Princess Cruises newest ship "Royal Princess" arrives in Southampton today 07/06/13.

Princess Cruises latest and newly built cruise ship for 2013 the 141,000 Gt "Royal Princess" arrived in Southampton this morning during heavy rain with thunder and lightning from Algeciras being followed by a helicopter with a tv crew on board. Nearby on town quay there was a brass band playing while she was entering Ocean Terminal. She appeared after passing dock head around 11:05am to turn in the lower swinging ground to go astern into Ocean Terminal and berth starboard side for 11:30am and was fully at her berth by 12:04pm so was on time as planned, by 12 noon the weather had improved a bit which is typical of english weather. As she appeared she was being assisted by the lead tug Svitzer Alma and the tug on the stern was Svitzer Ferriby. I had to endure very difficult filming conditions due to the heavy rain and also there was a barge alongside town quay to where I was, installing some steel piles in readiness for another pontoon for the Hythe Ferry to use, at present Hythe Ferry has been sharing the Red Jet pontoon to disembark and embark passengers. Royal Princess is due to go on one of a couple of mini cruises for the travel agents and media this sunday at 5pm for St Peter Port in the channel islands. Royal Princess can accommodate 3,600 passengers with 1,346 crew she is 1,083ft long and has a service speed of 22 knots. before her maiden voyage on Sunday June 16th she will be officially named in a ceremony by the Duchcess of Cambridge on Thursday 13th June.