At the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy, the Sun Princess float out marked a significant construction milestone. Princess Cruises is the world’s most popular cruise brand, offering dream vacations to millions of guests every year.
The Italian shipyard tradition marks the launch with a special ceremony in which the “Madrina” is named to celebrate the flow of water into the dock. Simona Stumberger was chosen to represent Princess Cruises as a Princess Ambassador because she represents professionalism and always provides excellent service.
A native of Slovenia where Stumberger studied hotel management, she began her career at sea in the bar department and further diversified her hotel experience working in guest services, and hand-in-hand with the hotel and food and beverage departments. Simona Stumberger has been with Princess Cruises for almost five years.
“Simona is an ideal candidate to serve as Godmother on our newest ship, Sun Princess, as she embodies all the best qualities our company has to offer – an unwavering commitment to service, hospitality, and kindness,” said John Padgett, President of Princess. Cruises. “Sun Princess will usher in an exciting new era for our company and industry, and we can’t think of a better person to serve in this important role.”
The launch completes the first comprehensive construction phase for Sun Princess, which now shifts focus to building the ship’s interior.
Princess also announced that it had appointed Gennaro Arma as Captain, who will lead Sun Princess’ shipbuilding operations, readiness, and delivery, and oversee the final stages of the ship’s construction, working closely with the brand’s naval architects, engineers, and shipbuilding experts, as well as the shipyard management.
The 175,500-ton, 4,300-guest Sun Princess will offer a range of exciting new dining, entertainment, and activity offerings, as well as luxury staterooms and suites in a wide range of categories. The ship will be highlighted by incredible, never-before-seen spaces such as The Dome, a transformational entertainment venue inspired by the terraces of Santorini, Next Level, the iconic Piazza brand, and the three-story Horizons dining room that is sure to get everyone talking.
In addition, Sun Princess is designed to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. Sun Princess’ sustainability features include:
Fuel and energy management
- Liquefied natural gas (LNG) was the primary fuel and the first ship in the Princess fleet to be powered by LNG. This cleaner burning fuel will significantly reduce air and marine gas oil emissions to minimize the cruise line’s environmental footprint with a capacity of 4,000m3, enough for almost 9 days of sailing at service speed. The secondary fuel is marine gas oil, so heavy or medium fuel oil will not be carried on board.
- Two shore power connections, also known as “cold ironing”, on the port and starboard side of the vessel allow the ship to switch off the engines and connect to local electricity to run all services on board during the day’s calls in various ports.
- The Sun Princess is fitted with bespoke electrical connection cabinets that automatically connect the ship’s power grid to the local power grid on land, reducing air emissions in ports that support shore power.
- Another first for Princess that provides sustained power and better maneuverability to save fuel, Sun Princess will be equipped with two Azipod drives for forward and reverse motion and four of the largest pitch-controlled propellers, known as bow thrusters, on the market for lateral navigation.
Waste management
- All Micro Automatic Gasification Systems (MAGS) installed for waste. MAGS is the world’s most compact, efficient, and environmentally safe technology for converting various combustible materials into thermal energy – energy that can be used in other onboard systems.
- Food waste management is designed with distributed and centralized bio-digesters and dehydrators as a clean alternative to recycle food waste and reduce the use of landfills.
Inaugural 2024 Sun Princess cruises to the Mediterranean and Europe are currently on sale. More ship information and images can be found at www.princess.com/sunprincess.