Princess Tours 7080 and 7081 Refitted

Over the winter of 2004-2005, the first four ultradomes ever built — Princess Tours’ 7080, 7081, 7082 and 7083 — were sent to Colorado Railcar for interior refitting and significant upgrades. The first cars to return, MSEX 7082 and 7083, were shipped back to Alaska by barge without much fanfare on March 23.

For the second group, MSEX 7080 and 7081, Princess held a formal showing at Seattle's King Street Station. I was getting ready to fly out to Denver, so I stopped by to take a look at the upgraded interiors. Compare these photos to the "before" photo series taken last fall.

For the most part, the exterior appearance of the cars didn't change. The one noticeable difference is that the window battens are now painted blue instead of brown. This is the 7081.

I have no idea whether or not this was on the cars before they were remodeled, but the present paint scheme includes a Princess logo on the end of the roof of the cars, as seen on the 7080.

I have only seen photos of the cars' former livery, but the warm palette of the remodeled cars like the 7080, shown here, looked quite a bit more inviting. The cars did retain the table-top seating in the dome area, a feature unique to the Princess fleet.

The most significant interior upgrade is the ADA wheelchair lift, shown just beyond the stairs in this view of the 7081 in Vancouver, WA a few days before the show.

All four cars feature a service bar in the space between the stairs. Looking at the exterior of the car, you can tell the location of the service bar by the narrower dome window.

The dining room of the 7080 is similarly decorated. Note the liberal ammounts of storage between the seats. The door in the back leads to the kitchen.

The stairway of the 7080 features tile inlays, wood panneling and stone flooring. A very attractive combination. The cars have the same small lights that are commonly found on other CRM cars.

The area between the stairs and the observation platform of the 7081 is set aside as a gift shop, and has the same stone flooring as the cars' entry and the stairs. To the left of the frame, opposite the gift shop, are two restrooms, while the handles just beyond the gift area are for the wheelchair lift.

I hope you've enjoyed this view of the refurbished Princess 7080 and 7081. Expectation right now is that the remaining Princess cars, 7084-7089, will recieve similar treatment next winter.

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