Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has launched Sun Princess at its yard in Monfalcone, the first of two LNG-powered cruise ships being built for Princess Cruises, an American cruise line owned by Carnival Corporation.
Image credit Fincantieri
With 175,500 gross tons, Sun Princess is the largest ship built in Italy so far, as well as the first dual-fuel ship powered mainly by LNG to enter the Princess fleet.
The vessel is scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2024, kicking off the Sphere class, which includes an additional, sister ship with delivery scheduled for 2025.
Each vessel will have the capacity to host approximately 4,300 guests.
Princess Cruises and Fincantieri finalized the contracts for the construction of two next-generation 175,000-ton dual-fueled cruise ships back in 2019. The construction of Sun Princess was kickstarted in September 2021.
Fincantieri reported a EUR 324 million net loss for 2022 reflecting several non-recurring expenses, and reversing from a profit from 2021 worth EUR 22 million. Revenue stood at EUR 7.74 billion for the year, up by 11 percent year-on-year. Order intake for the year stood at EUR 5.3 billion, up by 59 percent when compared to 2021, driven by an increase in the cruise and offshore sectors boosted by post-pandemic demand recovery.
In 2022, the company delivered 19 ships, including seven cruise vessels, namely, MSC Seascape, the second unit of the Seaside EVO class for MSC, Discovery Princess, Princess Cruises’ sixth ship of the Royal class, Viking Mars and Viking Neptune, the eighth and ninth ships of the cruising class and Viking Polaris, the second expedition cruise ship for Viking, Resilient Lady, the third vessel for Virgin Voyages, and Norwegian Prima, the first unit of six for Norwegian Cruise Line.
