Your first cruise ship

[Copper10-8]

 

In March 2008, the ship was acquired by Spain-based tour operator (and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd subsidiary) Pullmantur Cruises and after a refit in Singapore, began cruising for them in May 2008 under her new name Ocean Dream.

 

 

Her home port for Pullmantur is Barcelona, Spain from where she offers 7-day itineraries with port calls at La Goulette/Tunis, Tunesia, Valetta, Malta, Messina/Sicily, Civitavecchia, Italy and Villefranche-sur-Mer, France.

 

[Copper10-8]

Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas, 1997, parents 50th anniversary cruise. 36 of us went to Western Caribbean, Cozumel, Jamaica, Grand Caymans. What a trip!! Been hooked ever since. Did Viking Serenade in 1999 too.

 

ms Majesty of the Seas (1992-present) Built in 1992 as ms Majesty of the Seas by Chantiers de l'Atlantique, St. Nazaire, France for Norwegian-based Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL). She is one of three Sovereign-class vessels, Sovereign of the Seas (1987) being the lead ship of the class, followed by Monarch of the Seas (1991) and then Majesty of the Seas (1992). Those three vessels became RCCL's third generation of cruise ships and theirfirst modern megaships to be built. They were also the first series of cruise ships to include a multi-story atrium with glass elevators. They have a single deck consisting entirely of cabins with private balconies as opposed to ocean-view only cabins.

 

 

At the time, the three sisters were the among the largest modern cruise ships ever to sail during the late eighties and early nineties. During that time, other major cruise lines followed RCCL's lead in building their ships to include many of the same features and dimensions that the Sovereign Class debuted with.

 

 

After being christened by HRH Queen Sonja of Norway, Majesty of the Seas departed on her maiden voyage on 26 April 1992. Majesty OTS' features include the line's trademark Viking Crown Lounge overlooking the pool and sun decks. She has an onboard casino and eleven passenger elevators, two of which are glass-walled. Onboard bars include the Schooner Bar, the 'A Touch of Class' Champagne Bar, the Blue Skies Lounge, the Boleros Latin Bar/Night club, the 'On Your Toes' Night Club, the Windjammer Café, and the Pool Bar. Majesty of the Seas also has two outdoor swimming pools, two hot tubs, a basketball court, and the famous RCI rock climbing wall.

 

On 12 January 2007, Majesty of the Seas entered a four-week dry-dock period where she underwent a multi-million dollar refurbishment of her pool decks, all public areas, restaurants, shops, centrums, and cabins. Additions include Johnny Rockets, The Compass Deli, Seattle's Best Coffee, Freeze Ice Cream Parlor and the previously mentioned Boleros Latin Bar/Night Club). She departed Freeport for Miami on 8 February 2007 and on 10 February sailed on a two-day preview cruise. Two days after that, Majesty OTS she settled back into her regular schedule.

 

Royal Caribbean International (RCI) currently operates her on a seven-day cycle that includes two weekly voyages. Four-night cruises operate every Monday through Friday from the Port of Miami, Fl. with ports of call at Nassau, the Bahamas, Coco Cay, RCI's private island in the Bahamas and Key West, Fl. A three-night cruise follows from Friday through Monday, stopping at Nassau and Coco Cay.

[Copper10-8]

My first cruise was onboard Epirotiki lines Oddyseus in 1990. It was a school cruise round the Med including Israel and Egypt.

 

Yes it got me hooked even though she was extremely small and the crossing to Port Said was rough

 

 

 

ms Princesa Isabel (1961-2008) Built as ms Princesa Isabel by Societa Espanola de Construccion Naval, Bilbao, Spain in 1961 for Brazil-based Companhía Nacional de Navegação Costeira. She would have a younger sister by the name of Princesa Leopoldina (1962). Named after the town and municipality in the state of Paraiba in northeast Brazil, Princesa Isabel at 9,696 gross registered tons, could carry 200 passengers in her First Class accommodation plus another 250 in Tourist Class. She was fitted with air conditioning and a wide selection of public places such as a gymnasium, writing room, children nursery, hair salon, etc. She also came with two swimming pools at her stern and two small cargo holds forward. She was propelled by two slow speed B&W motors and had Denny-Brown fin stabilizers. During her technical trials, she had reached a speed of 17.5 knots.

Princesa Isabel was delivered to her new owners on 30 August 1962 and, after crossing the Atlantic Ocean, operated on Brazilian coastal routes (Rio de Janeiro, Vitoria, Salvador, Recife, Fortaleza, Belem and Manaus) and some departures from Buenos Aires, Argentina. However, competition from commercial aviation made the two ships increasingly uneconomic. After Companhia Nacional de Navegação Costeira ran into financial problems, they were fully integrated with Brazilian state controlled Companhia de Navegação Lloyd Brasileiro in 1967. However, Lloyd Brasileiro showed little enthusiasm for coastal passenger ships and soon decided to lay up the eldest of the two sisters resulting in Princesa Isabel being “parked” at Rio in early 1968 and offered up for sale. In October 1969, a new owner was found in the Australia-based Dominion Navigation Company aka Dominion Line. Dominion had her towed by the Dutch ocean-going tug Goes Jacob van Heemskerck from Rio to the Barclay Curle shipyard in Glasgow, Scotland for a much needed refurbishment.

When she emerged from the yard in June 1970 after a seven month refit in which, among other things, her machinery was repaired, she had been renamed Marco Polo resplendent in a now light blue hull, white superstructure and red funnel with black top (in Brazilian service, she had been an all-white ship). Her new, all First Class, passenger accommodation had been brought back to 363 souls. She then journeyed to Australia, arriving in Melbourne in later that month. Shortly thereafter, Dominion Line put her in service on cruises to the South Pacific and Asia, first from Melbourne and then remaining for eight years in the Hong Kong – Singapore – Pacific area. In 1973, she underwent yet another refit in Hong Kong where she gained a move theater. Due to competition from larger ships belonging to well-established lines, primarily from the UK and Italy, Marco Polo was sold in May 1978. Her final cruise for Dominion turned out to be one to remember after she was caught in a typhoon in the China Sea for five days in June 1978, resulting in injuries to many of her passengers.

