Category — Princess Cruises

Courtesy of Princess Cruises

The immense job of drydocking Sea Princess will be featured in the June 3 episode of National Geographic Channel’s (NGC) top-rated show, World’s Toughest Fixes. TV viewers can go behind the scenes as host Sean Riley follows the entire process from the time the Princess Cruises ship enters the drydock to the final sea trials.

Airing on Thursday, June 3 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NGC, the show was filmed while Sea Princess was in a regularly scheduled drydock at BAE Systems San Francisco Ship Repair last September. The episode focuses on the enormous task of completing a multitude of drydock projects in just 15 days, with emphasis on several technical “fixes” on the bottom of the ship that could only be accessed when the ship is out of the water.

“This is a unique opportunity for audiences to really appreciate the amazing around-the-clock effort needed to keep our ships in top shape to deliver the experience our passengers expect,” said Jan Swartz, Princess Cruises executive vice president. “We’re excited that the National Geographic Channel was interested in featuring this rare behind-the-scenes project.”

One of the network’s most popular shows, World’s Toughest Fixestakes viewers inside some of the most daunting repair jobs with Riley, a professional master rigger, as he works with many of the world’s top mechanics to show how they tackle these challenging fixes. World’s Toughest Fixes airs Thursdays at 9pm ET/PT on NGC.

Riley joins the Sea Princess drydock crew on a number of tasks, adding his own elbow grease and expertise along the way and tries out several drydock jobs. He helps strip and power wash the hull, tries his hand at upholstery work and joins the team working high up on the ship to seal the windows. He even gives viewers an up-close view inside the tail shaft housing as he crawls in to show the audience the work being done.

Throughout the episode viewers will get a glimpse of the buzz of activity on a ship in drydock, including a look at installation of carpet and floors, the stripping of wooden decks, and even a glimpse of the ship’s new adults-only Sanctuary which was constructed during the drydock.

Courtesy of Princess Cruises.

Reviving a signature tradition from the early days of cruising, Princess Cruises debuts an innovative, new program giving passengers the opportunity to invite their friends and family aboard their ship on embarkation day to wish them “bon voyage” and get a taste of the onboard experience.

Called the “Bon Voyage Experience^SM,” the program is a new twist on the departure celebration of bygone days, when friends and family would routinely come aboard to see off passengers. Because of increasingly tighter security procedures, this practice disappeared more than two decades ago, but it’s now back — complete with lunch in the dining room and tour of the ship. [Read more →]

Courtesy of Princess Cruises.

This year Princess Cruises offers passengers some fresh ways to experience Alaska up close and personal with a variety of new shore excursions for the summer. Among the 20 new options is a unique opportunity to join a scientific expedition while in Juneau to help study climate change and wildlife behavior patterns.

Passengers can also get closer to the dramatic glaciers of Tracy Arm, pilot their own zodiac on a tour of Ketchikan or enjoy the opportunity for animal encounters at a film trainer’s wildlife park. These new options join Princess’ extensive shore excursion program, which currently offers 215 different Alaska tour options for passengers starting in May.

“Alaska offers so many thrilling experiences for visitors — there’s beautiful scenery nearly everywhere you turn, great opportunities to encounter wildlife, an intriguing Native culture, and of course the towering glaciers,” said Charlie Ball, president of Princess Tours. “These new excursions showcase some of the many wonders available throughout this amazing state, and offer visitors a number of ways to get a very personal Alaska vacation.” [Read more →]

Courtesy of Princess Cruises.

Princess Cruises has debuted an innovative array of digital documents designed to transform the way passengers plan for and learn about their upcoming cruise. The all-new electronic format will deliver more information about their cruise than ever before, arriving conveniently by email and right to their computer desktop from the time of booking and continuing through departure.

The timely digital documents include a brand-new email series filled with personalized pre-cruise information, a downloadable Princess Countdown Connection^SM widget that delivers useful and entertaining information to a passenger’s computer, personalized online luggage tags, and customizable shore excursion eBooks. The change from printed information to fully digital documents applies to all North American passengers on voyages departing on or after January 21, 2010. [Read more →]

Courtesy of Princess Cruises

With its stunning scenery, abundant wildlife, and plethora of active adventure opportunities, Alaska offers the perfect family vacation. To make it easier for families to plan a trip to the 49th state, Princess Cruises has added a fun new cruisetour option designed especially with family groups in mind.

The 12-night cruisetour offers the best of Alaska by land and sea and includes a variety of special features not usually included in a cruisetour package. Families will have the opportunity to travel on a jetboat, pan for gold, take an interactive tour of Denali National Park, and experience what Alaska is like in the winter when it’s many degrees below zero.

“This is really the ultimate family vacation,” said Charlie Ball, president of Princess Tours. “Alaska is a wonderful travel destination with kids, so we wanted to make it easy and affordable to plan the perfect Alaska experience for everyone in the family.”

The Family Fun cruisetour includes a seven-night Voyage of the Glaciers cruise plus a five-night land tour featuring one night at Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge, two nights at Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge and two nights at Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge. At sea, families can also take advantage of Princess’ many onboard programs especially for children, including a special Junior Ranger program in Glacier Bay National Park.

