A cruiseferry is a ship that combines the features of a cruise ship and a Ro-Pax ferry. Many passengers travel with the ships for the cruise experience, staying only a few hours at the destination port or not leaving the ship at all, while others use the ships as means of transportation.
Minoan Lines is one of the largest passenger ferry companies in Europe, and one of the dominant passenger ferry companies in Greece, sailing between Piraeus and Crete and in the Adriatic Sea, between Patras and various Italian ports. The company was founded in May 1972. Since 2008 Grimaldi's Compagnia di Navigazione SpA owns and controls 95.9 of the stock of Minoan Lines.
Blue Sapphire is a cruise ship owned and operated by ANEX Tour. She was originally built in 1981 by Bremer Vulkan of Germany for Hapag-Lloyd Cruises as Europa. In 1999, Europa was sold to Star Cruises and she was renamed SuperStar Europe and a year later, Superstar Aries. In 2004, she was sold to Pullmantur Cruises and renamed Holiday Dream. In May 2008, she was transferred to the fleet of CDF Croisières de France and renamed Bleu de France. In November 2010, she was sold to Saga Cruises, but retained on charter by CDF for a further 12 months. Following an extensive refit in Italy from November 2011 to March 2012, the vessel was renamed Saga Sapphire. Most recently, she was sold to ANEX Tour in June 2020 and renamed Blue Sapphire, scheduled for an official debut in 2021.
The Grimaldi Group is a private shipping company owned by the Grimaldi family and based in Naples, Italy. Grimaldi operates a large fleet of ro-ro, ro-ro/multipurpose, con-ro multipurpose, PCTC, ro-pax and cruise ferries vessels.
Hellenic Seaways is member of Attica Group, which is engaged in passenger shipping through SUPERFAST FERRIES, BLUE STAR FERRIES, HELLENIC SEAWAYS and AFRICA MOROCCO LINK operating 35 vessels providing modern, high-quality transportation services in Greece and abroad. Attica’s vessels serve 60 unique destinations in 4 countries, connecting 71 ports transporting over 7 million passengers, 1 million passenger vehicles and 400,000 trucks every year.
MS Skania is a fast ropax ferry operated by Unity Line on their Świnoujście-Ystad route. She was built in 1995 by Schichau Seebeckwerft in Bremerhaven, Germany for Superfast Ferries as MS Superfast I. Between 2004 and 2008 she sailed for Grimaldi Lines as MS Eurostar Roma.
Royal Princess is a Royal-class cruise ship operated by Princess Cruises, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc, and is the third ship to sail for the cruise line under that name. The largest ship to have been built for Princess at the time of delivery in 2013, she became the flagship of Princess. As the lead vessel of the Royal class, she lends her name to the company's Royal class, which will consist of six ships upon the last ship's delivery in 2021. The ship measures 142,714 GT and has a capacity of 3,560 passengers.
Kydon Palace is a Greek Ro-Pax high speed ferry, built in 2001 at the Sestri Ponente shipyards by Fincantieri as the Festos Palace and owned by Minoan Lines. She is a sister ship of MS Knossos Palace (2000) . She was named by Kydon the mythical founder of the ancient Kydonia, an ancient city of Crete in present-day Chania. She can reach speeds up to 30 knots. The ship's facilities include restaurants, bars and cabins.
MS Europa Palace is a fast ropax ferry owned by Grimaldi Lines and operated by Minoan Grimaldi Lines. The ship previously named Cruise Olbia and did the Civitavecchia-Olbia route. Built in 2001 as Superfast VI by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) in Kiel, Germany for Attica Group's subsidiary Superfast Ferries, she was sold to the Genting Group in 2013, Renamed Bimini Superfast for the Bimini-Miami route. In 2016 she was sold to her current owners.
