Island Princess Begins 50-Night, 24-Port Mediterranean Voyage

The 88,000-ton Island Princess is sailing a 50-night, roughly seven-week round trip from Fort Lauderdale, calling at 24 ports in 10 countries and territories before returning to Port Everglades in late November. The 2003-built ship departed earlier this month on the special voyage to Europe and the Mediterranean named the “Grand Mediterranean Odyssey.” After leaving Florida, it visited Bermuda and the Azores before transiting the Strait of Gibraltar and reaching the Western Mediterranean earlier this week.

What does the 50-night route cover?

The remaining schedule spreads across three regional phases and both sides of the Atlantic.

• Western Mediterranean: Scheduled calls in Spain, Italy and France include Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Ajaccio, Portoferraio and Naples.
• Eastern Mediterranean: From late October to early November, calls in Greece, Turkey, Croatia and Montenegro include Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes, Kusadasi, Dubrovnik and Kotor.
• Return route: Before crossing the Atlantic for Florida, calls include Gibraltar, Morocco and the Canary Islands, with visits to Casablanca and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

The remaining calls remain scheduled rather than completed, and the port list is not a booking report. No passenger counts or sales data accompany it. For sellers, the practical point is a 50-night circuit linking Atlantic, western and eastern Mediterranean markets, with no demand evidence attached.

What can sellers offer from Fort Lauderdale?

Passengers could also join the Island Princess for individual 25-night segments sailing between Fort Lauderdale and Piraeus in Athens. That gives agencies two inventory lengths around one ship deployment: the full 50-night round trip, or a 25-night segment of about three and a half weeks for customers who cannot commit to the entire voyage.

For advisers, the shorter segment offers a way to sell the deployment without changing operators. No fares, booking pace, passenger counts, cabin inventory or commission data accompany that choice, so its ability to gain share for Princess or the agencies selling it remains untested. The deployment creates two trip lengths, but commercial uptake remains unmeasured.

What follows the Mediterranean return?

• Caribbean and Bahamas: After returning to Port Everglades, the Island Princess is scheduled to offer itineraries in both markets.
• Panama Canal: In December, Princess begins a series of 16-night, little-over-two-week cruises between Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale. The open-jaw sailings include a full canal transit, Caribbean visits and stops along the Pacific coast of Central America, and the series extends through late April.
• Alaska and British Columbia: A summer season follows in Alaska and British Columbia, Canada. The ship is part of Princess’ eight-ship regional lineup and will offer seven-night, one-week cruises between Vancouver and Whittier.

These deployments come with no disclosed pricing, onboard capacity or revenue contribution, so their effect on sellers’ portfolios cannot be calculated. Financially, the schedule shows itinerary breadth, not performance.

What should sellers watch next?

Three operational checkpoints matter: completing the Eastern Mediterranean and return legs, starting the December Los Angeles–Fort Lauderdale series, and making the late-April transition to Alaska and British Columbia. If those transitions happen as scheduled, sellers can merchandise the ship across distinct seasonal markets without changing operators.

No booking figures, passenger arrivals, revenue, capacity, pricing or commission data accompany the deployment, leaving demand and market share untested. The commercial case remains unproven. The next test is whether the December Panama Canal launch and late-April Alaska transition generate disclosed bookings and revenue; without those figures, the schedule’s commercial value remains unmeasured.