''Island Princess'' is a ''Coral''-class

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...

for the Princess Cruises line. She is the

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

to and together they are the only

Panamax Panamax and New Panamax (or Neopanamax) are terms for the size limits for ships travelling through the Panama Canal. The limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a publication titled "Vessel Requirements". ...

ships in Princess's fleet. She was constructed at

Chantiers de l'Atlantique Chantiers de l'Atlantique is a shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France. It is one of the world's largest shipyards, constructing a wide range of commercial, naval, and passenger ships. It is located near Nantes, at the mouth of the Loire river and ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Route and history

''Island Princess''s main itinerary consist of seven day Alaskan cruises from

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...

Whittier, Alaska Whittier is a city at the head of the Passage Canal in the U.S. state of Alaska, about southeast of Anchorage. The city is within the Chugach Census Area, one of the two entities established in 2019 when the former Valdez–Cordova Census Ar ...

during the summer months. During the fall, winter, and spring, ''Island Princess'' and her sister ship ''

Coral Princess ''Coral Princess'' is a ''Coral''-class cruise ship owned and operated by Princess Cruises line. The vessel, along with sister ship , was launched in 2002. ''Coral Princess'' and ''Island Princess'' are part of the only five Panamax ships ope ...

'' run 10/14-15 day

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

cruises with stops in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico,

San Juan del Sur San Juan del Sur is a municipality and coastal town on the Pacific Ocean, in the Rivas department in southwest Nicaragua. It is located south of Managua. San Juan del Sur is popular among surfers and is a vacation spot for many Nicaraguan ...

, Puntarenas, Costa Rica,

Cartagena, Colombia Cartagena ( , also ), known since the colonial era as Cartagena de Indias (), is a city and one of the major ports on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region, bordering the Caribbean sea. Cartagena's past role as a link ...

, and

Oranjestad, Aruba Oranjestad ( , , ; literally " Orange City") is the capital and largest city of Aruba, a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is located on the southern coast near the western end of the island country. In the local languag ...

. The ship has had outbreaks of community-spread illnesses.

Norovirus Norovirus, sometimes referred to as the winter vomiting disease, is the most common cause of gastroenteritis. Infection is characterized by non-bloody diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach pain. Fever or headaches may also occur. Symptoms usually devel ...

hit the ship in March 2006 (72 passengers, 16 crew), October 2006 (109 passengers, 11 crew), January 2007 (179 passengers, 37 crew), January 2018 (71 passengers, 7 crew), February 2019 (101 passengers, 9 crew), e. coli and

Shigella ''Shigella'' is a genus of bacteria that is Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, non-spore-forming, nonmotile, rod-shaped, and genetically closely related to '' E. coli''. The genus is named after Kiyoshi Shiga, who first discovered it in ...

in April 2009 (100 passengers, 8 crew), and unknown outbreaks in two May-June 2004 sailings (441 passengers, 68 crew). In 2015 ''Island Princess'' sailed on cruises for the first time in Europe, traveling between

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

. In 2019/2020 cruise season, ''Island Princess'' will continue to operate the West Coast cruises. As part of the

COVID-19 pandemic on cruise ships Early in 2020, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the disease spread to a number of cruise ships, with the nature of such shipsincluding crowded semi-enclosed areas, increased exposure to new environments, and limited medical resourc ...

, the ship repatriated crew members to Asia in April 2020. In May 2020, the summer cruise schedule for the ship was cancelled.

References

External links

Princess Cruises site
* Ships of Princess Cruises Ships built in France Panamax cruise ships 2002 ships {{cruise-ship-stub