Grand-class cruise ship

The Grand class is a class of cruise ships. Ships in the class are operated by the cruise lines Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises and P&O Cruises Austalia. The class consists of several series (subclasses) of sister ships, most of which were built by Fincantieri in Monfalcone and Trieste, northern Italy. The first vessel of the original Grand class, Grand Princess, entered service in 1998.

Grand Princess, the first ship in the class.
Class overview
Builders	Fincantieri in Monfalcone Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagasaki
Operators	Princess Cruises P&O Cruises
Preceded by	Sun class
Succeeded by	Royal class
Subclasses	Gem class Caribbean class Crown class Ventura class
Built	1998–2010
In service	1998 – present
Completed	11
Active	11
General characteristics
Type	Cruise ship
Tonnage	109,000–116,000 GT
Length	951 ft (289.86 m)
Beam	118 ft (35.97 m)
Draught	26 ft (7.92 m)
Decks	Grand and Gem class: 17 total, 13 passenger Caribbean class: 18 total, 14 passenger Crown class: 19 total, 15 passenger Ventura class: 19 total, 14 passenger
Propulsion	Diesel-electric
Capacity	2,600–3,114 passengers
Crew	1,200

Ships of the later subclasses are based on the Grand class, but have modifications such as additional decks and varied placement of facilities such as the nightclub and restaurants. The structure used as a nightclub is a signature element of Princess Cruises' ships in the Grand class and derived classes. The nightclub either overhangs the stern of the ship (Grand and Caribbean classes) or is located just aft of the funnel (Gem and Crown classes).

The Gem class of ships is based primarily on the Grand class, but modifies the placement of the nightclub to be just aft of the funnel and also modifies the number of restaurants. The two Gem-class ships were built by Mitsubishi in Nagasaki, Japan in 2004.

The Caribbean class is the third version of the design and has one additional deck. As in the original Grand-class design, the nightclub is suspended on the stern. Caribbean-class vessels also introduced a poolside theater, which was later added to other Princess ships.

The Crown class is the fourth Princess Cruises version of the Grand class and has two additional decks. Crown-class ships have returned the placement of the nightclub adjacent to the funnel. Crown-class ships also feature a poolside theater like the Caribbean class.

The Ventura class has 19 decks like the Crown class. These ships both owned and operated by P&O Cruises and are marketed as Grand class, although they were given the Ventura class designation because they are not owned by Princess and are totally modified internally and externally. Ventura is also the largest ship in the Grand class. The second Ventura-class ship is MS Azura, launched in March 2010 which has a modified stern. Azura is also the only P&O Cruises ship to feature a poolside theater style outdoor screen.