Concept and Construction
The ship that eventually became known as the Cunard Princess was originally one of two ships ordered by the United States-based Overseas National Airways. Unusually Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy, was involved in the design process of the ships, envisioning them as "floating Playboy Clubs". Order for the two ships was placed with the Burmeister & Wain shipyard in Copenhagen, Denmark. However, during construction the ships were sold to the United Kingdom-based Cunard Line. Although better known as luxury cruise operators, Cunard decided to maintain the original informal cruise concept developed for the ships by Overseas National Airways.
Cunard Conquest, the second of the two sisters, was launched from drydock in December 1974. Instead of having the ships completed at Burmeister & Wain, Cunard decided that once the hulls of the ships were complete they would sail to the Navali Mechaniche Affini in La Spezia, Italy, where interior fittings would be installed. Therefore, following delivery to Cunard on 30 October 1975 the Cunard Conquest sailed to La Spezia, where she arrived on 6 November 1975. While the ship was being fitted out Cunard decided to change her name to Cunard Princess. Following delivery to Cunard in early 1977 the ship sailed to New York City, where she was renamed by Princess Grace of Monaco.
Read more about this topic: MS Golden Iris
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