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Royal Cruise Line Fleet History


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In response to a thread asking about the whereabouts of the former Royal Cruise Line ships, here is a history of the fleet that I prepared for the old boards, updated to the best of my knowledge:

 

CROWN ODYSSEY: Built 1988 for Royal Cruise Line, Piraeus, at Jos. L Meyer Werft, Papenburg, Germany. RCL sold 1989 to Kloster Cruise, Nassau. RCL dissolved into Norwegian Cruise Line, Nassau 1996. Renamed NORWEGIAN CROWN. Transferred 2000 to Orient Line, renamed CROWN ODYSSEY. Transferred to NCL 2003, renamed NOREWGIAN CROWN. Presently in service.

 

GOLDEN ODYSSEY: Built 1974 for Royal Cruise Line, Piraeus, at Helsingør Værft, Helsingør, Denmark. RCL sold 1989 to Kloster Cruise, Nassau. Sold 1994 to Deutsche Seetouristik, Nassau, renamed ASTRA II, chartered to Carvaelle Shipping, cruising for Neckermann Seereisen. Laid-up Genoa 1997 after the end of Caravelle charter. Chartered to Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten, 1998. Sold in 2001 following end of Hapag-Lloyd charter to Asia Cruiser Club, Nassau; renamed OMAR II for overnight gambling cruises from Hong Kong. Transferred to Success Cruises in 2004 and renamed MACAU SUCCESS; presently in service on overnight cruises from Macau.

 

QUEEN ODYSSEY: Built 1992 as ROYAL VIKING QUEEN for Royal Viking Line (Kloster Cruise Ltd), Nassau, at Schichau-Seebeckwerft, Bremerhaven, Germany. Renamed QUEEN ODYSSEY 1995 and transferred to Royal Cruise Line. Sold 1996 to Seabourn Cruise Line, Olso; renamed SEABOURN LEGEND. Reflagged in Bahamas 2002. Presently in service.

 

ROYAL ODYSSEY (I): Built 1964 as SHALOM for Zim Israel Navigation Co. Ltd., Haifa, at Chantiers de l'Atlantique, St. Nazaire, France. Haifa-New York service. Sold to Hanseatic Schiffahrts GmbH (Deutsch Atlantik Schiffahrts GmbH), Hamburg, 1967. Renamed HANSEATIC. Hamburg-New York service and cruising. Cruising only from 1969. Sold to Home Lines Inc., Panama, 1973. Renamed DORIC. Sold to Royal Cruise Line Ltd., Piraeus, 1981. Reconstructed at Perama and Neorion, Greece. Entered RCL service 1982. Sold 1988 to Regency Cruises, Nassau; renamed REGENT SUN. Laid-up as SUN following Regency bankruptcy 1995. Sold for scrapping in South Asia, sank off South Africa under tow to scrappers 25 July 2001.

 

ROYAL ODYSSEY (II): Built 1973 as ROYAL VIKING SEA for A.F. Klaveness & Co. A/S (Royal Viking Line), Oslo, at Oy Wärtsilä Ab, Helsinki, Finland. Lengthened 1981 at A. G. Weser Seebeckwerft, Bremerhaven, Germany. RVL sold 1984 to Norwegian Caribbean Lines (Klosters R/A), Olso. Continued operating independently. Reflagged in Bahamas 1987. Transferred to Royal Cruise Line 1991, renamed ROYAL ODYSSEY. Royal Cruise Line dissolved 1996, ship continued operating under same name for NCL. Sold 1997 to Actinor Cruise, Nassau, renamed NORWEGIAN STAR, chartered back to NCL. Transferred to Norweigan Capricorn Line 1999. Transferred to Star Cruises (new parent company of NCL) 2001. Renamed NORWEGIAN STAR I 2001. Returned to owners 2002. Chartered to Crown Investments 2002, renamed CROWN. Arrested at Shanghai 2002, returned to owners. Chartered 2003 to Iberojet (marketing name CROWN MARE NOSTRUM). Chartered 2004 to Phoenix Riesen, renamed ALBATROS. Presently in service.

 

STAR ODYSSEY: Built 1972 as ROYAL VIKING STAR for Det Bergenske D/S (Royal Viking Line), Bergen, at Oy Wärtsilä Ab, Helsinki, Finland. Lengthened 1981 at A. G. Weser Seebeckwerft, Bremerhaven, Germany. RVL sold 1984 to Norwegian Caribbean Lines (Klosters R/A), Olso. Continued operating independently. Reflagged in Bahamas 1988. Transferred to NCL 1991, renamed WESTWARD. Transferred to Royal Cruise Line 1994, renamed STAR ODYSSEY. Royal Cruise Line dissolved by NCL 1996. After a short period of operation under NCL brand (keeping same name), sold to Fred Olsen Cruise Line, Nassau, renamed BLACK WATCH. Presently in service.

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Thanks for the fleet history of Royal Cruise Lines.

 

It certainly was a class act. We sailed once Golden Odyssey, twice Crown Odyssey, and once on the Regent Sun, former Royal Odyssey (I).

 

Suggestion, when a thread is moved, would it not be appropriate to indicate where it went? Sometimes I search long and hard trying to track down a moved thread.

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  • 9 years later...
  • 7 months later...
  • 1 year later...

I also sailed the Crown, once while with Royal around SA, and twice with orient on long trips and when they had great land packages pre and post! Our very first Kenyan safari, Nepal and the Taj Mahal! All done thru orient!

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  • 2 years later...

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