The biggest passenger ship to visit the Mersey will become a regular sight after her maiden call. Peter Elson reports

MORE a floating luxury resort than a mere cruise liner, Crown Princess quietly made her Mersey debut.

The enormous vessel, built in 2006, is the largest passenger ship to visit Liverpool in the port’s entire history.

She arrived from Dublin on the first of four visits, operating Princess Cruises’ hugely popular round-Britain cruises.

These were inaugurated last year by her slightly smaller sister ship, Grand Princess, the previous holder of the largest Mersey passenger ship title.

Such was their success that Princess Cruises increased capacity with Crown Princess, which is 20% bigger.

The gamble paid off as Crown Princess’ 3,100 berths are fully-booked and the 116,000-ton ship is already scheduled to repeat the quartet of cruises next year.

Princess Cruises is very much aimed at the North American market, and 70% of passengers on this particular voyage are from all over the US.

Surprisingly, over 7% of passengers are British.

“We’re increasing our presence in Europe and more British people are travelling with us,” said Sophie Nicholas, of Princess Cruises.

“Also, many people – including younger ones – don’t like flying and would rather take a cruise from the UK, even if it is around their own country.”

Crown Princess started her 12-day cruise in Southampton and called at Cobh and Dublin before docking in Liverpool.

She will sail to Belfast, Greenock (for Glasgow and Loch Lomond), Invergordon (for the Scottish Highlands), South Queensferry (for Edinburgh), Le Havre (for Paris) and back to Southampton.

Last year, there were Liverpudlians on these cruises who were happy to travel to Southampton to experience arriving in Liverpool by sea.

Built three years ago, Crown Princess is an ideal way to see Britain’s coast in very great comfort, especially the wilder Irish and Scottish shores.

When the sun shines, passengers can enjoy three outdoor pools, as they did in Liverpool yesterday.

One of the pools has a giant 300 square metre outdoor cinema screen, called Movies Under the Stars, which is proving popular in the current UK heatwave. Although a vast ship, her design cleverly assimilates the thousands of passengers.

Even her three-deck high atrium, which is themed on Venetian street cafes (but with water restricted to two small fountains) feels unintimidating.

There seem to be eateries everywhere on the ship, including two “turn up and eat” dining rooms and one formal restaurant with the traditional two sittings and fixed seating. There are also two specialist Italian and seafood restaurants which operate surcharges.

Among the bars are the Wheelhouse (up-market English pub decor) and Crooners, offering 52 types of Martini cocktails.

The Princess Theatre seats 803 people, compared to Liverpool Playhouse’s 687-person capacity.

Three big production shows themed on Motown, Cole Porter songs and world destinations rotate during the current cruise.