Dawn Princess the second of four P&O' sisters ships

Cruise Ship Reviews *More images and info of the "Dawn Princess"* at January 2, 2012:** Princess Cruises Wikipedia Shipspotting.com Flickr.com LateCruiseNews.com Youtube.com Dawn Princess, second of four P&O' sisters ships Last April the Italian shipyard Fincantieri delivered the 300 m.$ Dawn Princess, sister twin of the Sun Princess. The Dawn is the fourth ship delivered to Princess Cruises, the American branch of the British owner P&O, by Fincantieri in the last seven years. In the next years, Princess Cruises will receive other three cruise vessel from Fincantieri: Grand Princess and two new twins of the Dawn Princess, the Sea Princess and the Ocean Princess by Arturo Paniagua Mazorra (22/07/97) Grand Class The new Princess Cruises' ships are built according to the well-known philosophy named Grand Class that emphasis the passenger opportunity of great onboard choice ("what you want, when you want"). The Dawn Princess features two theaters, two dining rooms (500 seats eachone), 24 hours alternative dining facilities, 24 hours room service, a meeting room for 300 passengers and a computer center (the last two usefull for incentive cruises), a great quantity of cabins with balcony (40% of the total and 70% in the case of the external cabins). The dining room are subdivided in modules of less than 36 seats, the Atrium is limited to four decks, the interior design is very roomy (the grt/pax ratio is 39,49), in order to avoid the crowd sensation. All these features leaves passengers finding intimacy within a big ship. The Dawn princess is also an ecological ship as a matter of fact she is powered by a diesel-electric propulsion system and has onboard an advanced system of garbage treatment. The vessel has a great utilization flexibility, leaving her the possibility of the Panama Canal crossing (breadth limited 32.25 m.), docking in certain Caribbean destinations (draft limited to 8 m.) and sail through Alaska itineraries (air depth limited to 47.8 m.). External design contrasts The Dawn Princess has an external brilliant and balanced look, like a big yacht. The stern maybe is the less harmonious part of the ship. It looks rectangular, built-up, although her great hollow funnel, that houses a full paddle field in its interior, (it remember the ones of the Italian liners Michelangelo and Raffaello) seems designed in order to balance the volume of the stern. Perhaps the funnel can help avoiding the attention to the prismatic stern, generating another point of interest. The foremost part is surely better, with an elegant inclination until the forecastle, that houses the crew pool, and end in a harmonious raked bow. The great indoors The most excellent part of the project is the interior design, a work of the Norwegian Njal Eide and the Italian Giacomo Mortola. The ship is very pretty and warm, with actractive colours and spaces and welcoming decors, that include an outstanding art work collection, which helps make the ship feel smaller than it is. There are works of more than 30 contemporary artists on board, all specifically commissioned for the Dawn Princess. In the Sun Princess class, one of the central objectives of Njal Eide was to configure the interiors in the way passengers could enjoy from spaciousness without feeling overwhelmed by the dimension of the ships. Further, his design confers a high degree of flexibility of the key public areas. The spectacular four deck Atrium of the Dawn Princess is a showpiece of marble, plants and glass, with two panoramic lifts. The Atrium begins in the deck 5 (Plaza), and serves as embarkation and reception point, with the purser's office and the patisserie. Aft is the Florentine dining room. On deck 6 (Emerald), the Atrium is bounded by two relaxing areas (Reflections and Latitudes), with the second dining room (Venetian) aft. On deck 7 (Promenade), the Atrium forms an integral part of the key public rooms (the theater and the show lounge) located on this deck. It is surrounded by the Atrium bar, which easily holds 200 people. On deck 8 (Dolphin) is located the Grand Casino, which houses a two levels atrium that connects the casino with Jammers, the disco, and the smaller Magnus, a little bar, both two located in the Promenade deck. Many modern cruise ships have a big show lounge forward, below the bridge. The designers of the Dawn Princess choose to use the forward area for the Princess Theatre, and reserving the aftermost area of the same deck (Promenade) for the cabaret style Vista Lounge. The Princess Theatre guests 555 passengers and is done in a 30's motif, with red seats. This beautiful room incorporates an electronically controlled orchestra platform, tracks for moving scenery on and off the stage, and more than one million worth of sound and linghting equipment. It has a dedicated technical crew of five. The Vista Lounge (a work of Studio De Jorio, a well know Italian design consultant) is used for the secondary productions. It has a bar area in the back which can be used by smokers. In the Promenade deck, and forward the Vista Lounge, is located also Jammers, the ship's disco that features a fibre optics lighting system. Alternative Dining Beyond the main dining room, exist three other dining sites: the Horizon Court on the Lido deck (forward, over the bridge) that is open 24-hours a day, which features an informal dinner seating with sit-down waiter service and good sea views, the pizzeria La Scala, a trade mark for Princess Cruises, and La Patisserie on Plaza deck, which provides espressos, cappuccinos and pastries. The Cabins They are not big (14,5 sq. m. of average surface) considering the Dawn Princess is a four generation cruise ship. All staterooms are equipped with private shower and WC, refrigerator, private safe, hair dryer, colour television, multi-channel music system, telephone, individually controled air-conditioning and two beds. Any cabin has the sea views obstructed by lifeboats or tenders. There are also many cabins with one or two upper berths in order to accomodate families. In the outside cabins with balcony, there are two single beds, a writing desk with chair, but no sitting area, except in the suites and mini-suites. The TV is in a corner up the fridge. The TV programming, is quite intensive, with seven channels. Notwithstanding their dimension, the cabins are actractive, with recessed halogen lights, multiple mirrors and dark wood molding; Furthermore they are very soundproof. Green Thinking The ship is powered by a diesel-electric propulsion system incorporating fuel injectors with finer nozzles, in order to improve the thermal efficiency and minimise smoke emissions. The Dawn Princess is equipped with a sanitary vacuum system, that limits the water consumption and the volume of residuals discharged at sea. All the generated garbage on board is trated, independently of their type, in two incinerators of 1200 Kw. From cartoons until glass, throught food and wet waste, all could be trated, converted in fine ashes and then transferred to containers for later disposal ashore or discharge at sea. The equipment can also ingest slidge oil. Princess Cruises The Dawn Princess is a big ship and represents a stregthening of the Princess Cruises business. The cruise operators carries about 500,000 passenger year worldwide, mainly from USA. In early 1998, with the delivery of the Grand Princess, the company anticipates that passengers will increase to 750,000. So that, Princess Cruises will be well positioned to continue its role as one of the big three operators competing into the next century.