Regal Princess Delivered By Fincantieri To P&O

The 70,000-grt cruise ship Regal Princess was recently delivered to English owner P&O at the Fincantieri, IRI Group, Monfalcone yard in Italy. With the delivery of the Regal Princess—one year after her sister, the Crown Princess, entered service—Fincantieri has completed the construction program for the P&O cruise fleet flagships.

The Regal Princess has a length of803 feet, breadth of 105.8 feet and draft of 25.5 feet. She has 14 decks with a total of798 passenger cabins, of which 436 are outside cabins, 178 inside cabins, 134 cabins with a balcony, 36 deluxe cabins and 14 suites. She will be manned by a crew of 683.

In all, the Regal Princess carries 1,748 passengers. She is provided with numerous public spaces, the principal ones consisting of a cinema with 169 seats, a theater seating 740 and a restaurant able to serve about 844 people at one sitting.

There is a disco, a number of shops, bars and night clubs, gymnasiums, saunas and beauty salons.

The cupola, 197 feet long and 98 feet wide and made entirely of light alloy, houses a casino, as well as other facilities.

Propulsion of Regal Princess is by twin propellers driven by dieselelectric engines, each with an output of 12,000 kw. Her maximum trial speed was 22 knots and her normal cruising speed of 19.5 knots.

The delivery ceremony was attended by the Fincantieri chairman, Enrico Bocchini, and the P&O chairman, Lord Jeffrey Sterling.

Mr. Bocchini recalled the strategy underlying the Fincantieri's acquisition of the contract for the two cruise ships in the mid-1980s, when the first recovery signs appeared for the European shipbuilding industry, following a downturn.

"It was undoubtedly a brave challenge," Mr. Bocchini said, "but also a necessary challenge, since it met the one and only pursuable strategy— to act in those market segments where it was not possible to apply a serial production able to favor the large ships of the Eastern shipbuilding industry." Fincantieri designs, builds, and markets all types of merchant and cruise ships, naval vessels, offshore units, diesel engines, and is active in the field of ship repair and conversions.

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