Crown Princess

MV Crown Princess

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MV Crown Princess - Princess Cruises

The Crown Princess was built in Italy in 1990. She is the second of three New Buildings that Princess inherited from Sitmar Cruise Line. The first, The Star Princess, was close to completion at the time of the takeover, so provided Princess with no opportunity to make alterations to the design. Princess did have the time and opportunity to make alterations to the design of Crown Princess and here sister Regal however. The result, is a controversial design by Renzo Piano unlike any other at sea. Piano is perhaps best known for his “design” of Paris’s famous, or perhaps infamous, Pompidou Center. This is the building which has basically been built inside out, with the skeletons, and conduits located on the outside of the building…not a pretty site. The same daring approach was taken with the Crown Princess, with Piano grafting the shape of a dolphin into the silhouette of the ship. It IS unique!

The Crown suffers many; of the same design deficiencies shared by her sisters. Perhaps the most glaring being the fact that she has four, count them, four promenades, running parallel to each other, and all ON THE SAME DECK. Even worse than this monumental waste of space, is that none of them circumnavigate the ship…they all run only from the forward theater to the rear placed dining room! The result is a large ship, missing the variety of lounges and public facilities available on other ships her size. The Casino on Crown is located in the DOME, the head of the dolphin profile, which doubles as The Observation Lounge. Although novel, the design has not been imitated on other ships, providing a clue about it success.

Contrary to current trends, the Spa and Fitness area is located in the "basement", in an area with no windows. WHY???

Crown Princess is 69,845 tons. 804.7 feet long. 105.8 feet wide with a 26.5 foot draft. She is Liberian Registered with Italian Officers and an International Crew. (I suspect this may have changed since she is now doing exotic itineraries and Princess tends to put British officers on ships cruising areas of the world which are not repeated on a regular basis.) Crown Princess is Diesel/Electric powered. She was inaugurated by Sophia Loren.

Crown Princess has one virtual twin, the Regal Princess. She also has a sister ship, the current Arcadia (former Star Princess) now sailing for P & O.

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