The Grand class is a class of cruise ships. Ships in this class are operated by the cruise lines Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises, P&O Cruises Australia and Carnival Cruise Line. The class consists of several subclasses of sister ships, most of which were built by Fincantieri in Monfalcone and Trieste, northern Italy. The first vessel of the original Grand class, Grand Princess, entered service in 1998.
Ships of the later subclasses are based on the Grand class, but have modifications such as additional decks and varied placement of facilities such as the nightclub and restaurants. The structure used as a nightclub is a signature element of Princess Cruises' ships in the Grand class and derived classes. The nightclub either overhangs the stern of the ship (Grand and Caribbean classes) or is located just aft of the funnel (Gem and Crown classes).
The Gem class of ships is based primarily on the Grand class, but has a much larger funnel, modifies the placement of the nightclub to be just aft of the funnel and also modifies the number of restaurants. The two Gem-class ships were built by Mitsubishi in Nagasaki