Regal Princess in Helsinki, 19 May 2017

Today, I finally managed to get this summer's cruise visitor season started. It did require some help from my friends, as Miles Cowsill and Matthew Punter were visiting Helsinki and I promised to show them around. Good fun was had by all, and I managed to (finally) photograph a ship I had never photographed before: the Regal Princess (which I did visit when she called in Helsinki for the first time in 2015, interior tour here, but I hadn't done the exteriors before now. A bit of a shame, as on the past two summers she was running with a plain white hull, whereas now she has the Princess' "Sea Witch" logo painted on sides of the bow).

Regal Princess

IMO 9584724
Built 2014, Fincantieri Monfalcone, Italy
Tonnage 142 714 GT
Length 330 m
Width 38,40 m
Draft 8,60 m
4 380 passengers
6 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 62 400 kW
2 propellers
3 bow thrusters
3 (?) stern thrusters
Speed 23 knots

Photos below show the Regal Princess departing Helsinki Länsisatama on the afternoon of 19 May 2017. Photographed from Vattuniemi. As usual, click on the images to see them in larger size.

No chance of mistaking the company these days, with the huge logo at the bow and the company name in large letters towards the stern. funnily, cruise ships are continuously nearing ferries when it comes to displaying company names on logos on the topsides.

The water levels were extremely low, but unfortunately not low enough to get to Sisä-Hattu without the need to get your feet wet. And the water is cold this time of year.

I'm not sure I like the exterior design of this class, to be honest. The front and back bits look like they're from a different ship, with curves at the rear up to and including the funnel, but straight lines forward of that.

Kships will return.

Regal Princess interiors, 10 May 2015

We interrupt the advertized programming to bring you this entry of interior images from onboard Princess Cruises' newest ship, the Regal Princess. I would also like to take this opportunity to let my Finnish-speaking readers know that the latest issue of Ulkomatala is out, featuring amongst other things an article on the 50th anniversary of Princess Cruises, as well as four articles by yours truly.

Regal Princess

IMO 9584724
Built 2014, Fincantieri Monfalcone, Italy
Tonnage 142 714 GT
Length 330 m
Width 38,40 m
Draft 8,60 m
4 380 passengers
6 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 62 400 kW
2 propellers
3 bow thrusters
3 (?) stern thrusters
Speed 23 knots

The Regal Princess made her first call at Helsinki on 10 May 2015. She was the largest cruise ship to have called in Helsinki at the time (although she lost the title in a few months to P&O's Britannia), and Princess Cruises arranged a press tour of the ship to commemorate the occasion together with the Port of Helsinki.

Since the Regal Princess is essentially a brand-new ship with very little history to wade through, let's get right down to business of the interior photos, shall we?

Our tour of the ship started up on the bridge, where Port of Helsinki's managing director Kimmo Mäki (left) exchanged commemorative plagues with Regal Princess' Captain John Foster.

Deck 17 - Sun Deck: The Regal Princess has a whopping 19 decks, but our tour started from deck 17, which houses pool areas, the fitness center, as well as childrens' and teenagers' lounges.

The Sanctuary is an adults-only deck area forward on deck 17.

The Sanctuary also includes an extra-cost spa pavillion for rent.

Aft of The Sanctuary is the Retreat pool, with private cabanas for rent. On the right is the guide of our little tour, Michael Korhonen. I don't know where Princess pulled a Finnish staff member to guide us, but he was definately a hit amongst the visitors.

According to our other guide, cruise director Geof, the Regal Princess has the largest fitness facilities of the Princess fleet.

Deck 16 - Lido Deck features cabins forward, a pool area amidships and restaurants aft.

The main pool area, with Princess' trademark Movies Under the Stars screen. (Okay, these days every other mass-market cruise line has them too, but Princess were the first to feature them).

The SeaWalk glass-floored corridor is cantilevered outside the ship. Not as interesting when the side with the SeaWalk faces the quay, I'm, afraid.

The aft part of the ship is filled by the buffet restaurant (I continue to be puzzled by the placement of the buffets on cruise ships, but that's probably just me being Finnish). The restaurant is divided into two distinct areas: this is the Horizon Bistro...

...aft of which is the (in my opinion) more attractively styled Horizon Court.

