Take a walk on the wild side with the newest Royal Princess at sea

Royal Princess is dead, long live Royal Princess. The cruise ship which bears that name is leaving the Princess fleet and will re-emerge in May as P&O’s Adonia. Today in Miami, the company announced details of the next ship to carry on the tradition, as construction work on the vessel began in an Italian shipyard.
In contrast to the current Royal Princess, which is a mere 30,275 tons and carries just 710 passengers, the new ship will be 141,000 tons and will cater for 3,600 guests.
It will be built to a new design, incorporating some surprising new features including the SeaWalk, a glass-floored enclosed walkway extending 28 feet beyond the starboard side, for passengers to enjoy (if that’s the word) the view of the sea 128 feet below. Sounds like Princess Cruises have come up with a more sedate version of Disney Dream’s Aqua Duck water coaster.
It will be balanced on the port side by a cantilevered SeaView bar – another first. Let’s hope it doesn’t suffer the same fate as Grand Princess’s SkyWalker nightclub, which is perched high above the stern, but which is about to be removed when the ship is refurbished in dry dock next month.
Also on the upper decks, Royal Princess will have an adults-only pool surrounded by seven cabanas which the line describes as “private” but which actually means they can be hired by the hour or by the day. Two more pools will flank a tropical island which transforms into an outdoor dance club at night.
Fittingly, the ship will have a larger Sanctuary adults-only retreat and a bigger outdoor movie screen than on the Grand class of Princess ships and inside, the Piazza atrium will be expanded to become a hub of activities, with venues for entertainment, drinks and snacks.
Every one of the outside cabins – 80 per cent of the accommodation – will have a balcony.
Company president and CEO Alan Buckelew said: “Princess passengers will easily recognise our next ship as a natural progression in our fleet. We’re taking the best features of our newest vessels that have been such customer pleasers, and taking them to the next level.”
Royal Princess is being built at Fincantieri’s Monfalcone yard near Trieste in north-east Italy and is scheduled to enter service in May 2013. A sister ship will follow 12 months later.