Princess Cruises, the world's fastest-growing international premium cruise line, recently debuted its newest Royal-class ship, the Sky Princess, during a four-day 'shakedown cruise' from Trieste (Italy) to Athens (Greece), with a call in Kotor (Montenegro), from October 16-20.

The Sky Princess is the first ship designed from the ground up as a Princess MedallionClass ship. Weighing 143,700-tonnes, the 3,660-guest Sky Princess is the first ship designed from the ground up to work with OceanMedallion, the new technology on Princess Cruise ships.

According to Princess Cruises, Ocean Medallion is a first-of-its-kind wearable device that elevates every moment before, during and after your Ocean Medallion Vacation. From on-demand food and drinks, interactive gaming, custom entertainment and smart navigation, Medallion makes cruising simpler, and more personal and enjoyable than ever.

Considered a breakthrough in the vacation industry and a CES 2019 Innovation Award Honoree, the OceanMedallion wearable device is complimentary for all guests and features leading-edge technology that delivers personalised service through enhanced guest-crew interactions, eliminates friction points and enables interactive entertainment.

Princess MedallionClass Vacations are resulting in high guest satisfaction scores, thanks to a portfolio of experiences specifically designed to enhance their cruise vacation, including: 

• Expedited Arrival - From curbside to poolside in a breeze: Personalisation starts pre-cruise as guests become OceanReady before arriving at the port. Guests who arrive at the terminal having uploaded their travel documents (i.e. passports) to their profile enjoy a streamlined and expedited check-in process that gets their vacation started even sooner.

• On-Demand Services - Food, beverage, retail orders and service delivered to your location: Using smart devices and stateroom TVs, guests have the ability to order drinks, food and retail items like sunscreen with OceanNow and have them delivered directly anywhere on board. 

• Family and Friends Locator - Finding travel companions and directional ship information: Accessible on portals throughout the ships and via guests' smart devices, OceanCompass leverages the OceanMedallion to easily locate and chat with friends and family on board, as well as enables point-to-point wayfinding throughout the ship. OceanCompass guides guests throughout their journey, providing directional information so they can seamlessly navigate to their next point of interest. 

Other innovative features of the Princess MedallionClass experience include:

• Keyless stateroom entry: Access to staterooms is a seamless experience where each guest is securely validated as the door automatically unlocks. Personalised greetings, including loyalty level recognition and celebrations, welcome the guest on their door portal.

• Interactive voyage timeline: Available on ship portals and via guests' smart devices, JourneyView is an interactive timeline that lets guests scroll through all of the events available onboard during their voyage and bookmark activities they are interested in to their own personalised itinerary. Voyage itineraries are available as many as 60 days in advance, allowing guests to start planning before they leave home.

• Interactive game play: On portals located shipwide and on smart devices PlayOcean helps guests enjoy a new level of fun with interactive games, a digital scavenger hunt, customisable avatars and more. PlayOcean also transforms guests' mobile devices into game controllers for interactive gaming on the massive Movies Under the Stars screen.

Featuring a total of 1,830 cabins and 19 decks, highlights onboard include a multi-storey, piazza-style atrium, specialty restaurants such as Crown Grill or Sabatini's Italian Trattoria, The Sanctuary - an adult-only relaxation area, an open-air cinema, 24-hour buffet/bistro, plus round-the-clock room service and expansive child and teen entertainment centres. Fitness enthusiasts will also find a host of activities and venues for their needs including a basketball court, paddle tennis, jogging tracks and state-of-the-art gyms.

Signature amenities such as the steakhouse, Lotus Spa and theatre can also be found onboard the Sky Princess.

Sky Princess started her inaugural season in Europe on a seven-day Mediterranean & Adriatic maiden voyage from Athens to Barcelona on October 20. The ship will sail a series of Mediterranean voyages before debuting in North America on December 1, for a season of Caribbean cruises from Ft. Lauderdale. 

Sky Princess shares all of the spectacular style and elegance of her sister ships - Regal Princess, Royal Princess and Majestic Princess. The ship also debuts the new luxurious Sky Suites, with expansive views from the largest balconies at sea. In addition, two new entertainment experiences are offered - Phantom Bridge, a world's first game combining digital and physical elements for the ultimate immersive escape room, and Take 5, the only jazz theatre at sea, celebrating the iconic sounds, culture and history of jazz.

Cruisers can also find a variety of duty-free shops on board with deals on designer clothing and gifts, including Lladro, Swarovski, Calvin Klein etc.

The Princess Cruises fleet continues to expand with Enchanted Princess in June 2020, Discovery Princess in November 2021 and two additional ships in 2023 and 2025.