NAVIGATION-Cruising and Maritime Themes

Built in 2009 by STX in Saint-Nazaire, the MSC SPLENDIDA is a giant of 133.500 GRT, she was named at Barcelona by Sophia Loren and she looks a splendid cruise ship indeed, she is operated by MSC CRUISES. Photos taken today at Barcelona.

"LEGEND OF THE SEAS" was built at Saint-Nazaire by CHANTIERS DE L´ATLANTIQUE in 1995, she is operated by ROYAL CARIBBEAN and has been based all over the world cruising, the ship has a cruising speed of 21 knots and a GRT of approximately 70.000, she is a very fine ship indeed, I have taken photos of the vessel in many places, the pics included here are Southampton July 1997 and Barcelona June 2001

P&O's cruise ship OCEANA seen in Funchal, Madeira on 29th October 2010 during a westbound transatlantic cruise. The images document her departure to Port Castries, St. Lucia, later to arrive in Bridgetown, Barbados where she would be based for the Caribbean Winter. OCEANA was built in Fincantieri, Monfalcone yard for Princess Cruises ordered as a class of four twin vessels. Delivered in 2000 as OCEAN PRINCESS, two years later she and her sistership SEA PRINCESS were transfered to P&O and renamed OCEANA and ADONIA respectivaly. The ADONIA returned to Princess in 2005 with her original name. OCEANA still cruises with P&O's house flag and normally sails the Mediterranean sea, Canary Isles, Baltic and the Caribbean in the Winter.

The impressive "AQUITANIA" was built in 1914 by JOHN BROWN at Clydebank she was 45.647 GT and had a service speed of 23.5 knots, when she was built she considered CUNARD´s greatest dream and she was commonly known as the "ship beautiful" and she really was, she is still to this day one of the longest serving ships in CUNARD´s history she sailed over 3 million miles and carried over 1 million passengers. "AQUITANIA" survived the two World wars as an hospital and also as a troopship, she was withdrawn from service in 1950 to be broken up on the Clyde, one of her bells was placed on board QE2 in 1969. One of the greatest pages in terms of Ocean Liners´s History, included in this post a video depicting the life of the vessel, postcard, AQUITANIA in Liverpool during the 20´s and as a troopship, from my private collection

This post is about a very special liner, the majestic SS "ILE DE FRANCE", the first major ocean liner built after the end of World War I, she was built at Saint-Nazaire and was delivered to CGT in 1927. "ILE DE FRANCE" was the most spectacular and innovative liner of the 20´s, she began Art Deco styling at sea, the ship was glamorous and chic, she even carried a small plane on board that could be launched when the ship was about 200 miles away from port so she was the fastest to deliver the mail, bags of mail were delivered while the vessel was still at sea. "ILE DE FRANCE" was just over 43.000 GRT and was scrapped in Japan in 1959, a truly amazing ship

The new QUEEN ELIZABETH was built by Fincantieri in Italy and delivered to CUNARD in 2010, after QM2 she is the second largest ship ever built for the CUNARD LINE, she has 92.000 GRT and a top speed of 23.7 knots.QE is identical to sister ship QUEEN VICTORIA but has a steeper stern which enables the vessel to carry more passengers, she cruises all around the world. Photos taken in Lisbon on the 22sd April 2011

The MS "AIDAluna" is a cruise ship owned and operated by AIDA CRUISES, the ship was built at Meyer Werft in Germany and delivered in 2009. The ship has 69.000 GRT, 22 knots of top speed and has capacity for 2100 passengers, she is registered in Genoa, Italy. Photos taken in Lisbon earlier this year on the 22sd April 2011, the cruise ship WIND SPIRIT can also be seen on the pictures

The MV "DOULOS" was originally built as a cargo ship named SS MEDINA in 1914, she was converted to a passenger ship in 1948 and renamed ROMA. The ship was acquired by LINEA COSTA in 1952 and renamed FRANCA C, she served this Italian operator until 1977 when a German company named "GOOD BOOKS FOR ALL" , a charity organization bought the ship and renamed her "DOULOS", she was for a number of years   the largest floating library in world with an average of 4000 books in the shelves, the vessel made her last world tour in 2009, she is now owned by BIZNAZ RESOURCES a company based in Singapore who plans to preserve the ship. Photos taken in 2004 at Southampton, last time I saw the ship

Built in 2008 by Fincantieri in Italy, the cruise ship "EURODAM" at 86.700 GRT is the largest HAL ship to this date along with her sister NIEUW AMSTERDAM, she was named on the 1st July 2008 by QUEEN BEATRIX, has a top speed of 24 knots and capacity for just over 2100 passengers, photos taken in Lisbon on the 22sd April 2011, the new QUEEN ELIZABETH was also in port that day