Her new owners were the Kavounides Shipping Company (Arley Navigation Co.) from Piraeus, Greece and they had her brought from Sydney to Greece. Upon arrival there, she was placed in dry-dock at the Khalkis shipyard on the island of Evia where she received a comprehensive refit. She came out as Aquamarine with a new and extended forward superstructure. She then sailed back to the Far East where on 16 April 1979, she began sailing fourteen-day cruises from Hong Kong to Kobe, Japan and ports in China for a newly set-up company by the name of Aquamarine International. As a side note, while in Hong Kong, she was competing against her sister and former fleet mate Princesa Leopoldina, operating under her new name, Coral Princess, for the China Navigation Company also out of Hong Kong. Things did not work out for Aquamarine in the Far East however, and after just one season, the ship was laid up in Hong Kong. On 27 April 1980 local authorities took the ship into custody for outstanding debts and, as a result of public auction, her new owners became the Commercial Bank of Greece.

When attempts to sell and/or charter her did not pan out, she left Hong Kong on 24 July 1981 and was brought back to Greece where she was laid up at Piraeus. Seven years of lay-up later in 1988, she was sold to Piraeus-based Epirotiki Lines S.A. Epirotiki's operations stretched back to 1830, when it was founded as a shipping company by George Potamianos, making it one of the world's oldest continuously operating shipping lines. Epirotiki went on to develop a leading position in the Greek cargo and passenger transportation trade, and began operating cruises among the Greek islands in the 1930s. In the 1950s, Potamianos's grandson, Anastassios, took over the direction of the company and focused it entirely on the cruise ship market, which was then undergoing a transformation from being a privilege of the wealthy to becoming a common vacation option affordable to the larger, middle-class traveling public.

Aquamarine once again entered dry-dock, this time in Perama, and emerged as Odysseus with an enlarged aft superstructure, some additional passenger accommodation increasing her total to 496 pax. Commencing in April 1989, Epirotiki operated her on three, four and seven-day cruises in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean. In the early nineties, Odysseus also made cruises to the Caribbean and South America and was chartered out to make some educational cruises.

By 1993, however, the company seemed unable to resist the prevailing mood of consolidation sweeping the cruise ship industry, which was hard hit again by the global recession and by the collapse of the tourist industry following the outbreak of the Persian Gulf War. With less tourists travelling due to wars and recession, and other pressures on the company, Epirotiki sought to solidify its position through partnerships and mergers. In August 1995 Epirotiki agreed to merge its operations with domestic rival and fellow Greece-based Sun Line, creating a new company named Royal Olympic Cruise Lines, Inc. (ROC) effective 1 December 1995. ROC initially maintained its two brand names, with Sun Line orientated towards a more affluent, older, and primarily American customer base, and Epirotiki attracting a younger, more diversified passenger.Under the ROC umbrella, Odysseus was internally transferred to the “blue” fleet of Sun Lines and was repainted, gaining a dark blue hull and funnel with the blue concentric rings of Sun Lines and the yellow Byzantine Cross of Epirotiki on a white disc attached to the funnel. In 1996, Odysseus continued operating Aegean/Easter Med cruises but, for the first time, sailed to Scandinavia in the summer. The two lines were amalgamated in 1997.

The year 2001 found Odysseus operating seven-night cruises from Piraeus calling at Thessaloniki, Patmos, Rhodes, Heraklion and Santorini, Greece as well as Istanbul and Kusadasi, Turkey from April through October. In 2003, the name of the company was changed to Royal Olympia Cruises after a protest from the International Olympic Committee which was not enamored by the first name. By this time, Royal Olympia had run into financial difficulties, however and on 17 December 2003, due to being unable to reach agreement with its creditors, the company filed for bankruptcy protection and ceased operation. All six of their ships, including Odysseus, were laid up.

In February 2005, a court in Piraeus ordered the struggling operator to auction off its last three ships, Triton, World Renaissance and Odysseus, all laid up at Piraeus, thereby dashing any hope that the company might survive. On 6 April 2005, Odysseus was sold at public auction to Panamanian-based Mantovana Holding Ltd., a subsidiary of Monaco-based V-Ships. They leased her out to Everis Capital Holdings who renamed her Lucky Star and after one year in Macau as a casino ship, moved her to Singapore running gambling cruises.

Her time was running out however, and in 2008 she was purchased for scrap by Indian breakers. For her final voyage to the breakers she was given the transport name of ‘Lucky’. She arrived off the infamous Alang, India beaches in January 2008 and was ultimately broken up there.

[OBX-Cruisers]

John: This thread and your work is spectacular. How many times can we all say thank you for your historical contributions.

 

For my wife and I, our first cruise and one that hooked us completely was on the beautiful Maasdam in 2006 (late starters I guess). We have been on her a total of 3 times since then and can't wait to see her again after drydock.

 

Thank you one more time.

[Copper10-8]

John: This thread and your work is spectacular. How many times can we all say thank you for your historical contributions.

 

For my wife and I, our first cruise and one that hooked us completely was on the beautiful Maasdam in 2006 (late starters I guess). We have been on her a total of 3 times since then and can't wait to see her again after drydock.

 

Thank you one more time.

 

Thank you very much, Sir! Maasdam is at the top of this page (below Caribbean Princess) but you already knew that one;)

[chesbev]

Holland America's Maasdam, baby! We're still relatively new to cruising, first cruise was October of 2006 out of Norfolk, VA. We were hooked from the moment we stepped onboard. I don't remember the entire itinerary, but it included St. Thomas, still a favorite for me, St. Kitts, Dominica, Barbados, and San Juan. That's obviously out of order. LOVE cruising!

[cruznseas]

Our first was also on Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's Viking Serenade from San Pedro to Catalina Island to Ensenada to San Pedro and yes, we were hooked after that!

[HomeLover]

John, this is a wonderful thread. Is there an index to look up a ship (for those of us who are too lazy or do not have the time) to go through all 80 pages? You should get a publisher interested for those of us who have cruised a lot. Great info and pictures.

[1rocky]

My first cruise was on the Sitmar TSS Fairstar which started life as a troop transport ship in 1955. 17 days from Australia around the South Pacific. 6 April to 23 April 1982.

Really enjoyed it but it took till 2005 before i enjoyed my second cruise On the Holland america Line The Zuiderdam from Vancouver to Alaska 7 nights. And now i am hooked.

Edited March 17, 2010 by 1rocky

[davekathy]

American Hawaii Cruises- Constitution 01/91- Hawaii

[Photo_Traveler]

My first overnight Cruise was on the Koln-Dusseldorfer's MS Nederland in May of 1968. I sailed from Basel to Rotterdam with overnight stops at Basel, Speyer, Rudeshiem and Dusseldorf. I was able to shot some wonderful photos of the MS Nederland in 1984 at Cologne. Back in those days, if you were traveling single you might have to share a room. I ended up sharing a room with an elderly Canadian Mountie who had recently lost his wife.

