Metamorphosis - Cruise Ship Portal

Insight > Interior design
The Sanctuary is an adults-only space.
The last Grand-class vessel to be
delivered, however, was the Ruby Princess
in 2008 and since then Princess’s interior
designers have had little opportunity to
see their creations writ large. According to
Caluori, this is not necessarily a bad thing.
“We’ve had this hiatus for a few years, so
we decided to embark on a strategy of
enhancing our existing ships,” he says.
“Because of the success of the features of
the Sanctuary, the Piazza and the Crown
Grill Steakhouse, we sought to take what
have now become icons of Princess and
retrofit them to older vessels.”
�������������������������������������������������������������
�������� �������
����� ��� �������
�����������������������
������� � ���
Consistency is the cruise line’s
number-one priority. While Caluori
recognises that there is an industry-wide
move to match many of the trends
developing in the shore-side hospitality
industry, he is keen to point out that
Princess will not follow fads.
“We have a phrase that we use here,
‘evolution rather than revolution’, and
that’s Princess,” he states. “Ultimately the
passenger wants to have a comfortable
experience and feel that a space is
accessible, warm and inviting. The
concept of architecture as an
entertainment form is not something we
agree with. We’re going back to older
ships and updating them a little based on
the success of the features of our newer
ones, but we’ve never really felt obligated
to make unilateral changes.”
Based on the feedback Princess has
received so far, their guests have little
cause for complaint. “We may not get the
award for the most innovative of spaces,”
Caluori acknowledges, “but we get a lot of
kudos for the level of comfort and the
style. People enjoy the sophistication
without feeling intimidated.”
WCR022_040.indd 1 13/8/09 09:57:42
76 World Cruise Industry Review | www.worldcruiseindustryreview.com