MV Minerva

Last updated

Minerva underway in Black Sea Krasnodarskiy Kray Sochi 8 October 2015 (cropped).jpg
Minerva at Krasnodarskiy Kray 8 October 2015.
History
Name
  • Okean
  • Minerva
  • Saga Pearl
  • Explorer II
  • Alexander Von Humboldt
  • Minerva
OperatorSwan Hellenic
Port of registry Nassau, Civil Ensign of the Bahamas.svg  Bahamas
Laid down1989
Launched1990
Completed1996
Maiden voyage1996
In service29 April 1996
Identification IMO number:  9144196
StatusLaid-up
General characteristics
Tonnage12,892  GT [1]
Length436 ft (133 m)
Beam66.5 ft (20.3 m)
Draught18.9 ft (5.8 m)
Decks6 (passenger decks)
Speed15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Capacity350 passengers
Crew160

The Minerva is a cruise ship built in 1989, and originally intended as a Soviet research vessel, the Okean. The deal to purchase her fell through and Swan Hellenic (at the time a subsidiary of P&O Cruises) purchased her in 1996 and renamed her Minerva.

Contents

History

She sailed with Swan Hellenic until her lease ran out in 2003.[ clarification needed ] She briefly sailed with Saga Cruises as the Saga Pearl, and was then chartered to Abercrombie & Kent as the Explorer II, making voyages to Antarctica and South America from December to April with up to 198 passengers. [2] From May to November, she sailed for the German-owned travel company Phoenix Reisen as the Alexander von Humboldt.

In July 2007 it was announced that the ship had been acquired by the relaunched Swan Hellenic line and the name would revert to Minerva. In early 2012, Minerva received a multi-million-pound, 83-day refit. [3] [4]

In January 2017, Swan Hellenic went into administration and cancelled cruises on Minerva until further notice. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sloop-of-war</span> Type of warship

During the 18th and 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship of the British Royal Navy with a single gun deck that carried up to 18 guns. The rating system of the Royal Navy covered all vessels with 20 or more guns; thus, the term encompassed all unrated warships, including gun-brigs and cutters. In technical terms, even the more specialised bomb vessels and fire ships were classed by the Royal Navy as sloops-of-war, and in practice these were employed in the role of a sloop-of-war when not carrying out their specialised functions.

HMS <i>Illustrious</i> (R06) 1982 Invincible-class light aircraft carrier

HMS Illustrious was a light aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and the second of three Invincible-class ships constructed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was the fifth warship and second aircraft carrier to bear the name Illustrious, and was affectionately known to her crew as "Lusty". In 1982, the conflict in the Falklands necessitated that Illustrious be completed and rushed south to join her sister ship HMS Invincible and the veteran carrier HMS Hermes. To this end, she was brought forward by three months for completion at Swan Hunter Shipyard, then commissioned on 20 June 1982 at sea en route to Portsmouth Dockyard to take on board extra stores and crew. She arrived in the Falklands to relieve Invincible on 28 August 1982 in a steam past. Returning to the United Kingdom, she was not formally commissioned into the fleet until 20 March 1983. After her South Atlantic deployment, she was deployed on Operation Southern Watch in Iraq, then Operation Deny Flight in Bosnia during the 1990s and Operation Palliser in Sierra Leone in 2000. An extensive re-fit during 2002 prevented her from involvement in the 2003 Iraq War, but she was returned to service in time to assist British citizens trapped by the 2006 Lebanon War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swan Hellenic</span> British cruise line

Swan Hellenic is a British cruise line specialising in expedition tours of historical or cultural interest aimed at the upper end of the cruise market. Swan Hellenic was first established as Swan's Tours in the 1950s as a tour operator carrying guests to historic sites, providing enrichment throughout their trips. In 1983, Swan Hellenic was acquired by P&O and became a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc in 2003, but it ended operations in 2007 after Carnival discontinued the brand. Shortly after, All Leisure Holidays Group purchased and revived Swan Hellenic, but ended its operations in 2017. G Adventures acquired the brand later that year and planned to revive it for a second time in 2018, but sold the brand to a private group in 2020, which plans to resume Swan Hellenic's operations with its first-ever new-build ship in 2021.

