''Grand Princess'' is a cruise ship owned by Princess Cruises. It was built in 1998 by Fincantieri Cantieri Navali Italiani in Monfalcone, Italy, with yard number 5956, at a cost of approximately US$450 million. She was the largest and most expensive passenger ship ever built at the time.

History

''Grand Princess'' was the first of the s debuting in 1998, and christened by Olivia de Havilland. When ''Grand Princess'' was launched, she featured in the Princess Cruises brochures as a ''Sun''-class ship; it was only with the subsequent launch of that the ''Grand'' class appeared in brochures.The ship has a different decor scheme to her

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, using darker woods, and the interior decor is more similar to the smaller ships. She is the sister ship of and ''Golden Princess''. ''Grand Princess'' was the setting for a task in the

second series The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds eac ...

of the UK version of the reality TV show ''

The Apprentice ''The Apprentice'' is a Reality competition, reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States. Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with variou ...

''. On 19 July 2009, the ship was drydocked for 14 days for refurbishments such as boosting Grand Princess's energy and environmental efficiency.

2011 refit

In May 2011, ''Grand Princess'' completed the most extensive dry-dock in Princess Cruises history that included a refit and removal of the nightclub from her stern. This resolved her tendency to sail bow high, and has improved her fuel economy by about 3–4%. The bow high tendency was specific to ''Grand Princess'' and did not affect her sister ships as they were designed with aluminum upper decks.

Incidents

2017 whale incident

On 9 August 2017, a dead humpback whale was found stuck on the bow of the ship after it docked in Ketchikan, Alaska. Princess Cruises issued a statement that said "It is unknown how or when this happened as the ship felt no impact. It is also unknown, at this time, whether the whale was alive or already deceased before becoming lodged on the bow." It was the second time in two years that a whale had been carried into an Alaska port on the bow of a cruise ship.

2020 coronavirus pandemic

References

Bibliography

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External links

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The picture of ''Grand Princess'' departing from Fort Lauderdale post refit.
{{Princess Ships Ships of Princess Cruises Ships built in Monfalcone 1998 ships Ships built by Fincantieri Cruise ships involved in the COVID-19 pandemic