SAPPHIRE PRINCESS
May 11, 2025 | San Diego, California
Sapphire Princess (Princess Cruises) was docked in San Diego, California, on May 11, 2025. Built in Japan and entering service in 2004, the Grand-class cruise ship was photographed alongside during her visit to the Southern California port.
Sapphire Princess was docked in San Diego, California, on May 11, 2025. The visit provided an opportunity to photograph the Princess Cruises ship in Southern California more than two decades after she entered service. Her large superstructure, multiple balcony decks, broad stern, and distinctive Princess profile reflect a generation of cruise-ship design that helped expand the company's worldwide fleet during the early 2000s.
Built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagasaki, Japan, Sapphire Princess entered service for Princess Cruises in May 2004. She was constructed alongside sister ship Diamond Princess and became part of the larger family of Grand-class ships that defined much of the Princess fleet during this period. At 115,875 gross tons and approximately 952 feet long, Sapphire Princess combines extensive passenger accommodations with large public spaces, open decks, dining venues, entertainment areas, and facilities designed for worldwide cruise service.
Information List
Name: Sapphire Princess
Operator: Princess Cruises
Ship Type: Cruise ship
Class: Grand Class
Builder: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nagasaki, Japan
Inaugural Cruise: May 16, 2004
Christener: Nancy Gore Murkowski, former First Lady of Alaska
Gross Tonnage: 115,875 GT
Length: 952 feet / approximately 290 meters
Beam: 123 feet / approximately 37.5 meters, excluding bridge wings
Draft: Approximately 28 feet
Height: Approximately 205 feet
Decks: 18
Guest Staterooms: 1,337
Guest Capacity: Approximately 2,670
Crew: Approximately 1,100
Location Shown: San Diego, California
Date Shown: May 11, 2025
History and Features
Construction and Entry Into Service:
Sapphire Princess was built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagasaki, Japan, for Princess Cruises.
She was constructed as part of Princess Cruises' expanding Grand-class family of ships.
Her sister ship Diamond Princess was also built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan.
Sapphire Princess entered passenger service with her inaugural cruise on May 16, 2004.
Nancy Gore Murkowski, former First Lady of Alaska, served as the ship's christener.
More than two decades after entering service, Sapphire Princess remained an active member of the Princess Cruises fleet when photographed in San Diego in 2025.
Grand-Class Design:
Sapphire Princess belongs to the Grand-class family that became a major part of the Princess Cruises fleet during the late 1990s and 2000s.
The ship measures approximately 952 feet long and has a gross tonnage of 115,875.
She contains 18 decks and more than 1,300 guest staterooms.
A large proportion of the ship's outside accommodations include private balconies, reflecting the increasing importance of balcony cabins in cruise-ship design during this period.
Her exterior is characterized by extensive balcony decks, a large multi-level superstructure, and the distinctive profile associated with Princess ships of her generation.
Passenger Accommodations:
Sapphire Princess has 1,337 guest staterooms.
Accommodations include suites, mini-suites, balcony cabins, ocean-view cabins, and interior cabins.
Hundreds of cabins feature private balconies.
The variety of accommodations allows the ship to serve both shorter cruises and longer destination-focused itineraries.
Princess lists a guest capacity of approximately 2,670 passengers.
Dining and Public Spaces:
The ship was designed with multiple dining rooms and specialty dining venues rather than relying on a single main restaurant.
Public areas include lounges, bars, entertainment spaces, pools, and extensive outdoor decks.
The Princess Theater serves as one of the principal entertainment venues aboard the ship.
The Piazza functions as a central gathering area connecting dining, entertainment, and passenger services.
The ship also includes spaces associated with the Princess experience such as the Wheelhouse Bar, Crooners, Horizon Court, and Lotus Spa.
Movies Under the Stars:
Sapphire Princess features Princess Cruises' Movies Under the Stars concept on the open deck.
A large outdoor screen allows movies and other programming to be shown near the pool area.
The feature became closely associated with the Princess Cruises onboard experience.
It provides an example of how existing ships were adapted as cruise lines introduced new entertainment concepts across their fleets.
Promenade and Open Decks:
Outdoor deck areas remain an important part of the ship's design.
Promenade spaces provide opportunities for walking and viewing the surrounding sea and destinations.
Upper decks contain pools, recreation areas, observation spaces, and passenger amenities.
These outdoor spaces are particularly useful on scenic itineraries where the landscape forms an important part of the cruise experience.
Service:
Since entering service in 2004, Sapphire Princess has operated a wide variety of itineraries for Princess Cruises.
Her deployments have taken the ship to destinations across North America, Alaska, the Pacific, Asia, Australia, Europe, and other regions.
The ship's size and range of indoor and outdoor public spaces allow her to operate both warm-weather and cooler-climate itineraries.
Her long service career reflects the durability of the Grand-class design within the Princess fleet.
San Diego – May 11, 2025:
Sapphire Princess was photographed in San Diego on May 11, 2025.
San Diego has a long maritime history and serves as both a cruise port and an important naval harbor.
The city's cruise facilities are located along the downtown waterfront on San Diego Bay.
Passenger ships visiting San Diego enter and leave the bay through a relatively narrow channel connecting the harbor with the Pacific Ocean.
The May 2025 visit placed Sapphire Princess in one of Southern California's principal passenger-ship ports.
Princess Cruises:
Princess Cruises traces its origins to 1965 and developed into one of the major international cruise operators.
The company became especially well known for cruises to Alaska, the Mexican Riviera, the Caribbean, Europe, and other worldwide destinations.
Princess expanded substantially through successive generations of purpose-built cruise ships.
The Grand-class family became particularly important to that expansion and helped establish many of the design characteristics associated with the modern Princess fleet.
Sapphire Princess remains one of the ships representing that period of the company's development.
Sapphire Princess in the Princess Fleet:
Sapphire Princess and Diamond Princess were notable additions to the Princess fleet when they entered service in 2004.
Their construction in Japan distinguished them from many other Princess ships of the period that were built at European shipyards.
Their larger dimensions and extensive passenger facilities expanded upon the Grand-class concept.
More than twenty years later, Sapphire Princess continued to operate worldwide cruise itineraries while retaining the basic design that characterized her introduction in 2004.
Legacy:
Sapphire Princess represents an important generation in the development of the modern Princess Cruises fleet.
Her combination of balcony accommodations, multiple dining venues, entertainment spaces, open decks, and destination-focused cruising reflects the evolution of large cruise ships during the early twenty-first century.
Her continuing service more than two decades after her inaugural voyage demonstrates the longevity of the Grand-class platform.
The May 11, 2025 photographs in San Diego document Sapphire Princess during this later period of her career as an established member of the Princess Cruises fleet.
OLP Social: Built at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan, this Grand-class ship has spent more than two decades sailing itineraries across the Pacific, including voyages to Alaska and the Mexican Riviera.
