 3,600. The new ships were predicted to enter service in mid-2013 and 2014 and were to become the largest new-build vessels to date for Princess Cruises. Design features were planned to evolve from existing Princess staples, such as an expanded "Piazza" central atrium as well as an expansion in balcony accommodations, which would become available across 80% of all staterooms on the vessels. Following the delivery of the first two ''Royal''-class ships, P&O's ''Royal''-class vessel became the biggest ship built by Fincantieri at her time of delivery. At approximately , she housed 1,837 staterooms for a total guest capacity of 4,324 passengers, and up to 5,700 total people, including the crew. The third, fourth, and fifth Princess ships were slated to have a slight increase in gross tonnage, at , from their older sister ships. The final Princess ship was planned with another increase in gross tonnage to , with an increase in guest capacity by 100 to 3,660 passengers.

Summary

Princess Cruises

On 15 March 2011, the name of the first ''Royal''-class vessel was officially announced as ''Royal Princess''. It is the third ship in Princess fleet to carry this name after the last ship left in May 2011. The ship was officially handed over to Princess on 30 May 2013 and christened by

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge Catherine, Princess of Wales, (born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton; 9 January 1982) is a member of the British royal family. She is married to William, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne, making Catherine the likely next ...

on 13 June 2013. On 28 August 2012, Princess announced that the sister ship to the new ''Royal Princess'' would be named ''Regal Princess''. the second ship to have carried that name for Princess. She was delivered to Princess on 11 May 2014 and christened by the original cast of ''

The Love Boat ''The Love Boat'' is an American romantic comedy/drama television series that aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986; in addition, four three-hour specials aired in 1986, 1987, and 1990. The series was set on the luxury passenger cruise ship MS ''Pa ...

'' on 5 November 2014. On 9 October 2015, the third vessel's name, ''Majestic Princess'', was announced. She was originally designed to be purpose-built for the Chinese market and homeported 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 flowin ...

year-round. She was delivered on 30 March 2017 and christened 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 ...

on 9 July 2017. On 30 November 2017, Princess announced that the name of the fourth ''Royal''-class vessel would be ''Sky Princess'', the second ship to have carried that name for Princess. She was delivered on 15 October 2019 and christened by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

astronaut and

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

Captain

Kay Hire Kathryn Patricia "Kay" Hire (born August 26, 1959) is a former NASA astronaut and Captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve who has flown aboard two Space Shuttle missions. Education Born in Mobile, Alabama, she attended St. Pius X Catholic Elementar ...

and NASA engineer Poppy Northcutt on 7 December 2019. On 20 August 2018, the fifth ''Royal''-class vessel was announced as ''Enchanted Princess''. Prior to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, she had been scheduled to debut on 15 June 2020. On 4 October 2019, Princess revealed that the sixth and final ''Royal''-class vessel would be named ''Discovery Princess'', which was scheduled to begin operating in November 2021.

P&O Cruises

Two years after P&O's only ''Royal''-class ship was ordered, on 24 September 2013, the ship's name was announced as . She was delivered to P&O Cruises on 22 February 2015 in Monfalcone. ''Britannia'' arrived in Southampton on 6 March 2015, was christened by Queen Elizabeth II on 10 March, and entered service on her maiden voyage on 14 March.

Ships

References

{{Royal Class Cruise Ships , state=collapsed Ships of Princess Cruises Ships of P&O Cruises Cruise ship classes Ships built by Fincantieri