Deck 7 - Promenade Deck: Next we leap down several deck filled with cabins and go back to the public rooms. Deck 7 houses the upper level of the Princess Theatre show lounge forward, followed by various bars and lounges.

What would be a mass-amrket cruise ship without an art gallery.

Another must-feature is a multi-deck Atrium; in the case of the Regal Princess it spans decks five, six and seven.

I must admit I'm not a huge fan of the Regal Princess' interiors overall, but the Ocean Terrace seafood bar on the Atrium is quite attractive.

Michael explains Princess Cruises' 50th anniversary celebrations to us.

Regal Princess and her sister Royal Princess feature a Princess Live! television studio, where programmes shown on the cabin televisions are produced. Personally, I don't quite see the appeal.

Aft of Princess Live! is the traditionally decorated Wheelhouse Bar.

And accessible through the Wheelhouse Bar is the Crown Grill, an extra-cost steakhouse.

Finally, right aft on deck seven is the Vista Lounge, a venue for music performances and standup comedy. I find the name extremely ironic, as the lounge could have windows on three sides, with amazing views overlooking the wake of the ship; instead, it has no windows.

Deck 6 - Fiesta Deck has the lower level of the Princess Theatre forward, followed by the ship's casino and various restaurants, including two of the ship's main dining rooms. Unfortunately the tour did not include a visit to any of these.

Princess Theatre, looking forward towards the stage...

...and looking aft. I like the rest of the decor, but the seating looks like it's from the 1980s - and the unadventurous design schools of the 1980s at that. Definately not an attractive space and not one you'd expect to find on a brand-new ship.

The Casino.Another thing that I personally don't see the appeal of.

Deck 5 - Plaza Deck: Here we find the ship's spa forward (following the current trend of placing spas low on the ship), the reception, as well as various spas and restaurants.

The Enclave at Lotus Spa is, I believe, another extra cost feature.

The reception lobby. Placing the reception outside the Atrium is a feature I find puzzling from the point of view of orientation.

Prior to leaving the ship, we were served lunch at Sabatini's, one of the ship's extra-charge restaurants. I'm afraid the lunch was not very memorable; it wasn't bad, but if this was the normal extra-cost fare they serve, I'd give the restaurant a pass.

A parting shot of the glitzy atrium.

Next time we will probably return to the previously advertized programming with the Azamara Quest. Stay tuned!

Caribbean Princess in Helsinki, 7 August 2015

Caribbean Princess

IMO 9215490
Built 2004, Fincantieri Monfalcone, Italy
Tonnage 112 894 GT
Length 290,00 m
Width 36,00 m
Draugth 8,05 m
3 114 passengers (lower berths)
3 782 passengers (maximum)
6 Sulzer diesels, combined 63 360 kW
2 azipods
3 bow thrusters
Speed 21,7 knots

The Caribbean Princess is, as you can easily discern from her profile, a member of Princess Cruises ubiquitous Grand-class. Although, if you wish to be pedantic, she is in fact a one-off design; like the first three Grand-class ships (the Grand, Golden and Star Princess) she was built with the shopping cart handle -esque after superstructure, but she has an extra deck of cabins compared to the earlier sisters. Nothing else really to say about the ship - except that I find her name somewhat amusing on northern European itineraries. Also interesting that Princess felt nescessary to rename the Tahitian Princess into Ocean Princess a few years back when she moved to worldwide itineraries, but didn't feel the same thing nescessary for the Caribbean Princess in the same situation.

The photographs below show the Caribbean Princess departing Helsinki Länsisatama (West Harbour) in the afternoon of 7 August 2015. Photographed from Sisä-Hattu. Click on the images to see them in larger size.

Floral Princess (with a queen, namely Tallink's Baltic Queen, in the background).

While I'm not a fan of the Grand class or its defivatives in terms of overall design, I think the ships with the shopping cart handle look better than the ones without.

Couldn't resist those flowers.

Next time: Empress.

