In families of people, it’s never a good thing when one person is five times bigger than another, but in families of ships it’s quite alright. Encouraged even. So when a bigger, stronger member of a nautical family arrives and wants a name that’s already taken, it’s a given…and it’s not bullying, nor pulling rank. It just happens.
This week, Princess Cruises announced that the Royal Princess is still in business. It’s just not the Royal Princess you’ve known since 2007, which was not the Royal Princess you’d known since 1984. The new Royal Princess, so named this week and expected to arrive in April 2013, will become the third generation of “Royal-ty” if you will.
All of which proves that when you have a good name and the ship that bears it gets old, you change the ship. New ships and old names are good. Kind of like George, George Jr. and George III in real life.
The third coming of the Royal Princess tips the scales at 141,000 tons, but that’s not what makes it five times larger than Royal Jr. The new ship will carry 3,600 passengers. The old one carries 710.
The names are really cosmetic. All it takes is a new stencil, a can or two of paint, and lots of paperwork. The first Royal Princess was moved to a different branch of the cruise family tree, P&O, where it continues to flourish as the Artemis. Royal No. 2 was purchased from Renaissance Cruises where it was christened “Swan Helenic Cruiseship Minerva II”…destined for royalty then, with a tag that long. Come May, it will slip into the P&O household and be called Adonia.
And the new Royal Princess, with a ground-breaking (?) walkway that extends 28 feet over 
waves that are 128 below, will sail as the company flagship, the biggest and most modern vessel in the fleet.
Until the next Royal Princess comes along.