A Majestic Arrival

Majestic Princess arrived in Sydney Tuesday morning (Australian time) just before dawn to kick off the 2019-2020 summer cruise season.

Majestic Princess, Princess Cruises' newest ship (until next month), has spent the northern summer months in China and Asia and is returning to Australia for their summer season for the second time.

Details appeared in the September 16 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Majestic Princess Lands in Sydney

Majestic Princess arrived at Sydney for the first time on Saturday morning (their time) and became the largest ship Princess has ever operated in Australia at 143,700 tons.

The complete story appeared in the September 14 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

This B-roll includes several views of Majestic Princess arriving, including a spectacular "captain's eye" view from the bridge for the pre-dawn approach and berthing at the terminal.

Such a Nice Day, the Crew Thought They'd Get Some Sun

Majestic Princess celebrated a milestone of its 100th voyage, and 300 of the crew members came up to the Pool Deck to mark the occasion with a photo.

The milestone voyage is a round trip from Shanghai to Japan.

Of course that means it's also less than two months (September 15) until the start of Majestic Princess' Summer (there) Cruise Season in Australia. Majestic will be the largest ship Princess has ever operated in Australia.

During the Australian season, the 16 cruises will take Majestic Princess to Fiji, New Zealand and Tasmania as well as two Asia voyages between Shanghai and Sydney, and Sydney and Hong Kong.

This story appeared in the July 24 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Photo courtesy of Princess Cruises. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission. 

Let's Go to the Video

Last weekend Majestic Princess was named in Shanghai by international basketball superstars Yao Ming and Ye Li. The Royal-class ship will sail most of the year in the Chinese source market from Shanghai. The ship is Princess' first to feature customization for the Chinese market.

The End of the Road

Apparently at the end of the Silk Road is ... a giant bottle of champagne (which beats a pot of gold, if you're thirsty). After a 49-day voyage from Rome, and 22 ports along the way, Majestic Princess arrived at Shanghai on Sunday ready to be officially named.

Standing right there next to the bottle were naming ambassadors (and international basketball stars) Yao Ming and his wife Ye Li.

The complete story appeared in the July 10 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Photo courtesy of Princess Cruises. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission. 

The Silk Road Reaches China

On May 21 Majestic Princess set off from Rome for her new homeport in China along the traditional sea route of the ancient Silk Road, and Monday it arrived in China.

The route took the ship and more than 7,000 passengers to ports in Greece, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia and Singapore to Xiamen, where the ship was welcomed to China. The voyage is continuing to Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, and Shanghai where the ship will be based when it arrives on July 9.

The object of the voyage obviously was to reposition the ship from Italy, where it was built, to China, but during the trip, the focus was on promoting Chinese culture and tradition.

Details appeared in the July 5 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Other Things You'll Want to Know - May 24, 2017

CND subscribers also read about:

• Holland America Line is adding Cuban ports of call to eleven Caribbean itineraries this winter from Ft. Lauderdale. 
• Majestic Princess has begun its 37-day positioning voyage from Rome to China. 

Details appeared in the May 24 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Yet another Majestic Opportunity

Majestic Princess was supposed to be dedicated to the Chinese source market year round, but it hasn't even departed Europe yet for its home port in China (Shanghai) and Princess has scheduled two more sailings this coming winter for international passengers.

The complete story appeared in the May 9 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

When “Year Round” Doesn't Necessarily Mean All Year

Majestic Princess was just delivered, and hasn't even yet arrived at its year round home port in China. It was purpose-built for the Chinese market with features aboard that will specifically appeal to the market and lots of other customization they will love.

Breaking with previously-announced plans, Princess has just decided, Australians will love them too, and the line announced today that the ship will be based in Sydney for the 2018-2019 Austral summer season (peak there, off-peak in winter China).

The complete story appeared in the April 12 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Fincantieri Delivers Majestic Princess a/k/a Great Spirit

What's blue and white, is 145,000-gross tons, has two names, plays the Love Boat Theme on request and is going to disappear in a couple of months? Yes! That's right! It's Majestic Princess.

And it was a big deal today for people around the globe when Fincantieri handed it over to Princess Cruises at Monfalcone.

The complete story appeared in the March 30 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

A who's who of Carnival Corp were at the handover ceremony today. 

The original crew of Majestic Princess

Photos courtesy of Fincantieri and Princess Cruises. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.

Other Things You'll Want to Know - March 1, 2017

CND subscribers also read about:

• Another perfect score for Holland America's Eurodam. It aced its USPH inspection for the 11th time. 
• Majestic Princess will be delivered at the end of this month for a short preview in the Med for western fans. Then it will be off to its new home in China. A sneak preview is in the video below. 

Details appeared in the March 1 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Other Things You'l Want to Know - January 13, 2017

CND subscribers also read about:

• Majestic Princess returning from sea trials
• It seemed like Bermuda was starting their cruise season early this year
• New man on top of Cunard North America

Details appeared in the January 13 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

The Best Little Bistro in China

When Majestic Princess heads to China, it will be filled with things Chinese people want when they go on vacation. Some of those will be doing things the way they're used to in the dining room, for example, but one thing they want is international experiences.

With that in mind, Majestic Princess will have the finest Parisian bistro east of the Champs-Elysees. Not only that but it comes as a result of a new partnership with three-Michelin-star French chef Emmanuel Renaut. The Chinese will eat it up - literally.

The complete story appeared in the November 1 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Other Things You'll Want to Know - September 15, 2016

CND subscribers also read about:

• Harmony of the Seas getting back to sea after its tragic accident on Tuesday
• Gratuities going up on Princess
• Crystal scheduling a President's Cruise on Crystal Mozart
• New promotional pricing on Fathom and what it means
• Micky Arison checking up on the construction of Majestic Princess

Details appeared in the September 15 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Micky Arison and Stein Kruse tour Majestic Princess at Fincantieri's Monfalcone yard today

Photo courtesy of Princess Cruises. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission. 

A Quick Look at a Ship We'll Probably Never See

Once it arrives in China, Majestic Princess will, for the foreseeable future, be homeported in Shanghai for sale to the local Chinese market. So it's only logical that Princess' big splashy announcement that reveals the ship's features was in Shanghai today,

Since Majestic Princess will have a mini-European Season in the Med from April 4 to May 14 and a repositioning voyage from Barcelona to Shanghai from May 14 to July 11, Princess also let the rest of us have a peek at the newest member of the fleet.

The complete story appeared in the August 24 edition of Cruise News Daily.

New Year, New Ship, New Livery

Today is Chinese New Year. It is an ancient New Year tradition in China that cruise lines take their newest ship under construction and flood the dry dock. If the ship floats, it’s good luck and the sign of a prosperous year to come.

For Princess Cruises, this will be a very good year, because this morning at the Fincantieri yard they flooded the dry dock, and Majestic Princess floated. Not only that, but it carried a surprise for the rest of the world. It is the Princess ship which will introduce the line’s new livery to the world.

The complete story appeared in the February 8 edition of Cruise News Daily.

The new hull art on Majestic Princess

Majestic Princess will be homeported year round in China.

Water begins to get the floor of the dry dock wet.

Photos courtesy of Fincantieri. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.