Princess Cruises to expand rapidly in Japan

Looks like Princess Cruises is going after the Japanese market in a big way.

The Los Angeles-based line today announced it would send two ships to Japan in 2014 to cater to Japanese vacationers in what amounts to a major expansion of a pilot program that begins this year.

Princess says the 2,670-passenger Diamond Princess and 2,022-passenger Sun Princess will sail 42 voyages between April and October 2014 from three Japanese ports: Yokohama (near Tokyo), Kobe and Otaru (near Sapporo).

That's more than four times the number of sailings aimed at Japanese vacationers the line is offering in Japan this year — its first specifically targeting the Japanese "home port" market.

Read more at:  http://www.usatoday.com/story/cruiselog/2013/01/23/princess-cruises-japan-expansion/1859045/

Two-night preview cruises on tap for new Royal Princess

Princess Cruises today announced plans for special two-night 'preview' cruises aboard its soon-to-debut, 3,600-passenger Royal Princess — one of the most anticipated new ships of the year.

The line says it'll offer two of the two-night voyages out of Southampton, England on June 9 and June 14 before the Royal Princess sets sail on its previously announced maiden voyage June 16.

Both of the short sailings will include a call at St. Peter Port on the island of Guernsey.

The Royal Princess is Princess' first new ship in five years and its largest ever. It features a far larger atrium than previous Princess ships; a glass-bottomed 'SeaWalk' that extends more than 28 feet beyond the edge of the vessel; the line's first private poolside cabanas; and a number of other new-for-Princess features.

Read more at:  http://www.usatoday.com/story/cruiselog/2013/01/21/royal-princess-preview-cruise/1851203/

The most spectacular new suites at sea - Photo Tour

By Gene Sloan, USA Today

One of the biggest stories in the Cruise World in recent years has been the arrival of a new crop of megasuites on ships: Big, bold and beautiful cabins that can cost tens of thousands of dollars a voyage.

Want to see how the other half lives while sailing the world's oceans? Take a cruise through our new photo tour, The Seven Most Spectacular Suites at Sea. It's chockablock full of pictures of some of the most elaborate and elegant accommodations ever to be built on a passenger vessel.

Click here for the photo tour

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What are the World’s Largest Cruise Ships?

Two popular cruise questions that we are often asked is, “What is the world’s largest cruise ship?” and “Are cruise ships bigger than the Titanic ”. To answer the second question first, yes, nearly all cruise ships are larger than the Titanic. In fact, most are at least twice the size and some are 5 times larger. If the Titanic was around in 2013, it would be a very small ship compared to what Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Norwegian, Disney, Princess, and the ships from all the other lines have in their fleets.

Out of the ten largest cruise ships in the world, seven of them belong to Royal Caribbean. As a matter of fact, Royal Caribbean currently has ten out of the largest fifteen in the world. However, that will soon change as Norwegian and Princess have ordered several ships (6 total) that will be among the fifteen largest.

Read more at: http://cruisefever.net/0107-what-are-the-worlds-largest-cruise-ships/