|
2002, November 23: The president of the Republic of Panama, Mireya
Moscoso, is expected to officiate at the official naming of Princess
Cruises’ newest ship, Coral Princess, in a historic
ceremony planned for 2003, January 17 in the Panama Canal.
This will be the first
ever cruise ship naming to take place in the Canal and will take place as
the Coral Princess transits the Canal’s Gatun Locks.
According to reports,
the ship will be in the Canal as part of it regular cruise itinerary, on a
sailing that departs from Ft. Lauderdale on January 13.
Phil Kleweno,
president of Princess Cruises is quoted as saying: “In our 32 years of
Panama Canal cruising, we’ve established a strong and beneficial
relationship with Panama, so we feel President Moscoso is the perfect person
to christen this ship, which was built specifically for Canal transits.
“As we offer more
Panama Canal sailings than any other line and even plan to double our number
of Canal cruises next year, we are delighted to have President Moscoso
become the ‘godmother’ of Coral Princess and to host the first naming
ceremony in the Canal.”
Panama’s first female
head of state, President Moscoso took office in September 1999. Shortly
after her election, she experienced her first Canal transit aboard another
Princess ship, Sun Princess. The selection of President Moscoso to christen
Coral Princess follows P&O Princess’ long history of selecting illustrious
women to become the “godmothers” of its new ships, including Queen Elizabeth
of England, Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher, among others.
“Passengers aboard
that sailing are certainly in for a special treat,” noted Kleweno. “We’ve
never before christened a ship while it was in transit, so the passengers
have a unique opportunity to become part of this historic event.” The naming
ceremony will also be broadcast over the ship’s onboard television system.
Gatun Locks, one of
three sets of locks that make up this engineering marvel, which took more
than 30 years to build and was completed in 1914. The Gatun Locks are made
up of a series of three locks which connect the Caribbean with the massive
Gatun Lake in the middle in the Canal. The Canal’s locks lift and lower
ships a total of 170 feet as they move over the Panama isthmus – a 51-mile
transit in total.
Coral Princess’
inaugural season begins December 14 and will consist of a series of
roundtrip Panama Canal sailings roundtrip from Ft. Lauderdale with calls at
the ports of Limón in Costa Rica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Princess’
private island Princess Cays, as well as the Panama Canal transit and
cruising of the Canal’s Gatun Lake. The 88,000-ton Coral Princess was
designed to provide passengers the many amenities of the line’s larger
vessels on a ship built for Panama Canal transits. Coral Princess’ carries
1,970 passengers.
By using this site you are agreeing to the terms and conditions outlined below.
Caribbean Shipping Association (CSA) has made all reasonable efforts to ensure that all information provided through CSA's web site on the internet is accurate at the time of inclusion. However, whilst all efforts are made to ensure that the information represented is as accurate as possible, there may be inadvertent and occasional errors for which CSA apologises.
CSA makes no representations or warranties about the information provided through this web site, including any hypertext links or any other items used either directly or indirectly from CSA's web site and reserves the right to make changes and corrections at any time, without notice.
CSA accepts no liability for any inaccuracies or omissions in CSA's web site and any decisions based on information contained in CSA's web site are the sole responsibility of the visitor. |
|
