New Carnival Ship Set To Sail In 2017
Carnival plc today marked the beginning of construction of Princess Cruises’ third new generation of ships with the official keel laying ceremony at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy. As the keel was ceremoniously lowered into position and shipyard officials celebrated the occasion with a traditional Chinese lion dance. This, yet-to-be-named ship, will be customized to appeal to the China market when it debuts in summer 2017.
Following the lion dance and a traditional blessing by a priest, the ship’s keel — which weighs approximately 500 tons — was moved into position by crane onto the keel blocks. The computer-guided maneuver took only minutes, belying the more than two million man-hours that will ultimately go into building the vessel. The 3,600-passenger, 141,000-ton ship will remain in the building dock until float out next summer.
Anthony Kaufman, senior vice president of Asia operations for Princess Cruises, observed: “We’re incredibly excited to mark this step in the ship’s construction. We’re very pleased to be working with our long-term partner, Fincantieri, on our newest ship and we appreciate their partnership and collaboration to customize and tailor the ship for the Chinese market.”
The new Royal Class ship will offer many of the same special features as Royal Princess and Regal Princess, which have been so well-received by the industry. These include a dramatic multi-story atrium serving as the social hub of the ship; an over-the-ocean SeaWalk, a top-deck glass-bottomed walkway extending 28 feet beyond the edge of the ship; the Princess Live! interactive studio; a special Chef’s Table Lumiere, a private dining experience that surrounds diners in a curtain of light.
Sail on over to http://www.princess.com for more.
Seen in the photo, from l to r, are Cherry Wang, country director, Carnival China; Attilio Dapelo, Fincantieri Shipyard director; and Anthony Kaufman, senior vice-president, Asia Operations, Princess Cruises as they push the red button to start the traditional keel laying ceremony.
