LOS ANGELES -- Princess Cruises canceled the May 14 inaugural
sailing of the 109,000-ton Grand Princess.
The company said the 2,600-passenger ship needs another week in
the Fincantieri Shipyard, in Monfalcone, Italy, where it is being
built, for what amounts to cosmetic touches.
"It's nothing major," a spokeswoman said, "but to allow the
first cruise to go out while the finishing touches were being added
at sea would not have been acceptable."
Passengers on the canceled sailings will be given a full refund
and a 25% discount, which can be combined with other prevailing
discounts for future cruises.
Travel agent commissions on the canceled sailing are being
protected.
Agents will not, according to Princess, be able to rebook their
inaugural clients on later European voyages of the Grand Princess
this summer because the season is sold out. They may be able to
rebook on the Royal, Island or Pacific Princesses, all of which
operate in that destination for much of the year.
The canceled Grand Princess cruise was to have sailed from
Southampton to Istanbul by way of Lisbon, Barcelona, Cannes,
Florence, Naples, and Athens.
The ship will now head from the Fincantieri yard to Istanbul and
pick up its schedule with the Istanbul-Southampton cruise May
26.
Princess said that in order to make it possible for more
passengers to enjoy Europe aboard the Grand Princess -- the line's
biggest ship and, at $450 million-plus, its most expensive -- the
vessel would be deployed there again next summer.
Its 1999 schedule had not been finalized, but the 1998 demand
and the forced cancellation of the maiden voyage prompted the line
to schedule it across the Atlantic again next year.
The ship officially will be named in New York this fall, after
completing its Mediterranean season and before repositioning to the
Caribbean.