"BALMORAL" was built in Germany by MEYER WERFT in 1988 to ROYAL CRUISE LINE, she was known as CROWN ODISSEY, she has also sailed for NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE as the NORWEGIAN CROWN and with ORIENT LINES as the CROWN ODISSEY. Before entering service with FRED OLSEN CRUISE LINES in 2008 she was lengthened by some 30 meters again in Germany but this time by BLOM & VOSS shipyards at Hamburg. MILES MORGAN TRAVEL chartered the ship recently to follow the exact route of RMS TITANIC with an intent to stop at the very spot where the White Star Line ship sunk, the cruise was organized to honour the 100th anniversary of TITANIC´s sinking. BALMORAL is 217 meters long and has a GRT of just over 43.000, photos taken at Calshot on the 24th June 2011

We travel back in time in this post to the year of 1994, I was cruising on the AIRTOURS cruise ship "CAROUSEL", during our stop at the Roman port of Civitavecchia, the "TARAS SHEVCHENKO" was also in port. The ship was built in 1967 by V.E.B. MATHIAS-THESEN in East Germany and operated by BLACK SEA SHIPPING she was used for cruising until 1987 the year she was chartered to JAHN REISEN for a period of 5 years, during this charter the SOVIET UNION broke up so she was handed over to Ukraine. In 1995 with the end of JAHN REISEN the ship was transferred to BLASCO UK, she was eventually sold to another Ukraine-based company, OCEAN AGENCIES, due to financial problems of this firm, the ship was laid up until 2003, one year later ANTARKTIKA tried to use her for cruising without any results so the ship was sold for scrap in 2004. Photo June 2004

Built in 2008, the "MSC POESIA" has a GRT of 93.300 and a top speed of 23 knots. The ship was, if only for a brief moment flagship of MSC CRUISES until in December the same year "MSC FANTASIA" came into service. "MSC POESIA" was named in the UK at Dover by Sophia Loren, photos taken in Lisbon in April this year

the new MSC CRUISES, "MSC DIVINA" has recently moved to her fitting out basin at the STX shipyards at Saint-Nazaire, France, the ship will have approximately 140.000 GRT and capacity for over 4000 passengers, she will be christened by Sophia Loren. The ship is seen here much earlier this year, photos taken in April and May 2011 during earlier stages of the building, at the shipyard and from on board BALTIC AMBER

Cruise ship "ISLAND STAR" was built in 1990 for the prestigious cruise company CELEBRITY CRUISES known for excellence in service, in 2005 the ship was acquired by ISLAND CRUISES and renamed "ISLAND STAR", she has been sailing for PULLMANTUR since 2009 as the PACIFIC DREAM, early 2011 she was once again renamed HORIZON, the ship will be operated by CDF-CROISIERES DE FRANCE as from 2012 and will have Marseille as her home port. Photos of the ship in Barcelona, taken July, the 5th 2007

"ADONIA" and "OCEANA", sailed together for P & O CRUISES between 2003 and 2005, they were known and advertised as the NEW WHITE SISTERS, they were both built in Italy by Fincantieri, "ADONIA" was the first to debut in 1998 as the SEA PRINCESS, operated by PRINCESS CRUISES, the "OCEANA" came into service two years later as the OCEAN PRINCESS. "OCEANA" was transferred to P & O in 2002, "ADONIA" one year later to fill the gap left by the former ARCADIA and the building of the new ship with the same name, when the new "ARCADIA" came into service in 2005, "ADONIA" went back to PRINCESS CRUISES and renamed SEA PRINCESS. Both ships are 77.000 GRT and have a top speed of just over 23 knots. Photos included are from 2008 taken in Lisbon, SEA PRINCESS and OCEANA

The M.S. "PRINCESS DANAE" was built by HARLAND & WOLFF in 1955 for PORT LINE which was a subsidiary company of CUNARD, she was known as the "PORT MELBOURNE" and together with her sister ship, the "PORT SIDNEY" was operated on the UK to AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND route, they were mainly freighters but some passengers were also transported, both vessels were in service until 1971. The ship was sold to Greece in 1972 and started a long process of convertion to full time passenger cruise ship, this rebuilding lasted until 1976. She has been sailing for CLASSIC INTERNATIONAL CRUISES since 1994. Photos included shows this beautiful ship in Lisbon, spring of 2008 starting another cruise with portuguese passengers