Dawn Princess News

Back in 1994, GE’s technology helped power the 856-foot-long, 77,441-ton, Dawn Princess cruise vessel. Now decades later, GE will once again partner with Carnival Corporation to update the propulsion controls for Dawn Princess during its transition to Pacific Explorer, operating under P&O Cruises Australia. The updated decentralized controls of the new system will reduce the installation costs of the system while enhancing redundancy and operational safety of the vessel. After providing the first digital controls (Syconum range) in 1993…

The number of passengers reporting ill during 'Dawn Princess' present voyage is 114 out of 1,778 (6.41 percent). According to the U.S. •    Is consulting with CDC on plans for their super sanitation procedures in Seward, AK. Two CDC Vessel Sanitation Program environmental health officers boarded the ship on arrival in Juneau, AK to conduct an environmental health assessment and evaluate the outbreak and response activities. Stool specimens will be sent to the CDC lab for confirmatory testing and genome sequencing.

A teenager whose appendix ruptured at sea, hundreds of miles from help, got safely to shore Tuesday after an unusual rescue in which the Navy airlifted her from a cruise ship for emergency surgery. Laura Montero, 14, fell ill aboard the Dawn Princess cruise ship off the coast of Baja California. The Bahamian-registered ship sent out a distress call Friday that was answered by the USS Ronald Reagan, which was on training maneuvers about 500 miles away. The Reagan, a nuclear carrier, was the closest ship with a hospital facility, according to a news release from the Navy. A spokeswoman for Princess Cruises, which operates the Dawn Princess, said the ship's captain called the Coast Guard for help because he felt that would be faster than diverting to the nearest Mexican port.

First making headlines this past summer, when the Vancouver-based yard performed the emergency pod repair on Celebrity's Infinity, Victoria Shipyards has booked an additional five cruise vessels that are scheduled for routine repairs and drydockings from May 9 through the middle of October. With the departure of Cascade General's Number Four drydock last year to Grand Bahama Island, Victoria has gained a foothold in the realm of West Coast ship repair for cruise vessels that frequent the Alaska and Vancouver areas. According to Malcolm Barker, Victoria's manager of Ship Repair, the yard has scheduled five cruise vessels for the remainder of 2002, beginning with Princess Cruises' Dawn Princess, which will arrive on May 9 for 10 days.

The 600-passenger dinner cruise vessel; M/V Horizon was delivered to Pegasus Yacht Cruises of New York by Blount Industries on March 5. Measuring 161 ft. (49 m), Horizon boasts a welded steel, single chine hull with three enclosed dining decks, with all superstructure above the second deck is 100 percent aluminum construction. New Jersey-based Robinson Interiors designed Horizon with old world ambience in mind — its dining room features varnished cherry wood paneling and trim. The vessel is powered by two owner-supplied Detroit Diesel 16V-92 engines, soft mounted for silent operation with Lo-Rez vibration mounts and couplings. Electric engine controls by Mathers provide throttle and gear control, while a Murphy alarm panel monitors the propulsion engines.

With a strong history of building some of the greatest liners to sail the seas, with names such as Rex, Saturnia, Vulcania, Leonardo da Vinci and Grand Princess to its credit, Fincantieri continues its tradition to this day as a leading ship builder, particularly in the cruise ship segment. Fincantieri — which is comprised of seven shipyards and two centers for ship design, with the one in Trieste being the largest in Europe — has developed a long tradition in designing and building ships, with more than 200 years of history marked by the construction of more than 7,000 ships. While the entirety of the Fincantieri system is geared toward generating technically superior products, it can be said, simply, that the Italians build beautiful cruise ships.