 

My second was on the Fair Princess (The old Fairsea) in Feb of 1990. The route was the Mexican Riviera (Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, Cabo San Lucas. Coincidently, The Viking Serenade was on the same route. I took some great shots of that ship. The Fair Princess was sold, renamed and eventually scapped. I'm surprised that Princess never introduced a new ship with the same name...

 

Nine of us are celebrating a 65th, 60th, and 70th birthday in 2010 on the HAL Ryndam. We are leaving on the April 4th cruise. I'll be the one shooting with the Panasonic LX3 and GH1.

[Harris Jeffer]

Norwegian Cruise line "Starward" was my first cruise in the late 60's!

 

It is still sailing today as the "Orient Queen" in Dubai !

 

Been on 60 or so more since then.

[vital_signs]

My first cruise was on the Sitmar TSS Fairstar which started life as a troop transport ship in 1955. 17 days from Australia around the South Pacific. 6 April to 23 April 1982.

Same, but over New Year and 19 nights. At the end when we were all waiting to get off I heard a lot of people saying "that was great but I'm ready to get off". I wasn't!

 

Fiji, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, New Caledonia.

Edited March 31, 2010 by vital_signs
Additional info

[Copper10-8]

Holland America's Maasdam, baby! We're still relatively new to cruising, first cruise was October of 2006 out of Norfolk, VA. We were hooked from the moment we stepped onboard. I don't remember the entire itinerary, but it included St. Thomas, still a favorite for me, St. Kitts, Dominica, Barbados, and San Juan. That's obviously out of order. LOVE cruising!

 

See previous page (underneath Caribbean Princess)

[Copper10-8]

Our first was also on Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's Viking Serenade from San Pedro to Catalina Island to Ensenada to San Pedro and yes, we were hooked after that!

 

 

 

ms Scandinavia (1982-present) Build in 1982 as ms Scandinavia by Dubigeon-Normandie S.A., Nantes, France for Scandinavian World Cruises (the United Steamship Company, Ltd.), a subsidiary for Copenhagen, Denmark-based DFDS D/S Seaways. At the time of her construction, she was the largest cruise-ferry in the world. Upon her delivery to Scandinavian World Cruises on 20 August 1982, she crossed the North Atlantic, arriving in New York City on 25 September 1982 after courtesy visits in Miami and Port Canaveral, Fl, Philadelphia, Pa, Boston, Mass and Port Jefferson, NY. Three days later on 28 September 1982, she was named/christened in New York harbor.

 

 

On 02 October 1982, Scandinavian World Cruises began operating her on a cruise-ferry service from New York City to Freeport and Nassau in the Bahamas. Upon arrival there, Scandinavia’s passengers and their vehicles wee transferred to other ships for their intended destinations which included South and North Florida. The ship could accommodate 1,606 passengers and 530 cars. This turned out not to be a successful operation, however, with the run terminated on 29 November 1983 and a decision made to return Scandinavia to Europe.

 

Upon arrival in Copenhagen, she was inserted on the DFDS Seaways’ overnight Copenhagen to Oslo run effective 9 December 1983 continuing on that route until April 1985.

 

 

In November 1984, she was sold to Sundance Cruise Corporation/Sundance Cruises as a replacement for their stricken pioneer ship, the Sundancer (sunk after striking an underwater rock off the coast of British Columbia, Canada on 29 June 1984), with a 2 April 1985 delivery. Sundance send her to the Blohm + Voss GmbH Schiffbau Werften/ shipyard in Hamburg, Germany where she arrived on 15 April 1985 for a refit making her more compatible for cruising however, keeping her ability to transport vehicles in addition to passengers. She was also given a new name, Stardancer. She departed the yard on 29 April 1985 and, after a transatlantic crossing and Panama Canal transit, she arrived at her new (summer) home port of Vancouver, BC.

 

She would spend that summer of 1985 doing Alaska inside passage cruising to Skagway, Ak and back. She was known as a deluxe alternative to the Alaska State Ferry system. After the Alaska season, her home port became Los Angeles (San Pedro) for cruising as far south as Puerto Vallarta on the Mexican Riviera taking cruise passengers, their cars and campers.In 1986 Sundance Cruises merged with Eastern Cruise Lines and Western Cruise Lines to form Admiral Cruises.

 

 

When Admiral Cruises was purchased by Royal Caribbean Cruise Line in 1990, she became Viking Serenade, the only ship in the fleet that was not originally designed and built for the line. RCCL sent her to a two-week dry-dock at Southwest Marine Shipyard in San Diego, CA in January 1991 where she was converted into a genuine cruise ship with a new gross registered tonnage of 40,143. Among other things, her interior was extensively renovated, she lost her car deck which was replaced with accommodation for several hundred passengers, her funnel was shortened and an RCCL trademark Sky lounge (Viking Crown Lounge) was fitted.

 

 

After emerging from the yard and being christened by her godmother, actress-comedienne Whoopi Goldbergon 27 January 1991, RCCL started operating her on 3 and 4-night cruises from Los Angeles to Mexico’s Baja California; L.A. – Catalina Island – Ensenada, Mexico on three, and L.A. – Catalina Island – San Diego – Ensenada on her four-day itineraries.

 

 

On 26 March 2002 she was renamed Island Escape and internally transferred to RCCL and First Choice Holidays’ new subsidiary, Island Cruises. As Island Escape, she was marketed to the British market as a casual ship designed for the young and active crowd and operated in the Mediterranean out of Palma de Mallorca, on one of Spain’s Balearic Islands in the Western Med, during the northern hemisphere summer. During the southern hemisphere summer season, she crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Brazil for South American cruises based out of Santos (Sao Paulo).

 

In April 2009 Island Escape joined the fleet of British-based Thomson Cruises but retained her name. Her primary area of operation is the Western Mediterranean and Canary Islands. Thomson describes the ship as the most laidback ship in their fleet, taking a more informal approach to life at sea.

[Copper10-8]

Some additional pics of the former Scandinavia:

 

 

As Stardancer in Admiral Cruises colors in Alaskan waters in 1988

 

 

As RCCL's Viking Serenade departing San Francisco in June 1991

 

 

As Viking Serenade for RCCL at the Los Angeles (San Pedro) Cruise Terminal in 1993 with the Vincent Thomas Bridge behind her

 

 

As Island Escape for Island Cruises arriving in Santos, Brazil in 2003

 

 

As Island Escape for Island Cruises (different colors) at Ajaccio, Corsica in 2006

 

 

As Island Escape sailing for Thomson Cruises and departing Toulon, France in October 2009

[Copper10-8]

John, this is a wonderful thread. Is there an index to look up a ship (for those of us who are too lazy or do not have the time) to go through all 80 pages? You should get a publisher interested for those of us who have cruised a lot. Great info and pictures.

