of 2014 type subsidiary industry travel tours founded 1965 headquarters santa clarita california key people jan swartz president products cruises number of employees 1 000 parent carnival corporation & plc website princess.com princess cruises is a cruise line based in santa clarita california in the united states 1 and incorporated in bermuda . previously a subsidiary of p & o princess cruises the company is now one of ten cruise ship brands owned by the world s largest cruise ship operator the american british carnival corporation & plc and accounts for approximately 19 % share of its revenue . 2 it is part of holland america group which controls the three carnival brands based on the west coast of the united states . the line s ships cruise worldwide and are marketed to both american and international passengers . the company was made famous by the love boat tv series in which its ship pacific princess was featured . in may 2013 the brand new royal princess became the flagship of princess cruises and was joined by her sister ship regal princess in may 2014 and will be joined by majestic princess in the spring of 2017 . contents 1 history 2 current fleet 2.1 royal class 2.2 grand class 2.3 coral class 2.4 sun class 2.5 r class 3 future fleet 3.1 royal class 4 former fleet 5 references 6 external links history edit princess cruises headquarters in santa clarita princess cruises began in 1965 when founder stanley mcdonald chartered canadian pacific limited s alaska cruise ship princess patricia for mexican riviera cruises from los angeles during a time when she would have usually been laid up for the winter . 3 however princess pat as she was fondly called had never been designed for tropical cruising lacking air conditioning and princess ended her charter in favor of a more purpose built cruise ship italia . the italia had originally been ordered in 1963 and was one of the first to implement modern design elements such as lifeboats mounted lower on the ship allowing for uncluttered upperdecks and engines placed far in the rear allowing for spacious public rooms amidships . gustavo finali and romano boico had designed the ship s interiors designers whose r sum s included such ships as the augustus and raffaello of italian line and the oceanic and homeric of home lines . construction proceeded slowly and accordingly the italia was not launched until the spring of 1965 and during the fitting out both the owners and the builder were declared bankrupt . the italia was passed onto a bank who created a company to charter or sell the ship and consequently the company chartered the italia to princess . princess who marketed the ship as princess italia but never officially renamed her used the ship to inaugurate their mexican riviera cruises out of los angeles and did not receive the princess logo on her funnel until 1967 . 3 in 1969 the princess italia was used on alaskan cruises from san francisco but by 1973 the charter was canceled and the italia returned to europe on charter to costa cruise line . 3 princess s third charter ship was none other than costa s carla c. originally compagnie g n rale transatlantique s ss flandre the ship had been purchased by costa in the late 1960s and given a major rebuilding . almost immediately after completion the ship was chartered to princess and it was on board the ship which was marketed as but again not officially renamed princess carla that jeraldine saunders wrote the first chapters of her nonfiction book the love boats . britain s peninsular & oriental steam navigation company p & o which by 1960 was the world s largest shipping company with 320 oceangoing vessels acquired princess cruise lines in 1974 and their spirit of london originally to have been norwegian cruise line s seaward was transferred to the princess fleet becoming the first sun princess . 3 the two ships that were to be featured heavily in the television series the love boat were built in 1971 at nordseewerke for flagship cruises and originally named the sea venture for the original sea venture the 1609 wreck of which resulted in the settlement of bermuda and island venture . in 1974 p & o purchased them for their princess division and they served as the island princess and pacific princess respectively . a part time addition to the princess fleet was the former swedish transatlantic liner kungsholm purchased by p & o from flagship cruises in 1978 and then restyled and rebuilt in bremen as the sea princess . she was initially based in australia as a p & o ship until 1981 when her role there was taken over by the oriana . after that she alternated between p & o and princess colours as she moved between fleets . the sea princess returned to the p & o uk fleet permanently and in 1995 and was renamed mv victoria to allow a then new princess ship to be named sea princess . the first p & o princess cruises purpose built cruise ship was the royal princess in 1984 the largest new british passenger ship in a decade and one of the first if not the first ships to completely dispense with interior cabins . 3 the ship served in p & o cruises fleet as the artemis until 2011 . the swan hellenic cruiseship minerva ii originally built as the renaissance cruises r8 was renamed royal princess in 2007 after an extensive refit during a drydock in gibraltar . in 1986 p & o princess cruises acquired tour alaska which operated on the alaska railroad . based in anchorage alaska princess tours now operates ten luxury railcars with full service scenic tours of denali formerly mount mckinley and can accommodate over 700 passengers per day . p & o princess cruises acquired sitmar line in 1988 and transferred all of its major tonnage to princess including three cruise ships then under construction . 