The 1970′s TV show “The Love Boat” was a very successful franchise for Spelling/Goldberg. But it was an even bigger advertising venue for the cruise ship industry in general, and specially for Princess Cruise. Till now, when anyone says cruising the Mexican Riviera, it’s the image of the show’s Island Princess and the Pacific Princess which comes to mind. Too bad that was almost 20 years ago.
Since then, the Pacific Cruise Line (and its owners, Britain’s Peninsular & Occidental Steam Navigation Company, also called P&O, has been bought by Carnival Corporation & Plc., and with 16 luxury liners it still runs the names of Island Princess and Pacific Princess sailing the Pacific.
Princess Lines runs cruises to Alaska, Asia, the Mexican Riviera, Australia and New Zealand, Canada and New England, Caribbean, Europe, Hawaii, Tahiti and South Pacific, the Panama Canal and South America. It has 35 embarkation points and hundreds of ports of call.
Princess Cruise categorizes their ships very simply. It’s either it’s big (larger than 100,000 gross tonnage) or small.
The larger class of ships is called the “Grand Class.” With the Grand Princess, Star Princess and Golden Princess of 109,000 gross tonnage, 951 feet in length and 14 decks. These carry 2,600 passengers in luxurious accommodations. The Diamond Princess and Sapphire Princess are of 116,000 gross tonnage, 951 feet in length and 13 decks and can carry 2,670 passengers. The Caribbean Princess is of 113,000 gross tonnage, 951 feet and 15 decks, capable of carrying 3100 passengers. The Emerald Princess and the Crown Princess are also of 113,000 gross tonnage, 951 feet in length and 15 decks and capable of carrying 3,070 passengers. The Ruby Princess is set to debut in November 2008 and it is of the same class as the Emerald Princess and the Crown Princess. All of the Grand Class passengers have seaward cabins as these ships were designed with no interior cabins.
It also has the “small ships of Princess.” Four luxury liners of 700 passenger capacity: the Pacific Princess, the Royal Princess, the Tahitian Princess and the Ocean Princess. These cater to a niche market which Princess Lines, calls the “small ship cruising.”