<i>Marella Explorer</i> Century-class cruise ship built in 1996

Marella Explorer is a Century-class cruise ship owned and operated by Marella Cruises. Before joining TUI she cruised as MV Galaxy with Celebrity Cruises, and later as Mein Schiff with TUI Cruises. She was laid down at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, on 25 May 1995, was launched in May 1996, and was delivered to Celebrity Cruises on 10 October 1996. She entered service on 21 December 1996.

MS <i>Formosa Queen</i> Cruise ship

MS Song of Norway was one of the first ships purpose-built as a cruise ship. She was the first ship of Royal Caribbean International when she entered operation in 1970. She was sold for scrap in 2013 and broken up in 2014, after serving her last years as a gambling ship.

<i>Crystal Symphony</i> Cruise ship built in 1995

Crystal Symphony is a cruise ship owned by Abercrombie & Kent and operated for Crystal Cruises. She was built in 1995 at Kværner Masa-Yards Turku New Shipyard, Finland. She is the oldest vessel in the Crystal Cruises fleet.

<i>Mein Schiff Herz</i> Century-class cruise ship

Marella Voyager is the second of two Century-class cruise ships operated by TUI Cruises. Built for Celebrity Cruises at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, she was launched on 11 July 1997, and was christened and entered service as MV Mercury on 27 October 1997.

MV Bretagne is a ferry that was operated by Brittany Ferries. She was built at Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France and was the first purpose built ship for the company and sailed for Brittany Ferries for 35 years from 1989 until 2024. She was Brittany Ferries flagship until the arrival of MV Val de Loire in 1993.

MV <i>Queen of the Oceans</i> Sun-class cruise ship owned by Seajets

MV Queen of the Oceans is a Sun-class cruise ship owned by Seajets, a Greek/Cypriot ferry company. She was built by Fincantieri in Monfalcone, Italy, and measures 77,499 GT. She entered service in February 2000 as Ocean Princess for Princess Cruises before being transferred to P&O Cruises in 2002, operating as Oceana until 2020. Queen of the Oceans is a sister ship to other Sun-class ships, Dream, Pacific World, and Pacific Explorer.

MV <i>Columbus</i> Cruise ship

MV Columbus was a cruise ship. She was built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique, at their shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France, and launched in 1988 as Sitmar Fair Majesty. Originally ordered for Sitmar Cruises, with the merger of Sitmar Cruises into Princess, she first entered service with Princess Cruises as Star Princess in 1989. From 1997 to 2003, she served in the P&O Cruises fleet as MVArcadia. She was renamed Ocean Village in 2003 when the brand was established. Ocean Village was the sole cruise ship of the Ocean Village brand after the Ocean Village Two became the Pacific Jewel. In 2010 the Ocean Village brand ceased its operations and she was transferred to P&O Cruises Australia and renamed Pacific Pearl. She served in the P&O Cruises Australia fleet until 2017 when she was sold to Cruise & Maritime Voyages and renamed MV Columbus. Following CMV entering administration in 2020, the Ship was auctioned by CW Kellock & Co. in London on 12 October 2020, for US$5,321,000 to Marios Iliopoulos of Seajets, and some months later resold to scrap in Eleusis Bay. In 2021 she was sold for scrap in Alang, India where she will be beached and dismantled.

<i>Vistafjord</i> Ocean liner (1973–2017)

MS Vistafjord was an ocean liner that was built as a combined liner/cruise ship in 1973 by Swan Hunter, England for the Norwegian America Line. In 1983 she was sold to Cunard, retaining her original name until 1999 when she was renamed Caronia. In 2004 she was sold to Saga and sailed as Saga Ruby until sold in 2014 for use as a floating hotel and renamed Oasia. This never came to fruition. Her owners went bankrupt, and in April 2017 she arrived at Alang Ship Breaking Yard, India for scrapping.

