On 17 February 2010, Carnival Corporation & plc reached an agreement with Italian shipbuilder,
Fincantieri, to build two prototype ships for Princess. The ships were designed to measure approximately 139,000 GT with a passenger capacity of 3,600 and had scheduled debuts for spring 2013 and 2014, respectively. The final contract for the two ships was signed on 4 May 2010. The ship is reported to have cost $735 million. On 15 March 2011, Princess and Fincantieri celebrated the cutting of the steel for the new-build vessel at the shipyard in
Monfalcone, Italy. The same day, it was announced she would be named
Royal Princess, in honor of the former ships with the name in the cruise line's history. Her
keel-laying ceremony was held on 20 October 2011. She
floated out of the shipyard on 16 August 2012.
Delivery and christening On 30 May 2013,
Royal Princess was officially presented to Princess in
Monfalcone. On 9 April 2013, it was announced that
the Duchess of Cambridge would name
Royal Princess in a naming ceremony in
Southampton, United Kingdom on 13 June 2013. The ceremony upheld British ship-naming traditions, including the blessing and a performance by the
Royal Marines and the pipers of the
Irish Guards. The ship arrived at the Ocean Terminal in Southampton on 7 June and hosted events for customers and travel agents, including a special naming gala on the evening of 12 June. The ship's inaugural celebrations concluded with her maiden voyage on 16 June.
Atlantic and Mediterranean service To start her inaugural season,
Royal Princess performed two 2-night preview sailings from Southampton to
St. Peter Port,
Guernsey on 9 June 2013 and 14 June 2013. She left on her 7-day maiden voyage on 16 June 2013 from Southampton to
Barcelona, calling in
Vigo,
Lisbon,
Gibraltar, and
Málaga. A back-up generator provided power for essential services, but the cruise terminated in Naples for emergency repairs and the ship resumed regular sailings from Barcelona on 27 September. The ship was sailing a 12-day Mediterranean cruise from Venice at the time of the incident. the
Baltic, and the
British Isles, during the summer seasons, with several short fall seasons cruising the
Canadian Maritimes and
New England coast. On 13 November 2018, a 52-year-old woman was reported dead after falling from the upper decks onto a
lifeboat. Authorities from the
FBI and
Aruba investigated the incident, no charges were filed. The ship was sailing an 8-day
Southern Caribbean cruise from Port Everglades at the time of the incident and was en route to Aruba at the time of the woman's death.
Royal Princess was refurbished in a wet dock in
Freeport, Bahamas in December 2018.
Pacific service On 2 February 2019, she re-positioned to
Los Angeles, California via a 49-day voyage circumnavigating South America and became the first
Royal-class ship to call at a port in the
Western United States. Beginning in March 2019,
Royal Princess sails to the
Mexican Riviera and along the
California coast from her homeport of
Port of Los Angeles during the fall, winter, and spring seasons, and along the
Alaskan coast from her homeports of
Vancouver, British Columbia and
Whittier, Alaska during the summer seasons. On 13 May 2019, six people died when two
floatplanes, all carrying passengers from
Royal Princess, collided in midair near
Ketchikan, Alaska. All passengers and the pilot aboard a Mountain Air Service
De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver and one passenger aboard a
Taquan Air De Havilland
DHC-3 Otter were reported dead at the scene. After completing the Alaska circuit in 2022,
Royal Princess served the West Coast market from San Francisco in 2022/2023, and the Australia and South Pacific circuit in 2023/2024. ==References==