Sky Princess is a Royal-class cruise ship currently operated by Princess Cruises, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. She is the second ship in the cruise line's history to sail under this name. She is the fourth Royal-class ship in the Princess fleet and commenced operations in October 2019.[3][4] The ship measures 145,281 GT and has a capacity of 3,660 passengers.[4]
Carnival Corporation first entered a strategic agreement with Fincantieri
Construction began on 9 November 2016 with the steel cutting for the ship's bow at Fincantieri's shipyard in Castellammare di Stabia,[11] with a separate milestone on 8 September 2017 marking the steel-cutting for the rest of the ship at Fincantieri's shipyard in Monfalcone.[12] Her keel-laying was performed on 5 July 2018.[13] She was floated out on 14 February 2019[14] and completed her sea trials in September 2019.[15]
Sky Princess was officially delivered on 15 October 2019 in her handover ceremony at Fincantieri's shipyard in Monfalcone.[3][4]
The ship sailed a four-day pre-inaugural "shakedown" cruise for the press on 16 October 2019 from Trieste to Athens with a call in Kotor.[16] She performed her official maiden voyage on 20 October 2019, a seven-day cruise sailing between Athens and Barcelona.[17] She sailed a short inaugural season in the Mediterranean in fall 2019 before repositioning to her new homeport of Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, arriving on 1 December 2019.[9] Due to high demand, two three-day inaugural cruises were scheduled on 1 December 2019 and 4 December 2019, with both cruising between Port Everglades and Princess Cays.[18]
Sky Princess was christened at Port Everglades on 7 December 2019 by NASA astronaut and U.S. Navy Captain Kay Hire and NASA engineer Poppy Northcutt.[19]
During the winter months, Sky Princess sails in the Caribbean from Port Everglades.[20][21] For the summer months, she sails in Europe, including the Baltic region.[22][23] In the fall, she sails along the Maritimes and New England from New York.[24][25]
Sky Princess measures, has a length of 330.0 m, a draft of 8.49 m, and a beam of 38.4 m.[26][1] She is powered by a diesel-electric genset system, with four total Wärtsilä engines, producing a total output of 62.4 MW.[26] Main propulsion is via two propellers, each driven by a 18 MW electric motor.[26] The system gives the vessel a service speed of 21.9 kn and a maximum speed of 23 kn.[26] The ship houses 1,830 passenger cabins and 757 crew cabins.[26] Of the 1,830 passenger cabins, 81% have a balcony.[26] The ship has a maximum capacity of 5,800 passengers and crew.[26]