 

Thanks Sir! I've got an index here at home that keeps getting bigger;)

[Copper10-8]

My first cruise was on the Sitmar TSS Fairstar which started life as a troop transport ship in 1955. 17 days from Australia around the South Pacific. 6 April to 23 April 1982.

Really enjoyed it but it took till 2005 before i enjoyed my second cruise On the Holland america Line The Zuiderdam from Vancouver to Alaska 7 nights. And now i am hooked.

 

 

TSS Oxfordshire (1955-1997) Built as TSS (Turbine Steam Ship) Oxfordshire by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Glasgow, Scotland for the UK-based Bibby Company as a troop transport.

In the early 1950s, the British War Office still regularly required the transportation of troops to and from garrisons in many parts of the Empire. The British Ministry of Transport had contracts with several shipping lines to transport her officers, troops as well as their families. One particular shipping company, the Bibby Line, had a long history of transporting troops; going back as early as 1854 during the Crimean War. In 1953, Bibby Line was made an attractive offer by the British Government to build a new vessel for troop transport. A simultaneous arrangement was made with the British-India Steam Navigation Company for an almost identical vessel, which would become Nevasa. These new ships would become the largest and last British vessels built solely for trooping.

It was intended that the pair would take up twenty-year charters from the British Government in order to secure their employment. Consequently Bibby Line sold their original 1912-built Oxfordshire and plans for the new ship proceeded with the vessel to be built at the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Glasgow. The keel of the new ship, designated as 'Ship No. 755', was laid down with 8,396 tons of steel assigned for the construction. On 15 December 1955, Oxfordshire was launched by Lady Dorothea Head, wife of the Minister for War, Lord Head. Fitting out of the ship took over a year, with her sea trials commencing on 29 January 1957.

The Oxfordshire was officially handed over to the Bibby Line on 14 February 1957 when she steamed towards Liverpool to commence her trooping role. On 28 February 1957 the ship left Liverpool on her maiden voyage under the command of Captain Norman Fitch, bound for Hong Kong via Cape Town, South Africa. The vessel had the capacity to carry 1,000 troops, 500 passengers (usually the families of the troops) and 409 crew members. Oxfordshire made an average of four trips per year between Britain and the Far East, calling en route at Port Said and Suez, Egypt, Aden and Ceylon. However, by the early 1960s the use of aircraft to fulfill transport requirements and the declining number of overseas British garrisons meant that trooping by sea was soon to be redundant. In 1962 the British Government finally decided to rely entirely on trooping by air, so the long-term charters of Oxfordshire and her near sister-ship Nevasa were terminated and both vessels withdrawn from service. Both Oxfordshire and Nevasa were laid-up in the safe haven of Cornwall's River Fal in December of that year.

At about the same time that the migrant trade to Australia was booming. British and European immigrants were given assisted passage to Australia, only having to pay ten pounds, with the balance paid by the Federal Government. The Vlasov Group passenger division, Società Italiana Trasporti Marittimi or SITMAR Line, was already well established as a migrant carrier to Australia and they quickly showed an interest in the idle Oxfordshire. A six-year charter agreement with an option to purchase the ship was signed in February 1963 between the Bibby Line and Fairstar Shipping Corporation (another subsidiary of Vlasov Group).

The complex plan to convert the Oxfordshire into a ship that was suitable for both liner voyages and cruises was one of the most ambitious projects to be overseen by the Vlasov engineers. On 19 May 1963, Oxfordshire entered the Wilton-Feyenoord shipyard at Schiedam, the Netherlands to commence the transformation. The project was known as the "Conox Project" (Conversion of Oxfordshire). Unfortunately, the project took longer than expected and cost more than anticipated (British Pound Sterling 4.5 million). In May 1964, the Vlasov Group decided to buy the ship outright and move her to Southampton to complete her fitting out process.

The ship, to be renamed Fairstar, was drastically changed from her former image: her superstructure was lengthened both fore and aft, three pairs of cargo booms were replaced by cranes and her signal mast and funnel housing were redesigned. Internally, the vessel was completely transformed, with contemporary 'One Class Tourist' accommodation for a maximum of 1,868 passengers in 488 cabins, all but 68 of which were equipped with private shower and toilet facilities.

On 19 May 1964, Fairstar left Southampton with a full complement of passengers, mostly immigrants, on her maiden voyage to Sydney, Australia. In doing so, she joined her older company vessels Fairsky, Fairsea and Castel Felice who were already operating in the same role. During the low season of the migrant run, Sitmar used the ships for cruises out of Sydney to the South Pacific. Fairstar's first such cruise departed on 6 January 1965 under charter to Massey-Ferguson for their annual convention. After almost another full year of liner voyages from the UK to Australia, Fairstar sailed on another cruise from Sydney, departing on 22 December 1965 and visited Noumea and Suva. In 1970 however, Sitmar lost its migrant carrying contract to Greece-based Chandris Line. Fairstar was used more and more for cruising over the following years and in November 1974, the vessel departed Southampton for her last liner voyage.

In December 1974, Fairstar began operating as a permanent cruise ship from Australia. Most of her cruises were to the South Pacific, however she often made annual trips to Asia where the vessel would be dry-docked in Singapore for routine maintenance and upgrades in between cruises. She was joined in her operation by Fairstar. Both ships remained in service together for a further three years, until the sudden unfortunate demise of Fairsky in June 1977, after the vessel struck a submerged wreck near Jakarta, Indonesia and was found to be beyond economic repair.

Several upgrades were made to Fairstar during her career, the most notable occurring in April 1989, not long after Sitmar was sold to UK-based P&O for $210 million. During this refit, her boat deck was extended, lounges and passenger cabins were upgraded and a new potable water plant installed. Her passenger capacity was also reduced to 1,280. Fairstar's funnel sported a new color scheme: a blue swan on a white funnel (it was originally changed to a white swan on a blue logo in July 1988).

During the 1990s, Fairstar suffered an increasing number of breakdowns and problems. New SOLAS (Safety Of Life At Sea) requirements that were to be introduced in 1997 meant that the ship would require extensive upgrading which would cost millions of dollars. In late 1996, the managing director of P&O, Mr Phil Young, announced that Fairstar's long career would conclude the following year. When the news was broken to the public, the final cruise was sold out in a few hours. On 21 January 1997, Fairstar sailed on her last ever cruise, visiting Amedee Island, Nouméa, Lifou, Vila and the Havannah-Boulari Passage before finally returning to Sydney. On her return to Sydney, she was flying the traditional long white pennant from her mainmast. The name "RIPA" was then roughly painted on her bow (which many believe stood for "Rest In Peace Always") and she began flying the St. Vincents & Grenadines flag. Soon after, she slipped out of Sydney harbor and on 10 April 1997 arrived at Alang, India where the breaking up for scrap process started soon after.