HSFCruise Bonaria is a Ro-Pax high speed ferry, built in 2000 at the Sestri Ponente shipyards by Fincantieri and owned by Grimaldi Lines previously owned by Minoan Lines. It can accommodate up to 2,500 passengers and 700 cars, and has 758 beds plus 742 airseats for passengers. The vessel is powered by four 4x Wärtsilä 16V46C diesel engines with a combined power of 67,517 kW, which give her a top 'speed of 31,6 knots. In November 2020 Minoan Lines announced that Knossos Palace exchanged with her former ship Cruise Bonaria previously named Olympia Palace. The first sold to Grimaldi Lines and renamed it Cruise Bonaria and the other one renamed Knossos Palace. The former Knossos Palace was under the Minoan Lines 20 years. For 20 years did the Piraeus-Heraklion route. The ship left Greece forever on 24 November and arrived in Napoli, Italy after two days. In there will change signals and name.
Carnival Horizon is a Vista-class cruise ship operated by Carnival Cruise Line. She is the 26th vessel in the Carnival fleet and is the second of Carnival's Vista class, which includes Carnival Vista and Carnival Panorama.
MS Cruise Roma, owned and operated by Grimaldi Lines, is the longest cruiseferry in the world. It was built at Fincantieri in Castellammare di Stabia, Italy.
MS Cruise Barcelona is a cruiseferry owned and operated by Grimaldi Lines. It was built at Fincantieri in Castellammare di Stabia, Italy.
MS La Superba is a cruiseferry owned and operated by the Italian ferry company Grandi Navi Veloci. It was built at Nuovi Cantieri Apuania in Marina di Carrara, Italy. When it entered service, La Superba was the largest passenger ferry operating in the Mediterranean, and one of the largest in the world; joined in the following year by the sistership La Suprema, it was surpassed in 2008 by Cruise Roma of Grimaldi Ferries. Its building costed about 120 million dollars.
MS La Suprema is a cruiseferry owned and operated by the Italian ferry company Grandi Navi Veloci. It was built at Nuovi Cantieri Apuania in Marina di Carrara, Italy. The second of a two-ship class, La Suprema and her sistership La Superba were the largest passenger ferries of the Mediterranean at the time of their completion; they were surpassed in 2008 by Cruise Roma of Grimaldi Ferries. Its construction cost about 120 million dollars.
MS Cruise Europa is a cruiseferry owned by Grimaldi Group. It was built at Fincantieri in Castellammare di Stabia, Italy.
Grandi Navi Veloci (GNV) is an Italian shipping company, based in Genoa, that operates ferries between mainland Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, France, Albania, Morocco and Tunisia. It was established by Aldo Grimaldi in 1992.
El. Venizelos is a Greek ferry, and 2nd oldest ship in the ANEK Lines fleet. It is a motor Ro-Ro/Passenger ferryboat, built in 1984 at Stocznia im. Komuny Paryskiej, Gdynia, Poland as Stena Polonica and completed in 1992 in Perama, Piraeus, Greece as El Venizelos. It is one of 4 sister ships, Stena Vision and Stena Spirit, both owned by Stena Lines, and the unfinished Lelakis' Regent Sky. It can hold a total of 2300 passenger and 850 cars and has 1606 beds for passengers. It has four Zgoda-Sulzer 16ZV 40/48 diesel engines, with combined power of 34,130 kW and can reach a speed of 22 knots.It also has WiFi Internet, two restaurants. two bars, an amusement arcade, a casino, a church, a duty-free shop, a playground, a hospital, escalators, elevators, air-conditioning and a swimming pool and its cabins can be either "lux", 2-bed, 4-bed or for the Disabled. It is named after Eleftherios Venizelos, a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece and has Cretan origins. On March 30, El Venizelos laid-up since three days in Piraeus Anchorage had cases with the COVID-19. On 2 April at nine pm El Venizelos moored at the Piraeus Port.
MS Cruise Smeralda is a RO/PAX ferry operated and owned by Grimaldi Lines. The ship was built in Fosen Mek Verksteder A/S, Norway for Minoan Lines in 1997. It has a sister ship: Jean Nicoli for Corsica Linea. Her first name was Ikarus and then renamed Ikarus Palace.
Italy 