On May 26, 1998, then the largest cruise ship in the world, 109,000 GT Grand Princess, made her inaugural voyage with a 12 night cruise from Barcelona to Istanbul. Unlike contemporary cruise vessels at the time, she was fitted with seawater lubricated propeller shaft bearings. Due to her size, risk studies completed by the technical team at Princess Cruises/P&O, in conjunction with the shipbuilder, Fincantieri, indicated that few drydocks could take a vessel of this size. Any unscheduled drydocking to repair a stern tube seal leaking oil could result in substantial financial lossesā¦