Edited April 1, 2010 by Copper10-8

[MrsMuir]

Great to have you back, John. Your ship histories are like catnip. Utterly fascinating.

 

Mrs M

[Copper10-8]

My first overnight Cruise was on the Koln-Dusseldorfer's MS Nederland in May of 1968. I sailed from Basel to Rotterdam with overnight stops at Basel, Speyer, Rudeshiem and Dusseldorf. I was able to shot some wonderful photos of the MS Nederland in 1984 at Cologne. Back in those days, if you were traveling single you might have to share a room. I ended up sharing a room with an elderly Canadian Mountie who had recently lost his wife.

 

My second was on the Fair Princess (The old Fairsea) in Feb of 1990. The route was the Mexican Riviera (Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, Cabo San Lucas. Coincidently, The Viking Serenade was on the same route. I took some great shots of that ship. The Fair Princess was sold, renamed and eventually scapped. I'm surprised that Princess never introduced a new ship with the same name...

 

Nine of us are celebrating a 65th, 60th, and 70th birthday in 2010 on the HAL Ryndam. We are leaving on the April 4th cruise. I'll be the one shooting with the Panasonic LX3 and GH1.

 

RMS Carinthia (1956-2006) Built by John Brown & Company Ltd, Clydebank, Scotland and delivered in June 1956 to the Cunard Steamship Company as RMS (Royal Mail Ship) Carinthia for their Liverpool-Montreal route, known as the Dominion service. In 1951, Cunard decided to order a series of four (initially two) identical liners, eventually referred to as the Saxonia class. Carinthia was the third ship of that class. Per Cunard's tradition, all four ships were named using the Latin names of provinces of the Roman and Holy Roman Empires; Saxonia (1954), Ivernia (1955), Carinthia (1956) and Sylvania (1957).These ships were largest ships to be operated to Canada at the time and were designed for luxury and speed carrying both passengers and cargo up the St. Lawrence river.

 

Her launch on 14 December 1955, performed by HRH Princess Margaret, was only the fourth time a Cunarder was launched by a member of the British Royal Family.The previous ones being RMS Queen Mary (by HM Queen Mary in 1934), RMS Queen Elizabeth (by HM Queen Elizabeth in 1938) and RMS Caronia (by HRH Princess Elizabeth in 1947). Carinthia was handed over to Cunard and set sail for Liverpool where she arrived on 17 June 1956. On 27 June, she embarked 890 passengers for her maiden voyage to Canada where she arrived for the first time on 27 June 1956.

 

Although it was planned that the new Saxonia-class ships would replace the old pre-war vessels that had been running the Canadian service, at the time that Carinthia entered service in 1956, the Franconia, Ascania and Scythia were still fully committed on the Canadian run. Subsequently, Franconia and Ascania would be withdrawn from the service in November 1956. Early in 1957, Scythia was transferred to the Liverpool- New York service and in January 1958 she was sold for scrap and at that time, the Canadian service was entirely in the hands of the new quartet. At the time of her entry into service, Cunard announced that Carinthia would undertake a “dollar earning cruise” out of New York to the Caribbean during the 1956-1957 Christmas and New Year holiday season. Consequently, in mid-December she departed Liverpool via Cobh, Ireland and Halifax, Nova Scotia for New York. She made her first ever port of call in Halifax on 20 December. Two days later, she left New York on a 14-day cruise that took her to Martinique, Trinidad, La Guaira (Venezuela), Curacao, Cristobal (Panama) and Port au Prince (Haiti), arriving back in New York on 6 January 1957. After returning to Liverpool, Carinthia underwent a brief overhaul. She made her first call at Rotterdam, the Netherlands on 31 October 1959 and remained there until 2 November.

 

On 20 November, she made her first port call Southampton. In April 1960 she made a record breaking crossing between Montreal and Greenock in 5 days, 6 hours and 27 minutes, averaging 21.8 knots. Carinthia narrowly avoided disaster on 30 August 1961 when, bound for Montreal from Liverpool and Greenock and in thick fog, 30 miles west of Quebec, she collided with the 7,013 ton Canadian ss Tadoussac. As a result, both vessels sustained damage with Tadoussac having windows and lifeboats smashed. Carinthia had 873 passengers on board at the time but luckily, there were no casualties onboard both vessels. It was later reported that only frantic last minute maneuvers by the pilots onboard each ship had avoided a head-on collision.

 

 

Between 29 December 1963 and 30 January 1964, Carinthia and sister Sylvania underwent refits in Liverpool which included the addition of private bathrooms as well as new interior decorating to eighty of their Tourist class cabins. This however, turned out not to be enough to make them competitive with other ships then in service, or being built. Both ships were pure transatlantic liners and were not suited for seasonal cruising. However, as the demand for transatlantic voyages in mid-winter was rapidly declining, a decision was made to send Carinthia and Sylvania on a series of winter cruises. So, on 7 January 1966, Carinthia sailed from Liverpool on a Mediterranean cruise. Two days after her return, she departed again on a similar 13-night cruise.

 

On 23 November 1967, Carinthia would depart Southampton for her final voyage across the Atlantic under the Cunard flag. This last voyage did not take her into her ususl route up the St. Lawrence since winter ice had become a hazard. Instead, she docked at Halifax and sailed from there back to England on 3 December. Six days later she was in Southampton and her Cunard Line career was over. She was laid up alongside the Caronia which had also been retired the previous month.

 

 

Carinthia and Sylvania would spend over two years laid up at Southampton’s 101 berth in Western Docks. On 31 January 1968, the pair was purchased for 2 million British Pound Sterling and the buyers were initially reported to be the Fairland Shipping Corporation and the Fairwind Shipping Corporation. Carinthia was to be renamed Fairland and Sylvania Fairwind. Instead however, they would sail for the Italian-based Sitmar Line or Societa Italiana Trasporti Marittimi S.p.A.

 

At the time of the purchase, Sitmar had the Australian government contract to carry immigrants from Southampton to Australia. However, almost as soon as Sitmar had bought the two ships, the Australian government awarded the contract to the Greek Chandris Line. Consequently, Fairland and Fairwind continued to lay up at the Southampton waterfront as Sitmar attempted to work out other ways of employing them. In the end, it was decided to totally (dude) rebuild the two ships into deluxe cruise ships based in Los Angeles, CA. Grandiose plans had them sailing north to San Francisco and Vancouver, BC before crossing the Pacific with calls at Honolulu, Hi. Papeete, Raitea, Pago Pago and Suva before arriving in Auckland, New Zealand and then Sydney. After about three months of cruising from Sydney a return voyage would be made to California. While one ship would be cruising from Sydney, the other one would be doing the same from Los Angeles. These trans-pacific voyages were due to start in May 1972.

