NEW SHIP REVIEW


A TrulyRoyal I


Gary Buchanan finds out what all the Royal fuss was about on Princess Cruises’ newest ship


t was a public relations coup un- like any other. When the kingpins at Princess Cruises considered their choice of Godmother for the


new Royal Princess, surely it could only be Kate, Duchess of Cambridge - who is also Princess William of Wales? Under a cloak of secrecy last year, permission was sought and granted, and then the highest profile ship’s christening of 2013 was put in mo- tion. But, when Kensington Palace announced the Duchess’s pregnancy, panic reverberated around Carnival House, only for a quick calculation to indicate Kate’s attendance in South- ampton on June 13 would be viable. So it was that her last solo public en- gagement before giving birth to the royal baby turned into a triumph with images of the Duchess in front of the massive


72 WORLD OF CRUISING I Autumn 2013


Voyage


white hull beamed across the world. Six weeks later, the wall-to-wall global media coverage of the new ar- rival in the House of Windsor proved to be marathon footage of the closed doors of the Lindo wing at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington. Like manna from Heaven for Princess, this scene was interspersed with numerous re- plays of the Duchess christening their 141,000-ton leviathan. I’ve had an affinity with this 3,600-passenger vessel since visiting the Fincantieri Shipyard in Monfalcone last September to witness the latter stages of construction. During my visit, I spoke with Rai Caluori, the enthusi- astic executive vice president of fleet operations for Princess, and he went to great lengths to emphasise the new ship’s qualities.


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