Sapphire Princess

Sapphire Princess is a cruise ship owned by Princess Cruises that entered service in 2004 as the twin sister ship of Diamond Princess. She is one of the world's largest cruise ships, with a capacity of approximately 2,670 passengers and is the sixth Gem Class ship built by Princess Cruises. Sapphire Princess was christened on June 10, 2004 in Seattle--the first cruise ship ever to be christened in that port.[1][dead link]
Sapphire Princess (2008) travels the Alaskan inside passage route one way from May to September, Mexican Riviera and Hawaii in the winter, with a Pacific Coast cruise during the transition weeks.

Design

Sapphire Princess is technically a sister ship to Grand Princess, but has several differences. The most notable of these is that the Skywalkers Nightclub suspended across her stern was moved to the back of the funnel, which opens up the terrace pool area. Sapphire takes personal choice dining another step further by splitting the two anytime dining rooms of its older sisters into four, each of which has its own theme and specialty dish. Another dramatic alteration is the repositioning of the Internet Café to the Promenade Deck adjacent to Sabatini's. This moves the Wheelhouse Bar farther to the front of the ship, in place of the Crown Grill. She is otherwise nearly identical to her older sisters.

Construction
Sapphire Princess was built in Japan by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the second Princess Cruises ship to be built in a Japanese shipyard. Her only sister ship, with whom she swapped names, Diamond Princess during construction.

The name swap occurred because a major fire swept through the original Sapphire Princess during construction, leading to a construction delay.[2] Both sister ships were being constructed at the same time, so the original Sapphire assumed the role of Diamond. This name swap assisted in keeping the delivery date of Sapphire Princess on time, while slightly delaying the delivery of Diamond Princess.[3] Sapphire Princess was the second Princess Cruises ship to be built in a Japanese shipyard, and lacks the "wing" or "spoiler" across the rear which can be seen on Grand Princess.

Her diesel-electric plant includes of four diesel generators and a gas turbine generator. The diesel generators are Wärtsilä 46 series common rail engines, two of the straight 9-cylinder configuration, and two of the straight 8-cylinder configuration. The 8- and 9-cylinder engines can produce approximately 81⁄2 and 91⁄2 MW of power respectively. These engines are fueled with Heavy Fuel oil (HFO or bunker c) and Marine Gas Oil (MGO) depending on the local regulations regarding emissions, as MGO produces much lower emissions but is much more expensive. The gas turbine generator is a GE 2500, producing a peak of 25 MW of power and being fueled my MGO. This generator is much more expensive to run than the diesel generators, and is used mostly in areas, such as Alaska, where the emissions regulations are strict. It is also used when top speed is required to make it to a port in a short time period. There are two propulsion electric motors which drive fixed-pitch propellers and six thrusters used during maneuvering; three bow and three stern. The propulsion electric motors (PEMs), are conventional synchronous motors made by Alston Motors. The two motors are each rated to 20 MW and have a maximum speed of 154 rpm. (Rated speed of 0-145 rpm.)