 

The contract for the rebuilding of the ships was awarded to Arsenale Triestino, San Marco of Trieste, Italy. On 6 January 1970, Fairwind left Southampton under tow arriving in Trieste on 18 January. She was soon joined by Fairland on 21 February. While the ships were being rebuilt, Sitmar continued to market their proposed Pacific liner service and cruises, establishing Sitmar Cruises, Inc. However, despite their efforts they found that they could not arouse sufficient interest. Sitmar eventually saw the light and decided to market the new ships purely as cruise ships out of L.A. (Fairland had been renamed Fairsea) for Mexican Riviera cruises in the winter and to Alaska in the summer.

 

Upon leaving the Italian yard, Fairsea emerged as an elegant Italian cruise ship. Her superstructure was now extended forward while her once enclosed promenade from which to view the cold Atlantic had been opened up to allow passengers to enjoy tropical sea breezes. The greatest change was aft, where she now had tiered sun decks, a lido area and three outside pools. She also had a new raked funnel and had been repainted in an all white livery, with just three short blue stripes at her bow and her uppermost decks painted buff to match her funnel with now had the “V” (for Vlasov). On 3 November 1971, she left Trieste for Los Angeles via the Panama Canal, calling at Cadiz, St Thomas, Antigua and Acapulco. The voyage was a series of firsts for the former Cunarder: her first voyage through the Panama Canal and her first time in the Pacific. She arrived in Los Angeles on 9 December 1971 and then continued to San Francisco where she was officially presented to the press and representatives of the travel industry.

 

On 14 December 1971, Fairsea departed San Pedro (L.A.) on her first 6-day cruise to the Mexican Riviera. For the southbound portion, after departing at 9pm, the next two days were sea days. Her first call would be at Puerto Vallarta in the state of Sinaloa and the next day was again a sea day, before Fairsea would arrive in Acapulco on the morning of the 6th day. Her passengers would use the ship as their hotel that day and it was not until the following day that they would transfer to hotels in the city, flying home three days later. For the northbound cruise, passengers would fly down to Acapulco and after three nights there would board Fairsea for the cruise home via Zihuatanejo and Mazatlan. Both the southbound and northbound cruises could be combined to make it a 12-day round trip.

 

Between August and November, Fairsea was employed on two longer cruises: 17 days from Los Angeles to Acapulco, Balboa, through the Panama Canal to Cristobal, Cartagena, Colombia, Aruba, Martinique, San Juan, PR and Port Everglades, Fl. After an overnight stop at that port, she would begin the return cruise to Los Angeles. This was also 17 days and by calling at different Caribbean ports enabled the round trip to be marketed as a 35-day cruise.

 

In 1988 in anticipation of their new and larger cruise ships soon to enter service, Sitmar embarked on a program to update their image. The buff funnels were repainted deep blue and the V logo was replaced with a stylized swan in white and red. As a result of this re-branding all the ships were renamed with the addition of the Sitmar name as a prefix. However everything soon changed when on 28 July 1988, P&O announced that they were taking over Sitmar Cruises. Under this new ownership all Sitmar ships were to adopt the identity of P&O’s subsidiary, Princess Cruises. Fairsea was renamed Fair Princess with her sister becoming Dawn Princess. Both ships continued to operate their Sitmar schedules for a while. In 1993, Dawn Princess was withdrawn from service, however surprisingly, Fair Princess remained part of the Princess Cruises fleet. In 1995 however, news came that Princess Cruises was selling Fair Princess to Regency Cruises who would rename her Regent Isle.

 

Regency Cruises announced that the Fair Princess would be renamed Regent Isle and she was to sail from San Francisco to Hawaii on 14 October 1995. However, just days before Regency Cruises was to take delivery of her, it was revealed that the company was in serious financial difficulties. They stopped operating on the weekend of the 28th and 29th of October 1995. When Regency Cruises collapsed, the sale of the Fair Princess had not been finalized. As a result P&O / Princess Cruises were left with a ship they did not want. She was sent to for lay up at Ensenada, Baja California Sur, Mexico to await her fate.

 

In the summer of 1996 P&O announced that their P&O Australia ship, Fairstar would be replaced by the Fair Princess which would move to Australia. The Fair Princess was refitted in San Diego’s Southwest Marine dockyard to meet the new SOLAS requirements that had just come into effect. After crossing the Pacific, Fair Princess sailed her first cruise from Sydney to the South Pacific on 7 February 1997.

 

When the newly transferred Pacific Sky joined the P&O Australia fleet in November 2000, Fair Princess was repositioned to sail from Auckland, New Zealand. However, P&O announced on 19 June 2000 that they had put the by now 44-year old ship up for sale. Her buyers would be Chinese interest who wanted her as a casino ship. In 2000 she was positioned in Sydney for use as a hotel ship for the Olympic Games. At the conclusion of the games she had less than two months left as a Sydney-based cruise ship. A few days after her final cruise she slipped out of Sydney virtually unnoticed on 15 November 2000.

 

 

In February 2001 it was announced that her new owners, a company called China Sea Cruises, had changed her initial name of Emerald Fortune to China Sea Discovery. They would use her on the overnight gambling run from Hong Kong. This endeavor turned out to be far from successful. She was then used for cruises from Hainan Island which was also short lived and by June 2001, she was arrested and laid up in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. On 2 October 2002, she resumed cruising from Keelung, Taiwan. By 2003, she was laid up again, this time in derelict condition in Hong Kong. In early summer 2005 she was auctioned off and sold for scrap. On 20 November 2005, the former Carinthia under the delivery name Sea Discovery arrived at Alang, India and was beached. On 17 February 2006 the beached and partially dismantled Sea Discovery suffered a serious fire in her engine room. The fire trapped some workers inside and nine of them had to be taken to local hospitals with burns. The fire left the ship a charred hulk from stem to stern. The breaking up process was eventually completed ending a fifty year run.

[Copper10-8]

Some more pics of the former RMS Carinthia:

 

 

As Cunard's Carinthia in Liverpool in 1957

 

As Sitmar's Fairsea in 1986 at Vancouver

 

 

And a couple as Princess Cruises' Fair Princess

 

 

As Fair Princess for P&O Australia in 1997

 

 

And one as China Sea Discovery in 2001 in better days

[Copper10-8]

Norwegian Cruise line "Starward" was my first cruise in the late 60's!

