Sun Cruises

[dehnsden]

Hi All,

 

Does anybody remember sun cruises EG sun Vista and do you know who took them over or were they an stand alone company.

 

Regards, Robert:)

Edited April 10, 2015 by dehnsden
spelling

[kimhof]

Years ago I was on a ship which I believe was the Sun Line. The name of the cruise ship was The Stella Solaris and we traveled through the Panama Canal. It was a lovely boat and a very nice voyage.

[StanandJim]

Hi All,

 

Does anybody remember sun cruises EG sun Vista and do you know who took them over or were they an stand alone company.

 

Regards, Robert:)

 

You're thinking of the last incarnation of the Galileo Galilei of 1961.

She was built by the Lloyd Triestino to ferry Italian immigrants inexpensively to Australia, and this she did successfully until 1977 when the jumbo jet teamed up with expensive oil to make that route unprofitable.

 

Her owners then spent two years and a small fortune to convert her into a cruise ship, but she met with little monetary success until the Chandris Group purchased her in 1983 for use in the teeming American cruise market.

 

More upgrades and additional cabins were added in a German shipyard, and her name was shortened to Galileo, for her new service under the Chandris "Fantasy Cruise Lines" banner.

Five short years later, in 1988, as Chandris opted to enter the premium market with a new subsidiary named Celebrity Cruises, Galileo was upgraded yet again to become their Meridian, the very first Celebrity ship!

 

When Royal Caribbean purchased Celebrity from Chandris in '95, there was a huge influx of capitol which enabled Celebrity to build the Century Class ships, Century, Galaxy and Mercury, each nearly three times the size of the Meridian.

 

As Mercury came into service in October of 1997. she displaced the 36 year old Meridian, which was sold to an Asian cruise operator, "Sun Cruises" for operations as their "Sun Vista" out of Singapore.

She lasted a further two years before an engine room fire resulted in her being abandoned and sinking in the Strait of Malacca. The intense heat of the fire causing her shell plating to open up to the sea.

 

There were no fatalities and only minor injuries among her 1090 passengers and crew, although she sank 60 miles from shore and in 200 feet of water.

Edited June 7, 2015 by StanandJim

[dehnsden]

Thank you Stan and Jim that was very interesting and thankk you for your time regards, robert:)

[Downdie]

Hi Stan and Jim:

Thanks for the nice history of the evolution of Chandris Lines to Celebrity.The only fact missing was that Celebrity's first newbuilds were the Horizon and Zenith in 1991 and 1992, both of which are still sailing for Pullmantur/CDF.

[StanandJim]

Hi Stan and Jim:

Thanks for the nice history of the evolution of Chandris Lines to Celebrity.The only fact missing was that Celebrity's first newbuilds were the Horizon and Zenith in 1991 and 1992, both of which are still sailing for Pullmantur/CDF.

 

You are correct sir, unfortunately, although they sailed concurrently with Meridian for Celebrity, Horizon and Zenith did not directly relate to her story. Meridian was displaced when the Mercury came online; and that was the point of my narrative.....

-I never mentioned Galileo's sister ship Guglielmo Marconi, for the same reasons. ;)

[sunnyhat]

Suncruises was owned by Airtours/MyTravel I think they had 4 ships Sundream, Seabird, Carousel and Seawing, they don't exist anymore. http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/Airtours.html

[marco]

A bit off topic of this thread, but I also remember when the "Marconi" tried to sail under Italian Line Cruises International after THE Italian Line folded. We went aboard (that's when visitors could still visit ships in Manhattan) and we subsequently booked a cruise on it, but it ended up being cancelled, along with the short lived Italian Line Cruises International, totally. We ended up booking another ship/line, but I can't remember which.