Owned by Carnival Corporation & plc., Princess Cruises is headquartered in Santa Clarita, California and incorporated in Bermuda. The cruise line has a fleet of 17 ships sailing globally and is considered the sixth largest cruise line by net revenue. The 1980s saw Princess Cruises take front and center stage as the popular TV series, The Love Boat, was primarily set aboard Pacific Princess.
Stanley McDonald founded Princess Cruises in 1965 when he chartered Canadian Pacific Limited’s Alaska cruise ship Princess Patricia. The idea was to use her for Mexican Riviera cruises for the summer season, but since she was not designed for tropical weather, Princess Pat’s charter ended before it even started. The cruise line used a cruise ship more conducive to tropical cruising to sail out of Los Angeles, but Princess Italia did not receive her Princess logo until two years later. She sailed for Princess Cruises until 1973 when she returned to Europe for Costa Cruise Line.
Princess Cruises chartered a third ship, Princess Carla. It was onboard this ship that Jeraldine Saunders wrote the first chapters of her book The Love Boats. Neither Princess Italia nor Princess Carla were officially renamed by Princess Cruises.
In 1974, Princess Cruises was acquired by P&O and their Spirit of London became the first Sun Princess. P&O also purchased the two ships that would be featured in the TV series, The Love Boat–Pacific Princess and Island Princess.
In 1984, Princess Diana christened the first ship specifically built for Princess Cruises–Royal Princess. She was the largest British passenger ship in a decade and one of the first cruise ships to not have interior cabins.
In 1988, P&O Princess Cruises acquired Sitmar Line which brought new cruise ships. Dawn Princess, Fair Princess and Sky Princess were Sitmar Line’s existing ships, and the cruise line had three ships under construction. In 1989, Star Princess debuted with Crown Princess and Regal Princess debuting in 1990. This brought Princess’ fleet to ten cruise ships.
In 1991, Princess Cruises began developing a private resort located on the southern tip of the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas. Unveiled in 1992, Princess Cays became an exclusive call for the cruise line’s Western Caribbean itineraries and is now shared by sister brands Carnival Cruise Line and Holland America Line.
Princess Cruises began operations with a fleet of pre-owned ships, in the 1990s the cruise line introduced the Sun-class of ships–Sun Princess, Dawn Princess, Sea Princess and Ocean Princess. None of which are still part of the Princess fleet.
Next, in 1998, the cruise line debuted its first Grand-class ship, Grand Princess. She debuted as the largest passenger ship to date. The design of the Grand-class vessel carried through to the next six ships in the class–the last was delivered in 2008. All seven ships–Grand Princess (1998), Diamond Princess (2004), Sapphire Princess (2004), Caribbean Princess (2004), Crown Princess (2006), Emerald Princess (2007), and Ruby Princess (2008) are still part of the Princess fleet.
In 2001, Golden Princess debuted in North America, and Sky Princess was repositioned to Australia as the first ship for P&O Cruises Australia. In 2002, Star Princess became the first “mega-ship” to sail full-time from the West Coast, and Pacific Princess–the famous ship from The Love Boat–left the Princess fleet after 27 years of service. She was the last of the cruise line’s original fleet.
2002 brought the Coral-class of ships. Coral Princess (2002) and Island Princess (2003) were built to be able to transit the Panama Canal and sail Southern Caribbean itineraries. Today, the Coral-class ships sail destination-rich itineraries as well as world cruises.
In 2004, P&O Princess Cruises and Carnival Corporation merged to become the world’s largest cruise company. They became Carnival Corporation & plc and encompassed eleven cruise ship brands.
In 2010, construction began on the Royal-class cruise ships. They became the largest ships ever constructed for Princess Cruises. Royal Princess entered service in 2013, followed by Regal Princess in 2014. Majestic Princess, which was designed for the Chinese market, was delivered in 2017, followed by Sky Princess in 2019, Enchanted Princess in 2020, and Discovery Princess in 2022.
In 2022, Princess Cruises redeployed several ships back to homeports in the United States. Diamond Princess returned to the Port of San Diego after a 10-year hiatus, and Ruby Princess returned to the Port of Galveston. In 2023, Regal Princess began sailing from Galveston, and in 2024, Caribbean Princess debuted at Port Canaveral.
In 2018, Princess Cruises ordered two new LNG powered ships from Italian shipbuilder, Fincantieri. The Sphere-class ships, Sun Princess and Star Princess, were delivered in 2024 and 2025 respectively.
Princess Cruises is celebrating her 60th anniversary this year with a Mexican Riviera cruise. Departing from the Port of Los Angeles on March 6, 2026, the cruise aboard Royal Princess will be hosted by none other than Jill Whelan, also known as Vicki Stubing from The Love Boat.