Princess Cruises has announced that 2021 will see its longest UK and Europe season ever, while it will also have Crown Princess as the first UK-based ship to feature the OceanMedallion this summer.

The 2021 season will have three ships cruising from Southampton, offering a combined 500 days at sea.

The deployment of Grand Princess, Island Princess and Crown Princess will boost Princess’ UK capacity by 9% compared to 2020. The 2,600-guest Grand Princess alone will sail the longest ever season for a UK-based ship, from April to November.

Grand Princess, the lead ship in Princess’ Grand-class

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“Europe continues to go from strength to strength as the destination of choice for UK guests and we are thrilled to be able to offer our longest season in history,” said Tony Roberts, Vice President, UK & Europe, Princess Cruise’s.

“We will offer more choice than ever before, with UK guests able to take advantage of a huge range of fantastic destinations sailing from right on their doorstep,” he added.

Grand Princess will sail for 207 days from Southampton, including six school holiday sailings across the season. The ship will depart for the Mediterranean, northern Europe and Canada & New England, with several new voyages including:

A 24-day Canada & New England voyage to Boston, Bar Harbour, Halifax, Sydney (Nova Scotia), Quebec (overnight call), Saguenay, Charlottetown and St. Johns (Newfoundland)

A six-day school half term cruise in May to Guernsey (St. Peter Port), La Rochelle (for Cognac) and Bilbao

An eight-day Scandinavia voyage to Kristiansand, Aarhus, Copenhagen, Gothenburg and Oslo

The 2,200-guest Island Princess will spend a season sailing out of Southampton from June to October across northern Europe. The ship will similarly will take in a range of new sailings such as:

A 10-day Oktoberfest European capitals cruise to Hamburg, Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Oslo, Rotterdam and Brussels/Bruges (Zeebrugge)

A 24-day Grand European Explorer cruise to Porto (Leixos), Gibraltar, Mallorca (Palma), Sicily (Messina), Naples, Rome (Civitavecchia), Katakolon, Athens, Kusadasi, Jerusalem/Bethlehem (Ashdod) and Galilee/Nazareth (Haifa), Limassol, Rhodes, Mykonos and Malta (Valetta)

The 3,080-guest Crown Princess will sail the British Isles from April to October on 14 Southampton sailings. The ship will travel to destinations including Liverpool, Dublin, Orkney Islands (Kirkwall) and Edinburgh, with select itineraries offering overnight calls in port.

The line’s two newest ships, the 3,660-guest Sky Princess and Enchanted Princess, will both be based in Europe in 2021.

The Sky Suites aboard Enchanted and Sky Princess will be the largest in the fleet

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Sky Princess will spend April to September sailing Scandinavia and Russia roundtrip from Copenhagen, visiting destinations including Tallinn, Oslo, Helsinki and Berlin (Warnemunde), and will offer overnight calls in St Petersburg.

Enchanted Princess – which will be named in Southampton at the end of June next year – will sail across the Mediterranean from April to October via Rome, Athens and Barcelona, taking in the likes of Mykonos, Santorini, Kotor, Florence and Istanbul.

This means every ship based in Europe during 2021 will feature the multi award-winning OceanMedallion, which has been designed to deliver an entirely new level of service and create a holiday that is simpler, effortless and personalised.

“Having five MedallionClass ships based in Europe, including our latest vessels Sky Princess and Enchanted Princess, is testament to Princess Cruises’ commitment to offering UK guests new on-board experiences, premium services and a wealth of holiday options,” said Roberts.

Crown Princess will be OceanMedallion-activated this coming cruise season in the UK, a year ahead of her return in 2021. The 3,080-guest ship will be the fourth to receive the wearable technology and will be the first in the UK to offer it.

The vessel is based in Southampton this summer sailing the British Isles on a series of 12-night voyages.

Crown Princess will also feature MedallionNet, which allows guests to stay connected anywhere on-board including staterooms. MedallionNet allows guests to share holiday experiences with friends and family back home; stream TV shows, movies and sports events; and make voice and video calls.

Crown Princess joins Caribbean Princess, Regal Princess and Royal Princess in the Medallion-activated group, but its rapidly being deployed across the fleet.

Ships are fitted with 72 miles of cable and 4,000 sensors to get them OceanMedallion ready. Its implementation requires more than 650 readers and 4,000 interactive portals.

By the end of 2020, this will have been done on a further seven Princess ships:

·        Sky Princess on its launch in October 2019
·        Ruby Princess on January 27, 2020
·        Grand Princess on March 29, 2020
·        Enchanted Princess on June 15, 2020
·        Emerald Princess on August 16, 2020
·        Coral Princess on October 16, 2020
·        Island Princess on December 20, 2020