In addition, the following special extras are included in the tour:

Daily Breakfast – Everyone in the family can start their morning off with the most important meal of the day.

Rail Service with Lunch – Princess’ acclaimed Direct-to-the-Wilderness rail service gets families to their wilderness lodge faster, and includes lunch aboard the train.

Three Rivers Jetboat Tour (Mt. McKinley) –
An exhilarating alternative to taking a motorcoach to Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge, this tour travels from Talkeetna to the lodge by jetboat, with stops along the river to view historic encampments and learn about the native wildlife.

Arctic Blast (Denali) – Family members can experience winter in Alaska — in the summertime. This special chamber is chilled to wintertime temperatures, so visitors can find out what happens to hot water when it is thrown in the air and whether soap bubbles can survive the cold.

Music of Denali Dinner Theater (Denali) – This rollicking musical comedy tells the legend of the first expedition to the summit of Mt. McKinley, accompanied by a hearty, family-style meal featuring smokehouse ribs and Alaska salmon.

Experience Alaska with Alaska Geographic Tour (Denali) – A more intimate tour of Denali National Park, this special experience includes a variety of interactive experiences, including an enhanced view of the Denali ecosystem and current research taking place. The narrated bus tour takes guests 15 miles into the park to a beautiful river valley where they embark on a short walk to the historic Savage River Camp, where they can participate in a number of hands-on experiences.

Denali Sourdough Expedition Breakfast (Denali) – While fueling up for the day with a family-style, Alaskan roadhouse-style breakfast, guests experience an unforgettable journey up Denali through breathtaking images in Laurent Dick’s Climb Denali. Participants have the opportunity to meet this real mountain climber and ask questions about mountain climbing.

Riverboat Cruise and El Dorado Goldmine Tour (Fairbanks) – Families can enjoy traveling on an authentic sternwheeler for a fully-narrated cruise along the Chena River and try their hands at gold panning at the El Dorado Gold Mine, where they will learn about Alaska’s gold mining history.

Courtesy of Princess Cruises.

For the tenth year, Princess Cruises is ending the Alaska season by recognizing top-rated local tour operators with the line’s C.R.U.I.S.E. service awards for best shore excursion experiences, based on passenger feedback.

The annual awards, which underscore the important role that Alaska and Northwest tour operators play in a passenger’s cruise experience, celebrate the most popular tours, individual guides and dock representatives in the communities where Princess ships call. Winners are determined primarily by tour scores and comments made on passenger surveys throughout the season, and are chosen from the extensive line-up of more than 200 Alaska shore excursion options offered on Princess ships. [Read more →]

Courtesy of Princess Cruises

Princess has added a rare opportunity to its 2010 cruisetour lineup in Europe — a unique cruisetour designed to include the famed Oberammergau Passion Play, which is performed only once each decade in this small Bavarian village in Germany.

The new 18-day “Oberammergau & Highlights of Germany” tour features two nights in the southern German town of Oberammergau, and includes tickets to the event. Passengers will also visit a variety of other top German destinations during the eight-day land tour, including Frankfurt, the Black Forest, Munich, Nuremberg and Berlin. In addition, the tour will connect seamlessly with a 10-day Scandinavia/Russia cruise aboard Star Princess. Two departures are offered on August 2 and August 12, 2010.

“This is such a unique opportunity, one that literally only comes around once every 10 years,” said Jan Swartz, Princess Cruises executive vice president. “This new cruisetour makes it easy to enjoy this famous event, plus take in many of the other attractions for which Germany is famous, coupled with one of our wonderful cruises through the Baltic region. This is yet another example of our commitment to provide our passengers with fascinating experiences around the world.”

The Oberammergau Passion Play has been held every ten years since 1634 in thanksgiving for deliverance from the Black Death in 1633. The play is now performed in years ending with a zero (except 1984 which was the 350th anniversary), and involves more than 2000 actors, singers, instrumentalists and technicians, all of whom are residents of the village. All cast members have lived in the village at least 20 years and must be amateurs of high moral and ethical principles. Villagers also make all the costumes for the production and, as no wigs are used, participants must grow their hair and beards for several months prior to the performances.

The “Oberammergau & Highlights of Germany” cruisetour is one of Princess’ four Europe cruisetour options available next season. Travelers can also opt for the 18-day “Europe’s Imperial Treasures,” which features the cathedrals and castles of four capitals that have figured prominently in history — Budapest, Vienna, Prague and Berlin — and includes a Star Princess Scandinavia and Russia sailing. The 17-day “Classic Italy” tour offers the charms of Florence and Rome, and can connect to a number of Princess’ Mediterranean sailings. The 16-day “Ring of Kerry” tour offers some of the Emerald Isle’s most inspiring landscapes with visits to Shannon, Killarney and Cork, plus a Crown Princess British Isles cruise.

Courtesy of Princess Cruises.