<i>Azamara Pursuit</i> Cruise ship

Azamara Pursuit is a cruise ship operating for Azamara Club Cruises. The ship was built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique at their shipyard in St. Nazaire, France in 2001.

MS <i>Finbo Cargo</i>

The MS Finbo Cargo is a roll-on/roll-off passenger ferry that was previously called the European Endeavour which was owned and operated by P&O Ferries until May 2019. Eckerö Line purchased the ship from P&O in 2019 and is expected to take delivery in June 2019 and renamed her MS Finbo Cargo.

<i>Silver Explorer</i> Expedition ship

Silver Explorer was an expedition ship operated by Silversea Cruises, now owned and operated by Exploris, a French Expedition cruising line under its new name Exploris One. The ship typically hosts cruises to Norway, the South Pacific, and Antarctica. It is the first ship of Silversea involved in expedition cruising.

HMS <i>Investigator</i> (1801) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Investigator was the mercantile Fram, launched in 1795, which the Royal Navy purchased in 1798 and renamed HMS Xenophon, and then in 1801 converted to a survey ship under the name HMS Investigator. In 1802, under the command of Matthew Flinders, she was the first ship to circumnavigate Australia. The Navy sold her in 1810 and she returned to mercantile service under the name Xenophon. She was probably broken up c.1872.

MS <i>Golden Princess</i>

MS Golden Princess was a casino cruise ship owned by Eurasia International, operated on short casino cruises out of Hong Kong. She was built in 1967 by the Wärtsilä Hietalahti shipyard in Helsinki, Finland as Finlandia for the Finland Steamship Company. In 1975 she was sold to Finnlines, who converted her into the cruise ship Finnstar in 1978. In 1982 she entered service for Pearl Cruises as Pearl of Scandinavia. In 1988 she was renamed Ocean Pearl. In 1994 she entered service with Croisières Paquet as Pearl. Between 1995 and 1998 she sailed for Costa Cruises as Costa Playa. In 1998-1999 she sailed as Oriental Pearl for Mega Wave International, and in 1999-2000 as Joy Wave for Costa Cruises. In 2000 she was sold to Eurasia International and entered service under the name Golden Princess. In 2009 she was sold for scrap to China.

Phoenix Reisen is a Germany-based travel agency that also operates a fleet of cruise ships. The company first entered the cruise business in 1988 by chartering the Soviet Union-owned cruise ship SS Maxim Gorkiy.

MV <i>Hebridean Princess</i> Cruise ship

MV Hebridean Princess is a cruise ship operated by Hebridean Island Cruises. She started life as the MacBrayne car ferry and Royal Mail Ship, initially RMS then MV Columba, based in Oban for the first 25 years of her life, carrying up to 600 passengers, and 50 cars, between the Scottish islands.

MV <i>Munster</i> (1947)

MV Orpheus was a cruise ship launched on 25 March 1947 and completed on 17 January 1948 by the shipyard Harland & Wolff in Belfast as Munster for B&I Line. It replaced the earlier Munster, built in 1938, which sank in 1940.

<i>Saga Pearl II</i> German cruise ship

MS Saga Pearl II was a cruise ship of about 18,700 GT that was built in Germany by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft as the Astor in 1981. After short unsuccessful operations with two owners, she was bought by the East German government in 1985 and renamed Arkona. After 1990 the ship was operated by Seetours, which was acquired by P&O Princess Cruises in 1999, and then chartered to Transocean Tours as Astoria in 2002. From 2009 until 2019 she was owned by Saga Cruises as Saga Pearl II, then withdrawn from service, laid up as Pearl II, and scrapped in 2022.

References

  1. Leonardo Info, RI 73986
  2. "Minerva tours". Abercrombie & Kent. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
  3. "Discovery-led cruise ship sails home following its multi million pound refit". www.sirencomms.com. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  4. "Minerva Enters Lloyd Werft - Cruise Industry News | Cruise News". 7 December 2011.
  5. "Bosses at collapsed Swan Hellenic cruise firm paid themselves nearly £1m". The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on 5 December 2021.

Bibliography