Page 36: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (March 1998)

NEW & NOTABLE

Helsinki New Shipyard for a reported $300 mil- lion, is the first cruise ship to feature Azipod electric azimuthing propulsion (see MR/EN

February 1998, page 23 for more details on the

Azipod system).

Circle 94 on Reader Service Card

All Is Grand At Princess

Princess Cruise's concerted effort to take cruising to the next level is about to set sail.

When Grand Princess is launched in May 1998, it will be the largest and most expensive cruise ship ever built, representing $450 million of the $1.6 billion invested by Princess for its Grand class, five-ship expansion program — of which only the 77,000 twin ships Sun Princess and

Dawn Princess have been delivered as yet.

At 109,000 tons, the 2,600-passenger Grand

Princess is expected to help raise the number of

Princess passengers from 460,000 to 750,000, annually.

Grand Princess will allow the cruise line to offer a choice of 65 itineraries and 230 ports worldwide, with cruises ranging from three to 64 days in length.

The new vessel will feature 72,000 sq. ft. of deck space, 13 bars, 28 wheelchair accessible rooms, four pools and basketball, volleyball and tennis courts onboard. Other amenities include three main dining rooms, caviar bars, pizzerias, barbeques, ice cream stations and a huge 620-

Grand Princess Main Particulars

Length 951 ft. (290 m)

Height 201 ft. (62 m)

Beam 159 ft. (49 m), including bridge wing

Draft 26 ft. (8 m)

Flag Liberia

Ship builder Fincantieri, Italy

Designer Giacomo Mortola, Teresa Anderson

Classification Lioyds and Rina

Tonnage 109,000

Decks 18 1 /1

Engines (2) fixed propellers

Propulsion Siemens Electric propulsion motor, 21 mW

Generators (6) Siemens, 11,520 kW, driven by GMT V-16 diesels

Service speed 22 knots

KMY Delivers First Azipod-Propelled

Cruise Ship To Carnival

Length, o.a

Breadth

Draft

Gross tonnage ...

Cruising speed ...

Passenger capacity

Crew

Machinery

Total output

Main engines ...

Propellers

Bow thrusters

Elation Main Particulars .855 ft. (260.6 m) ...118 ft. (36 m) . .25.4 ft. (7.8 m)

Approx. 980 .Diesel-electric, power station, Azipod propulsion 47,520 kW (6) Wdrtsila 12V 38 (2) fixed pitch Azipod propellers (3) 1,500 kW seat, 24-hour dining cafe, as well as 24-hour room service. In addition, Grand Princess will also feature the largest floating casino.

Kvaerner Masa-Yards (KMY) was scheduled to deliver the seventh Fantasy class cruise liner to Carnival Corporation on February 24, to be followed by the eighth-of-class vessel, Paradise, later this year. Elation, built at KMY's