 

It is still sailing today as the "Orient Queen" in Dubai !

 

Been on 60 or so more since then.

 

 

Starward (1968-present) Built in 1968 as ms Starward by AG Weser Werk Seebeck in Bremerhaven, (then) West Germany. She was delivered to her owners, Norwegian Caribbean Line, which later would become Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), on 29 November 1968 and made her first cruise for them on 21 December 1968. She was their first purpose-built ship and originally had a stern car door as well as garage space to take trailers, specifically to Jamaica. This space was later converted to cabins.

 

 

A sister to NCL's Skyward, she initially operated out of Miami, Fl. on seven-day cruises to the Caribbean islands. She was later moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico for seven-day cruises to the southern Caribbean.

 

 

In 1994, Starward was sold to Greece-based Festival Cruises, their second ship, who renamed her Bolero and, after a refit in Piraeus, began operating her on Mediterranean itineraries. Her first cruise for them took place on 22 December 1995 out of Genoa, Italy. She would sail from there and from Savona, Italy to the Canaries and/or Portugal, Morocco and mainland Spain. In addition, she did Western and Northern Europe runs.

 

Summer seasons would find her sailing on seven-day cruises from Venice, Italy to Greece calling at Dubrovnik, Croatia, Kusadasi, Turkey, Katakolon, Delos, Mykonos, Patmos and Pylos, Greece. In December 1997, she operated a fifteen-night transatlantic crossing from Genoa, Italy to Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, followed by a series of one week charter cruises.

.

 

In 2000, she was chartered to Great Britain-based First Choice Cruises and in 2002 to Spanish Cruise Line (SCL), followed by charters to other travel companies.

 

 

When Festival collapsed in January 2004, she was laid up at Gibraltar, until being purchased by Orient Queen Shipping in November 2004 and renamed Orient Queen in 2005.

 

She was operated by Abou Mehri Cruises of Beirut, Lebanon and managed by Österreichischer Lloyd. At the time, she was the only Lebanese-owned cruise ship. Orient Queen cruised her first season out of Beirut in the spring of 2005. In November 2005, she was repositioned to Dubai to begin what would turn out to be an unsuccessful Persian Gulf cruise winter program, providing the first luxury cruise line service between Dubai and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Quatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates).

 

 

She was repositioned back to Beirut to begin a 2006 cruise season in the Mediterranean Sea. On 19 July 2006 however, Orient Queen was chartered by the U.S. Government and used to evacuate United States (and other countries') citizens from Lebanon as a result of the armed conflict between that country and Israel. She took those evacuees to the port of Larnaca in Cyprus.

[Copper10-8]

On 25 August 2006, Orient Queen was sold to Cyprus-based Louis Cruise Lines for which she sailed on Med cruises. In the spring of 2007, she ran a World Cruise charter for German-based Delphin Seereisen when construction of that lines' new Delphin Voyager was delayed. Upon the completion of that charter, the ship returned to Louis Cruises and continued sailing Mediterranean for them.

 

 

On 28 July 2009, Louis entered into an agreement with Brazil-based tour and cruise operator Agencia De Viagens CVC Tur Ltda to charter the ship to them from 20 November 2009 until 15 March 2010. During that time she is operating out of Recife, Brazil.

 

 

 

 

[jikel]

Spent a lifetime building them, but never sailed on them. Just thought of them as being too structured - deck quiots at 9:30, wakey wakey cruisers etc.

Finally took the plunge out of our home town of San Diego knowing that we could drive home if we hated it. In truth, did not want to get off when we got back to San Diego. Loved it and return as often as we can, which is not often enough.

The other messages remind me of many things. Seeing the Empress boats at the Landing Stage in Liverpool, converting the Viking Serenade, building the Disney Magic, etc.

I believe that the Empress boats were the first Carnival boats, bought cheap and converted to cruisers by Mr Arison.

I also have some cruise brochures for Royal Mail Lines - 14 days in the Mediteranean at a cost of 29 UK Pounds ($120). It was in 1939 and not the best of years to be cruising the Med I suppose given all that went on that year!!!

[Copper10-8]

Spent a lifetime building them, but never sailed on them. Just thought of them as being too structured - deck quiots at 9:30, wakey wakey cruisers etc.

Finally took the plunge out of our home town of San Diego knowing that we could drive home if we hated it. In truth, did not want to get off when we got back to San Diego. Loved it and return as often as we can, which is not often enough.

The other messages remind me of many things. Seeing the Empress boats at the Landing Stage in Liverpool, converting the Viking Serenade, building the Disney Magic, etc.

I believe that the Empress boats were the first Carnival boats, bought cheap and converted to cruisers by Mr Arison.

I also have some cruise brochures for Royal Mail Lines - 14 days in the Mediteranean at a cost of 29 UK Pounds ($120). It was in 1939 and not the best of years to be cruising the Med I suppose given all that went on that year!!!

 

ms Oosterdam (2003-present) Built in 2003 as ms Oosterdam by Fincantieri - Cantieri Navali Italiani S.p.A., Marghera (Venice), Italy for Holland America Line. She is the second vessel of HAL’s four Vista class ships (her sisters are Zuiderdam, Westerdam and Noordam). The names of the four ships translate to the four directions of the compass in the Dutch language; Zuid meaning south, Oost (rhymes with “toast”) for east, Noord is north and West means, well, west. The only previous ship with the ‘Ooster’ prefix in the Holland America Line historical roster was the 8,251 ton one-propeller freighter Oosterdijk (or Oosterdyk) which began service with the line in May 1913, sailing on a regular service from Rotterdam to Savannah, GA. When the United States entered World War I (the Netherlands remained neutral), Oosterdyk was in Baltimore, MD. She was subsequently seized by the U.S. Government and, after a nine-month period in lay-up, pressed into service, carrying military supplies for the allied war effort. Sadly on 20 July 1918, Oosterdijk was lost at sea, sinking in the North Atlantic after a collision with a U.S. troop transport.