3 the dawn princess and fair princess were both ex cunard and the former sitmar fairsky became princess s sky princess . the first of the three new sitmar ships came into the princess brand in 1989 as the star princess the largest british exclusively cruising ship . two 70 000 grt cruise ships entered service in 1990 as the crown princess and regal princess bringing princess s fleet up to ten deluxe cruise ships . 3 princess cruises was involved in litigation with general electric in 1998 over consequential damages and lost profits resulting from a contract the two parties entered into . general electric was to provide inspection and repair services upon the ss sky princess . upon noticing surface rust on the turbine rotor the vessel was brought ashore for cleaning and balancing but good metal was unintentionally removed . this destabilized the rotor forcing princess cruises to cancel two 10 day cruises while additional work was performed . princess originally prevailed being awarded nearly 4.6 million . on appeal however the judgement was reversed in favor of general electric and princess cruises only recovered the price of the contract less than 232 000 . 4 on october 23 2000 the peninsular & oriental steam navigation company p & o demerged its passenger division to form an independent company p & o princess cruises . 5 the company subsequently merged with carnival corporation on april 17 2003 to form the world s largest cruise operating company in a deal worth us 5.4 billion . 6 as a result of the merger carnival corporation and p & o princess were integrated to form carnival corporation & plc with a portfolio of eleven cruise ship brands . it is a dual listed company registered in both the united states and the united kingdom with the former p & o princess cruises being relisted as carnival plc more commonly known as carnival uk . as an american based company executive control of princess cruises was transferred to carnival s american operations with carnival uk taking control of southampton based cunard line . princess and cunard have offices at carnival s head offices in both the united states and the united kingdom . on april 3 2008 micky arison the chairman of carnival corporation & plc stated that due to the low value of the united states dollar inflation and high shipbuilding costs the company would not be ordering any new ships for their u.s. based brands princess carnival cruise line and holland america line before the economic situation improves . 7 on february 17 2010 carnival corporation & plc and fincantieri builders reached an agreement for the construction of two new cruise ships for princess cruises . these ships are scheduled to enter service in summer 2013 and 2014 . 8 on may 4 2010 carnival corporation & plc finalized the contract for the two new ships . 9 in 2015 princess cruises celebrated the 50th anniversary of the company s founding and featured a regal princess float in the 126th rose parade . the float carried the original cast members from the television series the love boat that ran for ten seasons . current fleet edit royal class edit main article royal class cruise ship ship built builder entered service for princess gross tonnage flag notes image royal princess 2013 fincantieri june 2013 141 000 tons bermuda currently the largest ship built for princess cruises and the 10th world s largest passenger ship so far and can hold 3 600 passengers . regal princess 2014 fincantieri may 2014 141 000 tons bermuda sister ship to the royal princess currently the world s 11th largest passenger ship . 10 grand class edit main article grand class cruise ship ship built builder entered service for princess gross tonnage flag notes image grand princess 1998 fincantieri 1998 present 107 517 tons bermuda largest and most expensive ship built in 1998 last refurbished in may 2011 former flagship of princess fleet before royal princess golden princess 2001 fincantieri 2001 present 108 865 tons bermuda last refurbished in 2012 star princess 2002 fincantieri 2002 present 108 977 tons bermuda fire swept through berths in 2006 last refurbished in 2008 11 diamond princess 2004 mitsubishi 2004 present 115 875 tons united kingdom sapphire princess 2004 mitsubishi 2004 present 115 875 tons united kingdom caribbean princess 2004 fincantieri 2004 present 112 894 tons bermuda last refurbished in 2011 crown princess 2006 fincantieri 2006 present 113 561 tons bermuda major listing incident emerald princess 2007 fincantieri 2007 present 113 561 tons bermuda ruby princess 2008 fincantieri 2008 present 113 561 tons bermuda last refurbished december 2015 in vancouver canada . coral class edit these two ships each have a capacity of 1 970 passengers and 895 crew . ship built builder entered service for princess gross tonnage flag notes image coral princess 2002 chantiers de l atlantique 2002 present 91 627 tons bermuda panamax type island princess 2003 chantiers de l atlantique 2003 present 91 627 tons bermuda panamax type sun class edit main article sun class cruise ship these three ships each have a capacity of 1 990 passengers and 924 crew . ship built builder entered service for princess gross tonnage flag notes image sun princess 1995 fincantieri 1995 present 77 499 tons bermuda last refurbished in 2010 12 dawn princess 1997 fincantieri 1997 present 77 499 tons bermuda will be transferred to p & o cruises australia in may 2017 as pacific explorer sea princess 1998 fincantieri 1998 2003 2005 present 77 690 tons bermuda sailed as p & o adonia from 2003 to 2005 r class edit this ship has a capacity of 680 passengers and 373 crew . ship built builder entered service for princess gross tonnage flag notes image pacific princess 1999 chantiers de l atlantique 2003 present 30 277 tons bermuda previously r