Princess Cruises will have a double celebration next year at the first cruise ship naming ceremony to be held in Santorini, Greece.
The cruiseline’s new 3,100-passenger Emerald Princess and 710-passenger Royal Princess, that joins the fleet from Swan Hellenic, will be named together on May 12.
Princess Cruises’ parent company Carnival announced that it was to bring Swan Hellenic’s only ship Minerva II into the Princess fleet earlier this year.
Princess Cruises UK director Peter Shanks said that after a record-breaking year in 2006 further growth for 2007 is planned.
“These two ships represent the full scope of our fleet – from the boutique to the superliner – and it will be wonderful to highlight this unique aspect of Princess by launching both of them together,” he said.
With second-edition brochures scheduled to come out on December 1, head of brand marketing Pieter van der Schee said sales were picking up after a slow August and September.
“We are very happy with the bookings that are coming in,” said Shanks.
“Most brochure prices have gone up a bit, which is always a reward for the people who booked early,” he said.