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Will she stop of in Europe and Southampton, on route to America?
Princess, more than other lines, tend to be very tight lipped about thier newbuildings. No pictures, no dates, no progress reports. It was years before we even saw a rendering of the Coral Princess (but that may have been to delay the reaction to the hideous funnel).
Sister-ship Island Princess was afloat the 8 august 2002.
quote:Originally posted by hallsuk2:I have no knowledge of any calls in England or indeed any cruises over the pond to reach its first cruise starting point but agree that it does seem strange to send the ship over empty when they could generate some cash by filling the ship on the way across.
There are numerous reasons why a cruise line may choose not to have paying passenger on the transatlantic voyage ofa new ship from the yard.1. Scheduling- the amount of time between the dilvery of the ship, and the inaugural cruise may be very short- and may not allow time for the ship to sail from the yard, to a european port to embark passengers, and then cross the pond.2. Crew training- often the transatlantic voyage is a time for the crew to start working out the bugs of their new work environment- and sometimes for shipyard workers to put the finishing touches on public spaces (this happened on Voyager of the Sea's crossing). Cruise lines don't want the first batch of passengers to come away from their new ship with mixed stories of poor service- not good for publicity.3. Season- being the middle of winter a transatlantic crossing on a ship designed for cruising may not be a pleasent experience for vacationers. Trying to comfort a seasick and upset shipload of passengers, and train a new crew at the same time, is not what most cruise lines want to do on their inaugural sailing.
Ryndam
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/micjean/page54.htm
Princess' materials list the Coral as 1950 passengers. See the link below:
http://www.princess.com/onboard/fleet/coral/coral_pcf.html
However, if you check out one of the photographs in the link in the previous post you see that the ship yard lists a considerably larger number of passengers. In my opinion more than would be accounted by third and fourth births.
All this talk about Coral having a large space ratio is going to turn out to be false. As someone mentioned earlier, Coral seems to really be unimaginative and "flat". Nothing exciting and crowded to boot. All of these balconies. I can't stand sitting on my balcony I personally feel trapped. I like to have places to go on a ship. Public rooms with a view. Coral just doesn't have this. New Royal Caribbean ships have just as many balconies and have more public space as well, why?
She must have a very large number of third/fourth births - over 600 - if the shipyard's figure is correct.
They also incorrectly list her as being registered in Libera. Princess abandoned the Liberian registry in 2000, first of the major cruise lines to do so. You can see "Hamilton" clearly on Coral Princess' stern... I do not think that resembles "Monrovia" in any way ...
On the other hand, the stern is much better than the one on Grand. Pull up behind her and you'll probably think you're looking at a small apartment block with something protruding from the top... Not a ship...
When I first saw Grand, I figured that this had to be the hight of ugliness as far as Princess goes... I don't think I could have conceived of a serious design any uglier... But the design geniuses at Princess have... This thing is really a ghastly looking vessel!
They should be embarrassed to put their logo on a funnel so ugly as that...
Hopefully the interior will be the usual, nice and bland, just like Sun, Dawn, Sea, Ocean, Grand, Golden, and Star, which all look the same inside. If these people tried to come up with a new idea, I fear it could be deadly !
Such a shame, because she has a beautiful bow and forward superstructure. It reminds me very much of the Aurora- sleek, angular, strong, and clean.
But the funnel!!! Those pontoons look like they are going to fall off? What on earth are they for? Are those really the gas turbines- I used to think they were, but they don't appear to be attached to the top of the funnel, but rather to the side- seems odd to have engines located where they could not be serviced easily. Can someone shed some light.
I think.
Best, Onno
NY...P&O didn't abandon Liberia. After many years of politicking Lord Sterling finally persuaded the Brit Gov'mt to change it's tax laws regarding shipping - he said he'd transfer 50 ships to British Registry, amongst other things, if they did. It makes them similar to the other Flags-of-convenience countries. That is why the P&O/Princess ships are UK Registered except for a couple in Hamilton, Bermuda, which is another British F-O-C. and that is probably for something like mortgage reasons....peter
quote:Originally posted by gohaze:NY...P&O didn't abandon Liberia. After many years of politicking Lord Sterling finally persuaded the Brit Gov'mt to change it's tax laws regarding shipping - he said he'd transfer 50 ships to British Registry, amongst other things, if they did. It makes them similar to the other Flags-of-convenience countries. That is why the P&O/Princess ships are UK Registered except for a couple in Hamilton, Bermuda, which is another British F-O-C. and that is probably for something like mortgage reasons....peter
I know the reasoning behind it, but do they have any ships left in Liberian flag? If not, that's what I meant.
Also - there are now two British flags? That I didn't know... I know some countries like Norway have two registries (NOR is the "real" one, NIS is the F-O-C)... Do the British, now?
I haven't been able to unearth what the changes were that made Lord Sterling agree, but I assumed it was a universal thing... I do know that we immediately began seeing non-British officers (mostly Italians) transferred to British-registered Princess ships - a necessity since many of the officers were Italians from Sitmar, and previously they were concentrated on the Liberian flag vessels.
I believe that the CP is technically registered in Liberia; or she was; as most ships carry a FOC during their building and fitting out. Zuiderdam is another good example. She's currently registered at Nassau.
The reasoning behind that is when a ship is under construction, the FOC registry allows greater latitude and less expense as far as surveyors go. If the CP had been registered at Hamilton during her construction, a surveyor from the British registry would have to be on hand.
This way, they only need the class society (LLoyds, RINA, DNV)surveyors to make periodic inspections and once the ship is completed, she is re-flagged and the British surveyors can make their final inspections and issue the ship it's certificate.
As for the Turbine (singular), as I am told,there will be ONE located atop the funnel; the other appendage is merely decorative.
As for the Coral herself, I think she's one of the more sleek and attarctive newbuilds to date.
--Tim
quote:Originally posted by Tim @ Cruisepage:I believe that the CP is technically registered in Liberia; or she was; as most ships carry a FOC during their building and fitting out. Zuiderdam is another good example. She's currently registered at Nassau.
Oh! That's why the pic I have of Amsterdam being built says "Nassau" on the stern...
Question - if CP is actually registered in Liberia, why does it say "Hamilton" on the stern?
Sorry, silly question ...
Nearly all the national authorities have delegated their inspections to the different Class...including the British.
As I said I think you'll find that P&O still has at least a couple under Bermuda registry, the Grand? Golden? but it must be for something financial.NY...the mixing of the officers is because of the EU. and If I remember the main thing the Brits changed was the taxing of offshore earnings....peter
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