Princess Cruises coming to Port Canaveral
PORT CANAVERAL — Princess Cruises revealed Tuesday that it would sail from Port Canaveral for the first time with its ship Caribbean Princess beginning in 2024.
The cruise line will sail mostly six- and eight-night Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries with the ship that can handle more than 3,100 passengers starting Nov. 27, 2024, and continuing service through April 2025.
Port and cruise line officials made the announcement from Terminal 6 at the Brevard County port, citing the great drive-in market Orlando gets from all around Florida and the southern U.S.
“It's the one brand that wasn't calling on Port Canaveral that we get repeated requests, ‘When are you going to get a Princess ship? When is Princess Cruises coming to Port Canaveral?' ” said port CEO Capt. John Murray. “They have a very, very loyal following of cruisers, and I think they'll all be happy they can finally board a vessel here in the Central Florida market.”
From Florida, the line sails traditionally from Fort Lauderdale's Port Everglades, but it now joins major lines Royal Caribbean, Disney Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival and MSC Cruises to call Port Canaveral home.
Princess Cruises President John Padgett says the ship fills a niche not currently served by those brands.
“I kind of like to say the brand is perfect as soon as your kids go to college,” he said, adding it can “offer a large-ship platform with small-ship personalization [that] gives it that unique position for people who just want the cruises. If you want a theme park at sea, we're not that brand.”
One of the line's features that sets it apart is Princess' Medallion technology, similar to Disney's MagicBands, allowing cruisers to use a fob to do everything from opening cabin doors to ordering drinks to their location on board, and even at some port destinations.
Padgett was with Disney when it rolled out the MagicBand technology before moving to Princess' parent company Carnival Corp., where he retains the role of chief experience and innovation officer.
“I personally lived in Central Florida for two decades, so if you think about the communities that surround Central Florida, it matches very nicely with the Central Florida product,” he said. “We think it's a great market for us.”
Caribbean Princess represents the line dipping its toe in the market. But even though it's one of the line's older ships, Padgett said it's the right fit.
“It's a great ship; it's just about the right size,” Padgett said. “It's not our largest ship, but it is a large ship. It has full amenities.
“Once that ship is successful, we'll go from there.”
The nearly 113,000-gross-ton vessel began sailing in 2004, christened by Jill Whelan who played Vicki Stubing on “The Love Boat.” The ship features 19 decks with 1,571 staterooms.
Broadway-style shows appear in the Princess Theater, while the ship has seven bars, nightclubs and lounges as well as a spa, fitness center, casino, sports deck, minigolf, kids and teen centers, five pools, seven hot tubs and a kids splash zone.
By offering the six- and eightnight options, it helps the line to more easily travel to some farther destinations but also offer a less-expensive option for new customers in the market, said Terry Thornton, Princess' senior vice president for commercial development.
“I think it will help Princess on generating people new to brand,” he said. “Now it's more accessible, maybe it's slightly more affordable.”
Destinations include Nassau, Bahamas; St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; St. Maarten; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos; Amber Cove, Dominican Republic; Cozumel and Costa Maya, Mexico; Belize City, Belize; and Mahogany Bay in Roatan, Honduras.
Bookings open May 24. “There really isn't another experience like Princess at the port,” Thornton said. “We did think it was an opportunity that exists, and hopefully one we can expand on over time.”
It doesn't mean the line is leaving Port Everglades, which traditionally welcomes its newest vessels including 2024's Sun Princess, which will be the line's largest ship to date at 175,500 gross tons and a 4,300-passenger capacity.
“Fort Lauderdale will always be a strong part of the mix,” Thornton said. “There's not a shortage of opportunities for ships to be moved. But we would really like to solidify particularly Port Canaveral as a long-term opportunity.”