Five years after revolutionizing movie-going at sea with its innovative Movies Under the Stars screens, Princess Cruises has teamed with celebrated film critic and historian Leonard Maltin to bring passengers yet another new way to experience movies onboard — an exclusive Leonard Maltin Movie Club. Debuting fleetwide, the new club gives passengers the opportunity to join fellow film buffs to discuss specially selected motion pictures during their cruise.

With this program, Princess will showcase a new film chosen by Mr. Maltin each month. Passengers will not only be able to enjoy the open-air poolside Movies Under the Stars viewing experience, but will also be able to gather for a thought-provoking discussion to gain greater perspective on the film.

In addition, passengers can catch up on many popular and classic films with a new Leonard Maltin Movie Channel available in staterooms.

The new partnership celebrates the fifth anniversary of Movies Under the Stars, which first debuted on Caribbean Princess. The giant Times Square-style movie screens are now available on eight ships, and will be added to most other ships in the Princess fleet by 2011.

“For many people in this country, there’s no more recognizable movie expert than Leonard Maltin,” said Jan Swartz, Princess Cruises executive vice president. “Given the popularity of Movies Under the Stars, we know our passengers love watching films, so it’s a great opportunity to enhance the experience by featuring Mr. Maltin’s expertise with this new movie club and dedicated movie channel.”

The Leonard Maltin Movie Club invites passengers to view a specially selected film on Movies Under the Stars or in the Princess Theater. Each month, a new movie will be featured, with a special video introduction from Mr. Maltin. Soon, films will be announced prior to the sailing, so passengers will know what Movie Club selection will be presented on their cruise. Upcoming films include titles such as “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Slumdog Millionaire” and “The Wrestler.”

Later, the cruise staff will host a gathering for passengers featuring a group discussion of the film, guided by questions and trivia from Mr. Maltin. The one-hour club meeting is open to all passengers.

For passengers who want to further enjoy films in their stateroom, the Leonard Maltin Movie Channel on the ship’s television system will feature a selection of contemporary, classic and animated movies specially selected by Mr. Maltin.

As part of this new relationship with Princess, Leonard Maltin himself will be traveling aboard a Princess ship to share his movie insights with passengers in a series of onboard presentations, and to host the Movie Club. Mr. Maltin’s sailing will be announced at a later date.

Leonard Maltin is one of the country’s most recognized and respected film critics and historians. He may be best known as the resident film buff on the popular syndicated program “Entertainment Tonight,” where he has appeared since 1982. However, long before he became a familiar face on television, his annual paperback “Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide” established his reputation; he was 18 when the first edition was published. He has also published numerous other books and articles, and teaches at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. In addition, Mr. Maltin has created television specials and DVDs on film topics, currently hosts the weekly program “Secret’s Out” on ReelzChannel, and introduces movies on DirecTV.

Movies Under the Stars poolside screens have been a signature feature on Princess ships since first debuting on Caribbean Princess in 2004. They are now featured on Crown Princess, Emerald Princess, Ruby Princess, Grand Princess, Star Princess, Golden Princess and Sea Princess. The giant LED screens are more than 300 square feet in size with 69,000-watt sound systems and sufficient lighting power to be seen clearly at mid-day and heard even while the ship is moving at full speed — offering cruise passengers a movie experience comparable to the best shoreside movie theater. Other special programs presented on the giant screens include sporting events such as the Super Bowl, the college football Bowl Championship Series, video game contests with Nintendo’s Wii, a variety of concert events with artists such as Christina Aguilera and Matchbox Twenty, and even midnight showings of cult films such as “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

Courtesy of Princess Cruises

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Courtesy of Princess Cruises

The Golden Princess floated out of drydock on May 5th, signaling the completion of the most extensive makeover ever undertaken by Princess Cruises.

The amenities added during the drydock were the Princess signature features already aboard the line’s newest ships, Crown Princess, Emerald Princess and Ruby Princess. Many were introduced aboard on Caribbean Princess, Star Princess and Grand Princess during earlier drydock periods.

Some of the new amenities include a redesigned atrium with a new Piazza. The Piazza now has an inviting street cafe atmosphere featuring roving entertainers and two new dining options. The Golden Princess also received a new restaurant called Crown Grill where passengers can enjoy watching as chefs prepare chops, steaks and seafood, including live lobsters.

The Sanctuary, Princess’ signature retreat featuring plush padded lounge chairs and the services of dedicated Serenity Stewards was added and visitors to this exclusive space can enjoy refreshing beverages and light snacks, or receive a massage in one of two private cabanas.

The Golden Princess now has Movies Under the Stars featuring a state-of-the-art Times Square-style LED screen, offering evening movies and a variety of daytime programming.  

Lastly, as part of the renovation, Golden Princess was fitted with seven new window suites with ocean-view picture windows, and a relocated casino on deck 7, bringing it into the ship’s central entertainment area. In addition, 10 new balcony suites and two ocean view cabins were added in the aft of the ship, replacing the former video arcade. Other changes include new locations for the sports court, a new Limelight boutique, new shore excursions and Captain’s Circle desks, new Internet cafe and library, and the addition of new gym equipment in the fitness center.