Cruise Blog

Princess Cruises have released a sneak peek into the entertainment onboard the forthcoming Royal Princess. This quick video showcases a selection of lounge bars, the casino and the Princess Theatre, as well as the light entertainment and musicians playing in the ships' heart — the Piazza.

Casino 6 is a new nightclub onboard Royal Princess, while the elegant Crooners Bar and Bellini's offer piano music and cocktails, giving you somewhere to dance the night away, or to sup on your favourite tipple in opulent surroundings.

The Princess Theatre onboard Royal Princess will be the largest in the fleet offering the usual selection of Broadway-esque shows and fabulous evening entertainment. The Vista Lounge, another Princess favourite, will feature a Vegas-style show band along with the usual selection of guest performers from musicians to comedians.

Princess Cruises really are pulling out all the stops with their new flagship and their foray into 5* cruising.

With the clock ticking and passengers due to embark on the new Grand Princess in a matter of days we pick up the action with Martyn as the crew madly put the finishing touches into place.

With the Piazza taking shape the old Atrium has almost been forgotten about and the new hub of the ship is coming together at an incredible pace. With new bars, restaurants, cafes and shopping all calling the Piazza home in a matter of days. From here on in the way the ship transforms in just four days is incredible impressive.

Tick, Tick, Tick

There are fours days until the first passengers arrive onboard the ship and Martyn meets up with Casey Scholtz, the Piazza's project manager to see how things are going. Alfredo's pizza oven is in place and the flooring and tile work throughout the International Cafe, Vines and Alfredo's is taking shape.

All Hands On Deck

Martyn is back in the Piazza as the finishing touches to Crooners are put into place and Leaves Tea Room kicks into gear. The gym has had a face lift with new equipment fit throughout and up on deck the teak decking is being replaced and the area where Skywalker's once stood is taking shape.

Finishing Touches

With one day until passengers arrive the Grand Princess is taking shape at an incredible rate. The Casino is finished and the completely rebuild spa has their first customer as Martyn gets a trim while admiring the new facilities.

The New Grand Princess

To sign off from this great video dairy Martyn heads to the International Cafe for coffee and cake before taking us to Alfredo's, where Princess Cruises executive chef prepares the first pizzas. He pops into Vines Wine Bar for a chat with the maitre d' and sommelier and to sample the new menu, followed by a trip to leaves to show off the 250 tea variations on offer.

In less then four weeks Princess Cruises have taken one of their most popular ships and given her some serious TLC. The former flagship, and one time most expensive ship at sea, can take pride among the best ships to sail from Southampton this year, and I can't wait to go and see her in person. The question will be whether to enjoy the new rear sun deck, one of the updated lounge bars or whether to indulge in the great new dining venues, such as the New York themed Crown Grill.

The New Grand Princess has undergone an incredible impressive revitalization in an even more impressive amount of time. Well done Princess and well done to all the crew involved.

When ships head into drydock we usually hear about all the fantastic new facilities and changes that are taking place onboard, but rarely do we get to take a look behind the scenes. Having taken a look at what Princess Cruises have planned for their former flagship I thought I would take the time to look at the crew involved in brining the ship back to life, from the ships Captain, to the vast team looking after the crew.

Taking a 109,000 tonne ship, that has been a signature of Princess Cruises for such a long time, and brining her back to glory in 25 days is no mean feat. The new Grand Princess was pulled apart and affectionately bought back to life by the ships crew along with 1,000 contractors and the shipyard's own team.

To get a huge amount of work done to incredible standards, in such a short space of time is very impressive and needs a dedicated team. Whether you are the artist bought in to touch-up or repair the ships art work, the engineers working on the in-port power connections, or you are preparing the meals and refreshments for this tireless crew, you have all played a huge part in giving us a good-as-new cruise liner, ready to grace the port and Southampton and Europe's wonderful destinations.

Captain's Blog

Captain Tony Herriott takes time out of his busy schedule to talk to Martyn about the work taking place onboard. It's a very different job being in drydock, having replaced his passengers with 1,000 contractors and doing a sand coloured uniform (I'm not sure his usual white uniform would last too long!) while attending the major jobs onboard.

Ready, Steady, Cook

During drydock Executive Chef, David McDonald Greves, takes a few minutes to discuss feeding the 2,000 daily, hungry workers onboard. During a typical breakfast they were going through 275kg of scrambled egg, 80 kg of bacon and 80kg of pork sausages, lunch would consist of up to 3,000 sandwiches and 200 litres of soup, with 90kg of pasta being served in the evening.

The People In Power

Martyn heads down to the engine control room to talk to the engineers about the upgrades and changes to the ships power plant. With Alaska imposing increasing stringent requirements to cruise in the region, the ships engineers are developing a new power room, so in ports such as Juneau, the ship can connect to the ports own power supply, offering more environmentally aware solutions to keeping the ship running. There is also some news on the engines efficiency, as the Grand Princess can now sail at 22 knots, will only consuming the same amount of fuel as she did at 21 knots.

The Fall Guy

To round off the team revitalising the Grand Princess, Martyn talks to Steve Storey, the project manager onboard Grand Princess. Steve has over seen 30 drydocks in his career, though this has to be the largest project yet. His day-to-day work includes managing up to 1,400 contractors, managing the budgets, crew and every aspect of the changes and improvements onboard.

With the ship now at sea, we know that the crew have pulled together to bring about an amazing transformation of the ship, but they are often forgotten about. The 'new' Grand Princess has been a home, construction site, dining room and place of work for a huge team during the project, and it already looks like it was worth all the effort.