 

 

After successfully running technical trials in the Adriatic and having been accepted by her new owners on 27 June 2003, Oosterdam made her way to Rotterdam, the Netherlands under the command of HAL Captain Hans van Biljouw, arriving on 27 July 2009. She would remain there for four days since from 28 through 30 July, HAL celebrated its 130th anniversary year in the city of its founding, Rotterdam. HAL’s ms Rotterdam VI joined the new Oosterdam in Rotterdam with both ships berthed bow-to-bow at the Wilhelminakade (Wilhelmina Quai), Scheduled events during the celebration included visits from former HAL employees, a luncheon for HAL World War II veterans, a Royal maritime gala, a HAL Society of Mariners luncheon and ship’s tours for local dignitaries. The festivities included the christening/naming of the new Vista-class ship on 29 July 2003 by her godmother, HRH Princess Margriet of The Netherlands. Some of the dignitaries present for the naming included Princess Margriet’s husband Pieter van Vollenhoven, Carnival chairman and CEO Mickey Arison, his wife Madeline, HAL president and CEO A. Kirk Lanterman and his wife Janet, Fincantieri’s chairman Corato Antonini, Rotterdam’s Alderman for the Port and Economic Affairs Wim van Sluis and the City’s Mayor Ivo Opstelten. A fireworks show closed out the festivities that evening. On 3 August, 2003 Oosterdam and Rotterdam departed the city on her (Oosterdam’s) maiden voyage to European ports. Tens of thousands of spectators lined the Nieuwe Waterweg (New Waterway) on the way to the North Sea, waving flags, towels and bed sheets. Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16 Falcon fighter jets made several passes over the two ships as they provided an aerial escort out to sea.

 



 

Oosterdam spent the first half of her inaugural season cruising around Europe before heading across the Atlantic to Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. for Caribbean itineraries. The last several years, her “winter home” has been San Diego, CA. for Mexican Riviera cruising. Summers have found her in Alaska (out of Seattle, WA and Vancouver, BC) and back to Europe.

 

 

At 81,769 grt, Oosterdam is almost 30% larger than HAL's "R" class and almost 35% larger than the "S" class of ships. There were originally five Vista’s planned for HAL but that fifth hull was first transferred to Cunard Line in 2003 to become their Queen Victoria but then a second time to P&O Cruises to become their ms Arcadia in March 2005. The four HAL ships were designed mainly for shorter (less than two weeks) cruises in the Caribbean, Alaska, and Europe. The four Vista’s are equipped with a diesel-electric power plant and an Azipod propulsion system. This basically consists of two pods as opposed to traditional screws that operate like giant outboard motors underneath the ship’s hull. The Azipod propulsion system gives the ship outstanding maneuvering ability, making rudders and stern thrusters obsolete when negotiating smaller ports and allowing full turns at high speed. Oosterdam has two azipods made by ABB in Finland.

 



 

 

Eighty-five percent of Oosterdam’s staterooms have ocean views and sixty-seven percent have verandas. The extensive use of glass in the superstructure of the Vista-class ships is also reflected in the class name. They feature "exterior glass elevators," located on both sides of the vessels and vertically traversing 10 decks, providing guests with panoramic sea views.

 

 

Prominent “HAL-marks” familiar to Holland America Line passengers such as the Crow’s Nest observation lounge, a gym overlooking the bow, a Magro (sliding) dome-covered mid-ship Lido pool and aft Sea view pool, two-level main dining room, an Explorers Lounge for classical chamber music, Ocean Bar for dancing to life music, Piano Bar and the HAL trademark fully-encircled teak promenade deck are still found on Oosterdam. However, like her sister Zuiderdam before her, Oosterdam came out with new innovations such as an expanded Greenhouse Spa & Salon offering thermal suite treatment, a hydrotherapy and thalassotherapy pool and heated ceramic lounges, a 867-seat three (as opposed to two) deck Vista show lounge, a 170-seat cabaret-style Queens Lounge which doubles as a movie theater, a dedicated “Northern Lights” nightclub, a Windstar gourmet coffee and pastry shop, a much larger Internet Center and a greatly expanded children’s facility.

 

 

Oosterdam pays homage to the 130-year legacy of Holland America Line as well as to the traditions of Dutch maritime history, mot notably the Dutch East India Company. Artifacts and artwork from Holland, Italy, India and China are very visible onboard. Prominently displayed in a three-story atrium, a revolving Waterford crystal globe sets the mood for several art pieces which can be found throughout the ship. At the forward end of the main Lido Pool are a life-sized family of six adult penguins and one pup. The penguins are complemented at the opposite end of the pool by cartoon-like fish who stand on their heads and support the bar stools of the Lido Bar with their elevated tails.



 

In November, 2003, Holland America Cruise Line announced a program of up-scaling their cruise ships, cruise line image and passenger cruise experience called the 'Signature of Excellence program'. This enhancement program included stateroom amenities (luxury beds and 100% Egyptian cotton bed linens upgrades, Euro-style mattresses and deluxe waffle-weave bathrobes to all cabin categories), new massage-type showerheads in all bathrooms, new flat-screen LCD televisions and DVD players in all cabins and a Culinary Arts Center, presented by Food & Wine magazine, for gourmet cooking demonstrations and interactive classes. Oosterdam had her SOE enhancements installed while in dry-dock in Freeport, the Bahamas between 14-22 April 2007, before heading to Alaska.

 

 

 

On 1 April 2009, after finishing her trans-Atlantic cruise in Civitavecchia, Italy, an army of subcontractors and dry-dock workers as well as construction material was embarked on Oosterdam. She then departed Civitavecchia that afternoon bound for dry-dock in Palermo, Sicily for her SOE phase II upgrade. Upon her arrival there on 2 April 2009, a new block of thirty-four prefabricated cabins was lowered into place and installed on her stern increasing her passenger capacity from 1,848 to 1,916 and her gross registered tonnage from 81,769 to 82,305. Her existing Internet Center was moved to the starboard side of the Crow's Nest becoming part of her new Explorations Café. A dedicated small-size 36-seat movie theater (six rows of six theater-style reclining leather seats with small tables in between) called the "Screening Room" was added in place of where the Internet Center used to be. Also there on Deck 3 in place of the original library, a new Digital Workshop was installed. Oosterdam gained a second alternative restaurant when “Canaletto”, serving Italian cuisine, was added to her Lido restaurant starboard side, forward.

 

 

On Deck 2 (LP) starboard side, a new Pinnacle and Wine Bar was added in place of her original Windstar Café, outside and across from her 130-seat Pinnacle Grill restaurant (The Windstar Café Coffee Bar was moved to Deck 10 forward to become part of the Explorations Café). A high-end jewelry shop called “Merabella” as well as a viewing room was added on Deck 3 in front of the existing shops. That existing shopping arcade was expanded and upgraded. The part of Oosterdam’s Ocean Bar that was originally hidden from view behind walkway panels was “opened up”. Lastly, “routine dry dock maintenance” was performed and her original port-side azipod, which had developed mechanical problems back in December 2006 forcing it to be removed for repairs in the Spring of 2007, was reinstalled.