Help with ship identity

[WildWillie]

Can someone help identify this ship? It's docked in San Diego right now, and looks like a Princess style funnel. CruiseCal and the port show no scheduled stops for anyone today.

 

Just curious....

http://live6.truelook.com/face/newface.jsp?zoom=7.0&imagemap.x=284&imagemap.y=277&name=%2Fecodb%2F1amnorth%2Fcamera1&skin=default&pan=-96.112335&panfov=8.620973&tiltfov=6.719559&tilt=-10.607699&oldimage=1187856149619091&width=640&height=480&oldscale=0.75&useapplet=false&vfadjust=0.44444445

[Berliner]

Can someone help identify this ship? It's docked in San Diego right now, and looks like a Princess style funnel. CruiseCal and the port show no scheduled stops for anyone today.

 

Just curious....

http://live6.truelook.com/face/newface.jsp?zoom=7.0&imagemap.x=284&imagemap.y=277&name=%2Fecodb%2F1amnorth%2Fcamera1&skin=default&pan=-96.112335&panfov=8.620973&tiltfov=6.719559&tilt=-10.607699&oldimage=1187856149619091&width=640&height=480&oldscale=0.75&useapplet=false&vfadjust=0.44444445

 

looks more like HAL to me. don't know any Princess ship with dark body...

[Druke I]

It certainly is not Princess - not with dark blue hull.

 

Does not appear to be a ship from HAL either.

 

It's small, with only three boats on each side, puts her down under 20,000GRT.

[WildWillie]

It certainly is not Princess - not with dark blue hull.

 

Does not appear to be a ship from HAL either.

 

It's small, with only three boats on each side, puts her down under 20,000GRT.

 

It was the funnel that made me think it was an old Princess ship. Thanks for your help, anyway.

[janabug]

Pretty sure I found it.

Royal Olympic Voyager http://www.travelmasti.com/cruises/royal_voyager.htm

[janabug]

oops, double post :o

[Druke I]

Certainly looks like the same ship.

 

They put her at 25,000GRT, so my guestimate was a tad low.

[Berliner]

good job jana,looks like a decent ship :)

[janabug]

Is it new? Royal Olympic Cruises website is pretty crappy and doesn't even list it as a ship? I found it by pure luck thinking it looked like a greek ship I had once seen.

 

Berliner, haven't seen you in our roll call in quite some time!

We've set up a meet and greet, have you added your name to it?

[WildWillie]

Looks like that's it!!! Thanks.

 

Wondering what it's doing at San Diego??

[mii]

This subject peaked my curiosity so did a search on Royal Olympic and they have been joined by a company named Cruise West. So did that search and one of the stops on the west coast is San Diego. Maybe that is why it is there.

 

Marilyn

[avalon1025]

Its the Semester at Sea ship, Explorer, a former Royal Olympic ship, but that line no longer exists. The ship is a floating university now

[mii]

Its the Semester at Sea ship, Explorer, a former Royal Olympic ship, but that line no longer exists. The ship is a floating university now

 

Thanks for that info. We sure have some knowledgable cruisers on this site.

 

Marilyn

[WildWillie]

I knew we'd get to the bottom of this! :D

 

Thanks to all for the fine detective work!

[Crusin Karen]

Isn't that the ship that was caught in that typhoon that has gotten everyone sick when watching on YouTube? :confused:

[abyss]

Yes, this is the ship that is used for the "semester at sea" program.

Here is the link to their website:

http://www.semesteratsea.com/index.html

According to the website, it looks like the ship will be in San Diego for a few days with some special events going on.

 

We are quite familiar with this ship. We were scheduled in Dec of 2003 to go on a roundtrip 10 day cruise from Los Angeles to Hawaii. Just days before we were to depart we received a phone call that Royal Olympic Cruises had filed bankruptcy. So no cruise for us! The ship was anchored then in Long Beach harbor for about six months until the ship was auctioned off. We live in Long Beach so every time we would go by the harbor, we would see her sitting there - a sad reminder.

 

For history on this ship, go to this website. The ship is listed under "Olympia Voyager"

http://www.maritimematters.com/mall_video8_pk.html

[cruiserbryce]

I have always been intrigued by this...I think it would be an interesting experience...I will be downtown tomorrow and curiosity is getting the best of me...I may go have a look

[JLC@SD]

Yes, this is the ship that is used for the "semester at sea" program.

Here is the link to their website:

http://www.semesteratsea.com/index.html

According to the website, it looks like the ship will be in San Diego for a few days with some special events going on.

 

We are quite familiar with this ship. We were scheduled in Dec of 2003 to go on a roundtrip 10 day cruise from Los Angeles to Hawaii. Just days before we were to depart we received a phone call that Royal Olympic Cruises had filed bankruptcy. So no cruise for us! The ship was anchored then in Long Beach harbor for about six months until the ship was auctioned off. We live in Long Beach so every time we would go by the harbor, we would see her sitting there - a sad reminder.

 

For history on this ship, go to this website. The ship is listed under "Olympia Voyager"

http://www.maritimematters.com/mall_video8_pk.html

 

Here is her itinerary......she departs Ensenada on August 27th. Probably provisioning in SD now and will pick up students in Ensenada (so she doen't violate the "Jones Act").

 

http://www.semesteratsea.com/voyages/fall2007/fa2007_itinerary.html

 

August 27th, 2007 - December 7th, 2007

(As of June 11, 2007)

DestinationArrive

Depart

Day

DateTimeEnsenada, Mexico

Depart

 

Monday

 

27 August

 

1700

Honolulu, Hawaii Arrive

Depart

Sunday

Sunday

02 September

02 September

0700

2300

(Cross International Dateline; Lose one day)Yokohama, Japan Arrive

Depart

Wednesday

Thursday

12 September

13 September

0800

2400

Kobe, JapanArrive

Depart

Saturday

Sunday

15 September

16 September

0700

2200

Qingdao, China Arrive

Depart

Wednesday

Thursday

19 September

20 September

0800

2300

Hong KongArrive

Depart

Sunday

Monday

23 September

24 September

0800

2300

Ho Chi Minh City, VietnamArrive

Depart

Thursday

Tuesday

27 September

02 October

0800

0600

(On-ship time is 2300 on Monday, 01 October.)Bangkok, ThailandArrive

Depart

Thursday

Monday

04 October

08 October

0800

2300

Chennai, India Arrive

Depart

Monday

Friday

15 October

19 October

0800

2300

(Transit Suez Canal on Tuesday, 30 October)Alexandria, Egypt Arrive

Depart

Wednesday

Sunday

31 October

04 November

0800

2300

Istanbul, Turkey Arrive

Depart

Wednesday

Sunday

07 November

11 November

0800

2300

Dubrovnik, Croatia Arrive

Depart

Wednesday

Sunday

14 November

18 November

0800

2200

Cadiz, SpainArrive

Depart

Friday

Tuesday

23 November

27 November

0800

2300

Miami, FloridaArrive

 

Friday

 

07 December

 

0800

 

[JLC@SD]

What is interesting about her is that she and her sister were built for speed....both were amoung the fastest cruise ships built.

 

Olympic Voyager was the first of a pair of high speed cruise ships built for Royal Olympic by Blohm+Voss in 2000. She was intended to run a high speed "Three Continents" itinerary, but unrest in the Middle East prevented this. She was renamed Olympia Voyager after difficulties with the International Olympic Organisation. The alternative itinerary was not economic, and the Royal Olympic subsidiary which owned Olympia Voyager filed for bankruptcy, ultimately bringing down the whole group.