The New Look of Dawn Princess
Dawn Princess sailed into Forgacs Cairncross Dockyard in Brisbane on Sunday 7 June for a multi-million dollar makeover. Work includes the addition of two Princess signature features – the Movies Under the Stars giant poolside screen and the adults-only Sanctuary. At 77,000 tons, Dawn Princess is the equal largest ship to be dry-docked in Brisbane. Her twin sister, Sun Princess, was refitted at the dockyard in 2007. The project involved around 250 tradespeople employed by Forgacs Engineering as well as more than 250 Princess Cruises’ contractors, who worked on the internal refurbishment. In partnership with local Brisbane firm Aluminium Boats Australia, Forgacs Cairncross won a competitive international tender to build and install the massive 8-metre wide, 4.5-metre high Movies Under the Stars screen on Dawn Princess’ pool deck. A child-free Sanctuary area, where passengers can relax on plush padded lounge chairs and enjoy refreshing drinks, light snacks and the services of dedicated Serenity Stewards, was also part of the refit. Fresh from the refit Dawn Princess sailed from Sydney with almost 2000 Australians on a 104-night voyage around the world. The superliner’s epic voyage is taking passengers across the Pacific to the east and west coasts of America, then on to Ireland, Europe and the Mediterranean as well as the waters of Anzac Cove. Returning to Sydney on 16 October Dawn Princess’s cruise is the first full global circumnavigation and longest roundtrip cruise ever made from Australia. In all, 911 passengers will complete the full world cruise, with a further 2800 passengers joining on a range of sectors as the ship sails the seven seas visiting 42 ports. With more than 90 per cent of passengers from Australia and New Zealand, the youngest person on board during the voyage will be just one year old, while the oldest will be 95 years. Following the success of this year’s world cruise, Dawn Princess will offer another world cruise in 2010 – a 104-night voyage departing Sydney on 21 May. Bookings for this cruise had reached record levels in June, with more than 500 Australians getting in early to secure berths with most of the bookings for the full world cruise.