Which Princess cruise ship is the smallest?

What is the smallest Princess cruise ship? The smallest Princess cruise ship is the 2,000-passenger Coral Princess. Measuring just 91,267 gross tons, it's about 36% smaller than Discovery Princess, making it a significantly smaller vessel.



As of 2026, the Coral Princess and her sister ship, the Island Princess, are the smallest vessels in the Princess Cruises fleet. These "Panamax" ships were specifically designed to fit through the original locks of the Panama Canal. The Coral Princess has a guest capacity of approximately 2,000 passengers and a gross tonnage of around 91,627. In a fleet that now includes "Sphere Class" giants like the Sun Princess (carrying over 4,300 guests), the Coral Princess offers a more intimate, classic cruising experience. Its smaller size allows it to visit more unique ports that larger ships cannot reach, making it a favorite for long-haul "World Cruises" and detailed itineraries in Alaska and Asia where a smaller footprint is an operational advantage.

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Grand Class differences One of the most significant is that five of the ships (Grand, Golden, Star, Sapphire and Diamond) have one less deck than the others. However, on board Grand and Diamond, there is still room for a nine-hole mini-golf course – a feature that is also found on Caribbean, Crown, Emerald and Ruby.

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Accommodating only 16 guests and with only eight cabins available, the Celebrity Xploration is the world's smallest cruise ship.
  • Celebrity Xploration.
  • Safari Quest.
  • MS Panorama II (Photo Credit: Variety Cruises)
  • Admiralty Dream (Photo Credit: Alaskan Dream Cruises)
  • Aqua Mare (Photo Credit: Aqua Expeditions)


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Princess appeals to an older demographic than lines such as Carnival and Norwegian. The average age of passengers is around 57, and you'll usually see a lot of couples on board in their 50s, 60s and 70s. As noted above, these aren't people necessarily craving go-kart tracks and ropes courses at sea.

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The wreck and sinking of the steamship Princess Sophia exactly a century ago has been called Alaska's worst maritime tragedy. As many as 353 passengers and crew died after the ship grounded on Vanderbilt Reef north of Juneau on Oct. 23, 1918, and then sank 40 hours later in stormy weather.

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Smaller ships mean less crowded excursions. And forget the tourist traps! A physically smaller ship can also fit into narrower ports, so you'll get the bonus of exploring more far-flung and culturally interesting destinations.

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Many ships, including cruise liners have omitted having a 13th deck due to triskaidekaphobia.

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Majestic Princess is the first custom-designed vessel built specifically for the Chinese market and incorporates the successful design platform introduced on its sister ships Royal Princess and Regal Princess, which entered service in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

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When the stabilizers aren't needed, they are retracted into the vessel's side. Older and smaller ships are less likely to have this technology and are much more apt to feel the motion of the ocean. A mega-ship, such as Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas, might just be the best cruise ship to avoid seasickness.

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Within the last 111 years, over 20 cruise ships and ocean liners have sunk.

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Midship cabins The big allure of a midship cabin is its stability. You won't feel the rocking of the sea in a midship cabin nearly as much as you will in a cabin toward the front or back of a vessel. This is because ships are like teeter-totters. They pitch forward and back around a central axis that barely moves.

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To avoid crowds and experience cooler temperatures, consider traveling in the shoulder months of May and September or early October. Most Mediterranean cruises sail in the summer months, when the sun and sand in coastal ports are at their peak and cities come alive with activity.

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The most stable part of the ship is its lowest point of gravity, so on a lower deck, at the center. You'd feel a lot less motion here than, say, in a stateroom on the upper decks a long way forward or aft (towards the back of the ship).

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Costa Concordia disaster, the capsizing of an Italian cruise ship on January 13, 2012, after it struck rocks off the coast of Giglio Island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. More than 4,200 people were rescued, though 32 people died in the disaster.

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