There are some busy months ahead for Princess Cruises. The company’s newest cruise ship, Enchanted Princess, arrived in Fort Lauderdale ahead of her long-delayed maiden voyage. In the meantime, Princess Cruises is making preparations for a total of eight Medallion-class ships that will be sailing this fall.
Before the pause in operations in March of last year, Princess Cruises had grown from a modest cruise line sailing with one vessel to the Mexican coastline back in 1965 to become one of the biggest cruise lines in the world. Its fleet of 14 modern cruise ships, carrying two million guests each year to 380 destinations. A milestone the company hopes to be able to return to soon.
Enchanted Princess Prepares for Maiden Caribbean Season
Princess Cruises’ newest cruise ship Enchanted Princess arrived in Fort Lauderdale ahead of her maiden season in the Caribbean. Her maiden cruise is still a few months away with her first voyage scheduled for November 10. She arrived in Fort Lauderdale on September 2 after sailing for 15 days from Augusta, Italy.
The 145,281 gross tons Enchanted Princess will sail from Fort Lauderdale to six different ports of call, these include Princess Cays in the Bahamas, St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Curacao, and Aruba, before she concludes her maiden voyage in Ft. Lauderdale.
The 3,660 passenger Royal-class cruise ship was delivered to princess cruises back in August of 2019 and has not sailed with guests yet. Scheduled for her christening in June 2020 in Southampton, the pandemic stopped the party for Princess Cruises.
The company’s newest ship has been fitted with the Medallion-Class technology, which means that guests can enjoy a wide range of innovations on board. Guests can expect expedited boarding; on-demand food anywhere and everywhere, beverage, retail, and service delivery; keyless stateroom entry; contactless payment; a friends and family locator through the onboard app and the Medallion wearable; and superfast internet.
Total of Eight Ships Will Commence Sailings This Fall
Besides the maiden cruise for Enchanted Princess, Princess Cruises has plans to start operations with no less than eight vessels this fall sailing from Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Fort Lauderdale. The ships will be sailing on voyages to the Caribbean, the Panama Canal, Mexico, Hawaii, and the California Coast.
Jan Swartz, Princess Cruises president: “As we continue our return to service, it is a thrill for us to be able to bring more cruise vacation options to our travel-starved guests. We appreciate the support of government and port officials who we worked closely with to make these travel opportunities available, in a thoughtful and safe way, for our guests.”
Safety onboard comes through the cruise line’s health policy, which includes that all guests onboard must be fully vaccinated 14 days before sailing. The guidelines also include, at least until October 31, that all fully vaccinated guests produce a negative, medically-observed COVID-19 test (PCR or antigen) taken within two days of their embarkation on all Princess sailings.
Between September 25 and November 28, 2021, eight ships are scheduled to resume. Majestic Princess and Grand Princess will be sailing from Los Angeles this fall; the vessels will be cruising the California Coast and Mexico on seven-day cruises, Hawaii on 15-day cruises, and three- to five-day Getaway cruises to the California Coast and Mexico.
Also Read: Princess Cruises to Resume Operations From Florida and California
Ruby Princess will also be based in California. Sailing out of San Francisco, Ruby Princess will start with seven-day California Coast cruises before exploring Hawaii on a 15-day cruise and 10-day cruises to Mexico. Five other Princess Cruises ships will all be based out of Fort Lauderdale.
Besides Enchanted Princess, four other vessels, including Sky Princess, Regal Princess, and Caribbean Princess, will be sailing the Eastern and Western Caribbean on three-, five-, seven- and 14-day cruises. Finally, Crown Princess will resume operations from Fort Lauderdale and cruise the Panama Canal on a series of 10-day voyages.
