Sapphire Princess to be delivered tomorrow

On 27 May the Japanese shipbuilder Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) will be delivering the Sapphire Princess to Princess Cruises. Built at its Nagasaki facility, the Sapphire Princess follows the sister ship Diamond Princess delivered in February this year and marks the completion of the project for the largest cruise ships ever built in Japan. The 116,000 GT, 290 meter-long newbuilding has a height of 54.0 meters above water level and can accommodate up to 3,078 passengers in 1,339 cabins.

The vessel has a multiple power-generation system combining a gas turbine and a low-emission diesel power plant which provides a high-output electric-power propulsion system with low noise and vibration levels.

The Sapphire Princess was originally going to be built as the Diamond Princess but delivery was rescheduled following a major fire accident in October 2002. This resulted in the second vessel being renamed Sapphire and the damaged ship taking over the Diamond name. Despite this set-back, MHI managed to achieve the revised completion schedule by building the two cruise ships simultaneously.