Grand Princess

Grand Princess was the first of the Grand-class cruise ships debuting in 1998, and christened by Olivia de Havilland. When Grand Princess was launched, she featured in the Princess Cruises brochures as a Sun-class ship; it was only with the subsequent launch of Golden Princess that the Grand class appeared in brochures. The ship has a different decor scheme to her sister ships, using darker woods, and the interior decor is more similar to the smaller Sun-class ships.

She is the sister ship of Star Princess and Golden Princess. Grand Princess was the setting for a task in the second series of the UK version of the reality TV show The Apprentice.

On 19 July 2009, the ship was drydocked for 14 days for refurbishments such as boosting Grand Princess's energy and environmental efficiency.

2011 refit

In May 2011, Grand Princess completed the most extensive dry-dock in Princess Cruises history that included a refit and removal of the nightclub from her stern. This resolved her tendency to sail bow high, and has improved her fuel economy by about 3-4%. The bow high tendency was specific to Grand Princess and did not affect her sister ships as they were designed with aluminum upper decks. The aft nightclub atop the aft of Grand Princess was removed in the 2011 refit.

2017 whale incident

On 9 August 2017, a dead humpback whale was found stuck on the bow of the ship after it docked at Ketchikan, Alaska. Princess Cruises issued a statement that said "It is unknown how or when this happened as the ship felt no impact. It is also unknown, at this time, whether the whale was alive or already deceased before becoming lodged on the bow." It was the second time in two years that a whale had been carried into an Alaskan port on the bow of a cruise ship.

2020 coronavirus pandemic

During the initial outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, former passengers of the ship who had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 were being linked to cruises they had taken on the ship while it traveled between California, Mexico and Hawaii. After the first confirmed death on 4 March 2020, Grand Princess was rerouted to the San Francisco Bay Area, where it was anchored offshore while test kits were airlifted to the ship. Preliminary testing found 21 positive cases, and the ship later docked in Oakland on 9 March 2020, with over 3,000 people entering quarantine. At least 497 people who were on Grand Princess when it was rerouted are known to have tested positive for the virus, and 7 passengers died in connection to the virus.