M.S. ROYAL PRINCESS

P&O Princess Cruises

United Kingdom

Northbound in Bosphorus, Istanbul. September, 1990.

Built:

1984 by Wartsila Helsinki Shipyard, Helsinki, Finland.

Technical:

Overall length: 230.6 m
Beam: 29.2 m
Draft: 7.80 m
Gross Tonnage: 45000 tons
Passengers: 1200
Power: 4 Wartsila Pielstick diesels, totaling 39600 HP.
Service Speed: 22 knots

Operating Routes:

Worldwide cruising.

Sister Ships:

None.

Former Names:

None

Later Names:

None.

Owners:

- November, 1984-Present: P&O Princess Cruises, London, United Kingdom.

History and Current Status:

M.S. Royal Princess was built in Finland in 1984 by the very succesful Wartsila Shipyards using a then new design idea called the AOC or "All Outside Cabins". She was a revolutionary new liner for Princess, which was in need to extend their fleet of three small ships to keep up with the competition. She was christened by the Princess of Wales, the late Princess Diana, which I think added to her popularity and grace too. At 45000 GRT, she was considered a big cruise ship by the standards of the mid eigthies and became the most luxurious and cutting edge liner of her time. Operating under the logo of the Princess Cruises of the P&O Group, she spent her time performing cruises all around the world. As of December 2002, she is still in service with Princess and although there are rumours that she has started to become outdated and small by today's standards, she still has a a large percentage of passenger comeback rate.

(email all info about her to ata.bilgili@dartmouth.edu)

Notes:

Dear ship enthusiast! Bow your head and acknowledge that you are looking at one of the most succesful ships of the past 20 years: The M.S. Royal Princess. Well, we like it or not, she really is one of the best ships afloat with a large number of followers. Time sure has proven that the AOC concept of Wartsila was a winner. When I first saw the M.S. Royal Princess on an advertisement card form Wartsila, I had mixed feelings: she looked a bit like an apartment complex on the outside, something that I really do dislike but she also had some of the classical features of the modern shipbuilding theory... The placement and the shape of the funnel, the main mast, the bow lines, the stern, the liferaft arrangement and all other ratios were all perfect. "Well, so what", I thought to myself! "I'll never be able to see her since Princess will probably operate her around the coasts of the United States". This prediction held true for 5 years. The cruise catalogue that I received from Princess in 1989 showed her taking over the cruises that were performed by the M.S. Pacific Princess since 1987. I then took my camera and stationed at my favorite photo opportunity spot to document her passage through Bosphorus. I enjoyed this so much that I repeated the same thing the next year, resulting in the photographs of hers given in this page. A cruise ship with a character, she still roams the waters of the world with success but her future is uncertain in a world with mega liners over 100000 GRT's.

Links: Because of her popularity in the cruise industry, the web is crowded with M.S. Royal rincess websites. I am only going to give a few here.

- Princess Cruises webpage.
- M.S. Royal Princess by Aleksi Lindstrom.
- M.S. Royal Princess by Onno Heesbeen.
- M.S. Royal Princess from Shipphotos.co.uk.
- M.S. Royal Princess at the Passenger Ship Parade.
- M.S. Royal Princess from Simplon Postcards.

Line Drawings:

Other Pictures:

ROYAL PRINCESS	ROYAL PRINCESS	ROYAL PRINCESS	ROYAL PRINCESS	ROYAL PRINCESS
Northbound in Bosphorus. Summer, 1989.	Northbound in Bosphorus. Summer, 1989.	Northbound in Bosphorus. Summer, 1989.	Northbound in Bosphorus. Summer, 1989.	Northbound in Bosphorus. Summer, 1989.

ROYAL PRINCESS	ROYAL PRINCESS	ROYAL PRINCESS
In Bosphorus. Northbound. Summer, 1989.	In Bosphorus. Northbound. Summer, 1989.	In Bosphorus. Northbound. Summer, 1989.

ROYAL PRINCESS	ROYAL PRINCESS	ROYAL PRINCESS
Northbound in Bosphorus. September, 1990.	Northbound in Bosphorus. September, 1990.	Nortbound in Bosphorus. September, 1990.

ROYAL PRINCESS

Northbound in Bosphorus.
Summer, 1989.
Linked to the large original (512KB) created by stitching two pictures together using "Panorama Maker".

Postcards from My Collection:

ROYAL PRINCESS	ROYAL PRINCESS	ROYAL PRINCESS	ROYAL PRINCESS
Official Princess postcard. No date.	Official Princess ad card. No date.	Official Princess ad card. No date.	Official Princess ad card. No date.

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