Princess parks 2 newest ships at Port Everglades, but ups game at Port Canaveral
Princess Cruises is set to welcome its newest and biggest ship ever, the Sun Princess, to Port Everglades this coming fall but announced Monday it will send its sister ship there as well, while also amping up the future hardware for what will be its second season ever out of Port Canaveral.
The Star Princess doesn’t debut until August 2025, and won’t begin sailing from South Florida until after its arrival on Nov. 5, but the ship will share Eastern and Western Caribbean duties with Sun Princess as the cruise line keeps its two newest ships in the same port for the winter.
Meanwhile, one of the line’s most recently built vessels, Sky Princess, will take over winter Caribbean duties at Port Canaveral beginning fall 2025.
Princess Cruises is making Port Canaveral a home port for the first time when Caribbean Princess begins sailing six- and eight-night Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries starting Nov. 27, 2024. That first season will be handled by one of the line’s older and smaller vessels with a 3,100-passenger capacity. Caribbean Princess began sailing 2004 and comes in at 113,000 gross tons.
Sky Princess is a step up having debuted in 2019 coming in at 143,700 gross tons and a 3,660-guest capacity.
Sky Princess was the first ship in the fleet to have the cruise line’s technology-based program OceanMedallion installed right from construction. The system, which is similar to Disney’s MagicBand technology, gives passengers a quarter-size fob that acts as room key, credit card and human Lojack that’s part of a push by the line to streamline transactions while also adding passenger benefits.
Sky Princess is the fourth of five sister ships in the Royal class but had its own identity compared to the first three in the class – Royal Princess, Regal Princess and Majestic Princess. It was followed by Enchanted Princess.
It debuted new stage shows “Rock Opera” and “5 Skies,” both of which are still featured on board and debuted a jazz venue called Take Five, named after the famous tune from the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
Much of the ship’s offerings are the same as the other Royal class ships. Dining options include Alfredo’s Pizzeria with hand-made Italian-style pizzas and other Italian offerings. Also on board is Crown Grill steakhouse, Sabatini’s Italian Trattoria and The Catch by Rudi, a seafood offering from Chef Chef Rudi Sodamin.
The ship also features the adults-only area of the ship called The Retreat with its own pool, bar and hot tubs, and the adjacent members-only section The Sanctuary. Also on board is the Lotus Spa and Fitness Center with treatments like bamboo and coconut poultice massages, a large fitness center, sports deck with court for basketball and tennis, and at the top deck of the ship, a nine-hole miniature golf course.
The offering is among 10 ships to sail the Caribbean that season for the cruise line, its largest deployment ever covering 29 destinations in 22 countries across 178 departures ranging from four to 20 nights.
Star Princess, Sun Princess, Majestic Princess and Enchanted Princess will sail from Port Everglades; Regal Princess from Galveston; and Sky Princess from Port Canaveral. Several other ships will make Panama Canal crossings with stops in Port Everglades.
Voyages go on sail Dec. 20 for the 2025-26 itineraries at princess.com.
