One of our favorite cruise lines, Princess, has 20 things "you don't know" about the Royal Princess.
Select media people (such as our colleague Phil Reimer of Ports and Bows) will get a sneak preview of the new ship next week in Italy. The world will see it in June.
In the interests of brevity, we took the liberty of condensing the 20 unknowns about the Royal Princess into — just our humble opinions mind you — the most interesting seven.
In no particular order…
1. Largest Complimentary Pizza Restaurant at Sea – Alfredo’s Pizzeria, a passenger favorite on several ships. Princess says it will take the cruise line's reputation for serving the best pizza at sea "to a new level." With 121 seats, Alfredo’s will be the largest such pizza restaurant and, yes (another humble opinion), Princess pizza is exceptional.
2. Largest Collection of Super Tuscan Wines at Sea – Been to Tuscany? We have, and we won't tell you how many Tuscan wines were in our luggage. It was embarrassing. More than 20 "headline-making wines from Tuscany" will be available in Sabatini’s. The big guns are Masseto, Solaia or Tignanello. More modest are Castello del Terricio 'Cappuanino' or Il Bruciato Bolgheri. Passengers will have a chance to sample the wines, with accompanying "small plates."
3. Four New Original Production Shows – The Princess Theater will debut “Colors of the World,” an experiential journey through Princess destinations (we saw a glimpse of this type of show on the Crown Princess last month); “Spectacular!” a colorful music extravaganza; “Sweet Soul Music,” a tribute to rhythm and blues; and “What the World Needs Now,” an elegant show celebrating the music and style of the ‘60s.
4. Princess Live! All Day Programming – The TV studio is a first for Princess, and it'll be a lively place, featuring programming from 8 a.m. until midnight. Programming includes live talk shows, demonstrations and performers, including the daily Wake Show. Seating 
for the "live studio audience" maxes out at 300. Visiting seagulls are the only "passengers" to see the set…and they had to sneak through small openings on the bow to get there.
5. Sabatini’s Bites and Flights – As the line’s signature Italian restaurant, Sabatini's will be next to Vines, the Deck 5 wine bar that will offer Sabatini’s Bites to accompany its popular wine flights.
6. Mobile Cruise Information Intranet – Princess@Sea, a mobile-friendly intranet site will enable passengers to easily access daily updates about entertainment, onboard specials, weather and port news, and review their onboard folio from their personal mobile or tablet devices. Saving more trees, right?
7. New (and complimentary) On-Demand Stateroom Programming – A new generation of in-room TV entertainment, offering on-demand movies and other programming options. The entire library of hundreds of movies, as well as classic and contemporary episodes of TV shows (hmmm…Love Boat?), will be offered, and it's free to passengers. Is this an experiment or are more passengers staying in their state rooms to watch TV?
The Royal Princess makes the crossing to North America in November, and there will be more surprises.
Well, at least one.
Stay tuned.
Norwegian Epic
11 nights
April 20, 2013
Miami, Funchal, Barcelona
Inside: $399
Cost per day: $36
www.ncl.com