Crown Princess (ship)

Crown Princess, Cockburn Town, Grand Turk Island, June 28, 2006
Career
Name:	Crown Princess
Owner:	Carnival plc
Operator:	Princess Cruise Line
Port of registry:	Bermuda
Builder:	Fincantieri
Completed:	May 2006
Maiden voyage:	June 14, 2006
Identification:	IMO number: 9293399
Status:	In Service
General characteristics
Class and type:	Grand class cruise ship
Tonnage:	gross tonnage (GT) of 113,000 tons
Length:	951 ft (290 m)
Beam:	waterline: 118 ft (36 m) maximum: 159 ft (48 m)
Height:	195 ft (59 m)
Draught:	27.88 ft (8.50 m)
Depth:	37.4 ft (11.4 m)
Decks:	19
Installed power:	Wärtsilä ZA40S V-16 and V-12 at 20,160 kilowatts (20.16 MW)
Propulsion:	Fixed pitch propellers with Siemens electric propulsion at 19 MW (19,000 kW)
Speed:	maximum: 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph)
Capacity:	3,080 passengers
Crew:	1,201

This Crown Princess began operation in 2006. An earlier Crown Princess (entered service in 1990, left fleet in 2002) now operates as Pacific Jewel.

Crown Princess is a Grand Class ship owned and operated by Princess Cruises. Her maiden voyage took place on June 14, 2006, departing Red Hook, Brooklyn (New York) for Grand Turk (Turks & Caicos), Ocho Rios (Jamaica), Grand Cayman (Cayman Islands), and Port Canaveral (Florida). As of 2009, the Crown Princess sails the Caribbean for the Winter season, and Europe for the Summer season. Like her sister ships Emerald Princess and Ruby Princess her Skywalkers Night Club is built aft of the funnel rather than suspended over the stern.

Galveston

In December 2012, the Crown Princess will make a transatlantic crossing from Venice to Galveston, TX where she will stay to run Caribbean itineraries from December 2012 to April 2013.

Listing incident

On July 18, 2006 at approximately 3:30 pm, one hour after departing her last port of call in Port Canaveral, the Crown Princess reported "listing" or making "heavy turns".^[1] The U.S. Coast Guard was contacted shortly after and crews arrived within minutes to assist the troubled vessel. The cruise ship was on its way home to New York City, and the decision was made to return to Port Canaveral due to what was initially thought to be a malfunction in the steering equipment which caused a severe tilting of the ship and injuries.^[2] However, the NTSB found that the second officer, the senior watch officer on the bridge, disengaged the automatic steering mode of the vessel’s integrated navigation system after it put the ship into what the officer felt was an unusually hard turn to port and took manual control of the steering.^[1] The second officer turned the wheel first to port and then from port to starboard several times, eventually causing the vessel to list even more, to a maximum angle of about 24° to starboard.^[1] The severe listing tumbled passengers, crew members, pool water, and everything else not secured about the decks.^[3]

Fourteen passengers and crew members were seriously injured, one suffering breathing difficulties after being hit in the chest by an airborne chair, and another 284 had minor injuries.^[1] Water from the four on-board pools poured into staircases and lift shafts. Most injuries were on the outdoor areas of Decks 15 and 16, where large beach chairs and tables hit and injured passengers. The other area that had many injured passengers was the balcony areas in the grand atrium. Many there were hit by falling objects and heavy marble tables. One woman who had an extended hospital stay was thrown against the glass wall on Deck 15 and covered by pool chairs and water from the pools themselves, being trapped underwater for several seconds. One passenger said "Afterward it was like a war zone with people walking around bleeding." and another added "All the windows were smashed. The top deck looked like a hurricane had hit it." ^[4] No passengers or crew went overboard.

As of 8:30 AM PT July 19, Princess says that "approximately 240 passengers [were] treated onboard for various injuries such as abrasions, bruises and fractures, of which 94 were transferred to local hospitals ashore for evaluation and treatment." This makes the incident one of the worst in the history of modern day cruising.^{[citation needed]}

The matter was referred to the National Transportation Safety Board and United States Coast Guard for investigation. After an internal review by Princess Cruises, its president Alan Buckelew publicly stated that "the incident was due to human error and the appropriate personnel changes have been made." ^[5] With approval from the Coast Guard and the Bermuda flag authorities, the vessel returned to service. A full refund was given to all passengers on the ill-fated cruise, and a 50% refund to passengers on the following cruise which was set to depart July 20 but instead departed from Brooklyn on July 22. Since then, Crown Princess has resumed her normal schedule.

Gallery

• 

  Crown Princess docked at Tallinn

• 

  Crown Princess moored at Gdynia

• 

  Crown Princess passing the Esso Refinery in Southampton Water on July 31, 2009.

• 

  Crown Princess moored at night in Bergen, a storm in the North Sea preventing it leaving for Shetland.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} NTSB: Heeling Accident on M/V Crown Princess
2. ^ Cruise Ship Mishap Injures Dozens
3. ^ I-Team: Cruise Ship's List Caused By Human Error
4. ^ Rae, Charles (July 20, 2006). "Cruise Brits in 'Titanic' Terror". The Sun (UK), p. 9.
5. ^ Princess Cruises' Letter to Passengers (24 July 2006)

External links

• Video Clip of Crown Princess leaving Port Everglades