Emerald Princess in Helsinki, 3 August 2013

Emerald Princess

IMO 9333151
Built 2007, Fincantieri Monfalcone, Italy
Tonnage 113 651 GT
Length 289,60 m
Width 36,80 m
Draugth 6,40 m
3 114 passengers
6 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 67 200 kW
2 propellers
3 bow thrusters
Speed 21,7 knots

Here is another set of photos from last summer, which I had already prepared for publication earlier. The Emerald Princess is yet a yet another variant of Princess Cruises' numerous (and in my opinion, externally terribly unattractive) Grand class. According to Fakta om Fartyg she was originally to be named Californian Princess, but this was changed to the more international Emerald Princess during construction.

The photographs below show the Emerald Princess departing Helsinki West Harbour on the evening of 3 August 2013. Photographed from Sisä-Hattu. Click on the images to see them in larger size.

In my opinion, the framing of this image is rather successful. The ship itself is not that attractive.

Notice how much smaller the sailing boat is in comparison to the Emerald Princess.

Traditional shot with The Photogenic Tree.

It was a lovely summer day, which I think translates fantastically in this photo.

Again, while the ship isn't the most attractive thing out there, this is a superb shot, even if I may say so myself.

Ocean Princess in Helsinki, 12 June 2012

During June 2012 I had the chance to photograph, in the space of two weeks, four of the eight R-class ships that we originally built in 1998-2001 for the now long-defunct Renaissance Cruises. The ships have since spread to many other companies and it was very interesting seeing four identical ships in the liveries of different cruise lines; if nothing else this is very educational about how a colour scheme effects a ship.

Ocean Princess

IMO 9187899
Former names: R Four, Tahitian Princess
Built 1999, Chantiers de l'Atlantique St. Nazaire, France
Tonnage 30 277 GT
Length 181,00 m
Width 25,46 m
Draugth 5,80 m
826 passengers (maximum)
4 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 13 500 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 18 knots

Ocean Princess was originally built for Renaissance Cruises in 1999 as the R Four and she was used for cruising in the Pacific Ocean. Following the bankruptcy of Renaissance Cruises in 2001 the ship was arrested and laid up in Uturoa. A year later she was sold to Princess Cruises and renamed Tahitian Princess for continued Pacific cruising. In late 2009 the ship's name was changed into Ocean Princess to reflect her more world-wide itineraries. Not the most successful name change of all time if you ask me.

The photographs here show the Ocean Princess passing through the Kustaanmiekka strait on 12 June 2012, shortly after departing Helsinki South Harbour. Click on the images to see in larger size.

The lighting and sky were not perfect for photographing an all-white ship, but since I also want to do this as a counterpoint to later photographs of other ships of the class, I guess these will do.

All-white and all-white funnel = boring. The blue windows help a bit but the ship is still boring as fuck. Compare, for instance, with this early entry of the Regatta.

Notice the sexy clouds in the background.

No sexy clouds in this direction. The ship might need a little paint to the rear.

Star Princess, 13 August 2010

Star Princess

IMO 9192363
Built 2002, Fincantieri Monfalcone, Italy
Tonnage 108 977 GT
Length 289,51 m
Width 36,00 m
Draugth 8,00 m
3 102 passengers
4 Sulzer-Grandi Motori diesels, combined 41 925 kW
2 propellers
3 bow thrusters
1 stern thruster (?)
Speed 22,5 knots

Star Princess is a member of Princess Cruises' and P&O's Grand-class. She is one of the three ships built to the unmodified original Grand-class design (the other two being the Grand Princess and the Golden Princess), with 17 decks (instead of 18 in the later designs) and the "spoiler" right at the back of the ship (moved to the base of the funnel in most later examples of the class). The usual criticism of the exterior of the Grand-class ships, especially the ones with the spoiler, is that they're ugly. I'm not sure if I agree. They're unconventional, yes, unusual, certainly, but at least the designers have tried to give the ships a unique appearance. The ships are actually quite attractive streamlined and rounded in the forward parts, and the spoiler (with the way the corridor accessing it sort of continues forward through the funnel) gives a neat forward-going appearance. And it also breaks up the box-shape of the rear superstructure nicely, as is evident when you look at the spoiler-less Grand ships like P&O's Azura.

Photographs of the Star Princess below were taken on 13 August 2010 from Vattuniemi, showing the ship departing from Helsinki's Länsisatama. Click on the image(s) to view full size.

Pulling away from the cruise quay in Hernesaari.

Heading for the deep sea lane.

And on the deep lane, with Pihlajasaari (as usual) in the background.