Grand Princess is a Grand-classcruise 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 Grand-class cruise ships 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 Golden Princess that the Grand class appeared in brochures.The ship has a different decor scheme to her sister ships, using darker woods, and the interior decor is more similar to the smaller Sun-class ships.
She is the sister ship of Star Princess and Golden Princess. Grand Princess was the setting for a task in the second series of the UK version of the reality TV show The Apprentice.
On 19 July 2009, the ship was drydocked for 14 days for refurbishments such as boosting Grand Princess's energy and environmental efficiency.[2]
2011 refit
The aft nightclub atop the aft of Grand Princess (pictured in 2009) was removed in the 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.[3][4] 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.[5] 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."[6] 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.[6][7]
