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History | |
---|---|
Name |
|
Operator |
|
Port of registry | |
Builder | Vickers-Armstrongs, Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne, England |
Yard number | 171 [1] |
Launched | 10 May 1960 [1] |
Completed | March 1961 |
Maiden voyage | 24 April 1961 |
In service | 1961 |
Out of service | 2003 |
Identification | IMO number: 5103936 |
Fate | Scrapped at Alang, India in 2003 |
General characteristics | |
Tonnage |
|
Length | 650 ft (198.12 m) |
Beam | 86.6 ft (26.40 m) |
Draught | 29 ft (8.84 m) |
Installed power | 30,000 shp (22,000 kW) |
Propulsion | Geared turbines, twin screw |
Speed | 20 kn (23 mph; 37 km/h) [1] |
Capacity | As built, 192 1st class, 856 tourist class [1] |
Crew | 470 [1] |
RMS Empress of Canada was an ocean liner launched in 1960 and completed the following year by Vickers-Armstrongs of Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne, England for Canadian Pacific Steamships Ltd. This ship, the third CP vessel to be named Empress of Canada, regularly traversed the transatlantic route between Liverpool and Canada for the next decade. Although Canadian Pacific Railways was incorporated in Canada, the Atlantic (and pre-war Pacific) liners were owned and operated by the British registered subsidiary Canadian Pacific Steamships Ltd. and were always British flagged and manned and therefore Empress of Canada was not the flagship of the Canadian Merchant Marine.
Following the end of World War II Canadian Pacific Steamships in 1946 resumed providing a transatlantic service utilizing the cargo liners Beaverburn and Beaverford, which were joined in 1947-50 by the refitted Empress of Canada (ex-Duchess of Richmond), Empress of France (ex-Duchess of Bedford), and then Empress of Scotland (ex-Empress of Japan). [1] A dramatic post-war increase in immigration to Canada prompted the company to order the construction of the Empress of Britain and Empress of England which entered service in 1956-57.
The company in July 1957 [1] commenced planning for the construction of a replacement for the Empress of Scotland, which would join the Empress of Britain and Empress of England on the transatlantic route from Liverpool to Montreal. During the months that the St. Lawrence was frozen (typically November to April) the ships sailed from Liverpool To Saint John, New Brunswick. In addition to servicing the transatlantic trade the Empress of Canada was designed to be Canadian Pacific's premier cruise ship during the winter months and rarely sailed on the liner service in winter.
The Empress of Canada measured 27,284 gross register tons (GRT) with a length of 650 feet (198.12 m) and a beam of 86.6 feet (26.40 m). She was 10 feet (3.05 m) longer than her earlier sister ships due to a more curved bow and she had one foot (0.30 m) more beam. [1] Unlike the earlier CP ships, she had a bulbous bow.
Three Foster Wheeler boilers fed steam (operating at 690 psi) to two Pametrada double reduction geared turbines, one for each of her two propellers. The hull was strengthened for ice and fitted with Denny-Brown stabilisers. Designed for a service speed of 20 kn (23 mph; 37 km/h), she achieved 23 kn (26 mph; 43 km/h) on her trials. [1]
As it had proven popular with the other two new "Empresses" her aluminium funnel (which was of a different design to them) was placed amidships with divided uptakes, thus ensuring a 210 feet (64 m) long view through the public rooms. She had full air-conditioning with accommodation divided into 192 first class passengers and 856 tourist class. All first class cabins and 70% of tourist class had private facilities. The indoor pool, cinema and two-floor high Canada Room were shared by both classes. During the cruise seasons, the vessel operated as a one class ship. The interior was designed by Patrick McBride of McInnis, Gardiner and Paul Gell.
The order for the vessel was announced on 3 January 1958 with the £7.5 million contract being awarded to the Vickers-Armstrong yard in Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne on the River Tyne in England. [1] This company had built Empress of England on the same slip four years previously. The keel was laid in January 1959, the vessel's name was announced on 11 January 1960 and she was launched on 10 May 1960, one day before the French liner SS France was launched. by Olive Diefenbaker, the wife of the Canadian Prime Minister. [1]
In February 1961 the vessel was moved into the dry dock at Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson's yard at Wallsend. A month later, on 7 March 1961, she departed for her trials in the Firth of Clyde where on 10 March her performance was checked over the Firth of Clyde's Arran measured mile. Following the vessel's return to Vickers-Armstrong for correction of some minor defects she departed for Liverpool late on 25 March 1961, arriving two days later.
On 29 March what was subsequently to be the company's last passenger liner was commissioned into Canadian Pacific service at Liverpool. [1] She remained at Liverpool for a month during which time she was open for inspection by the travel trade and reporters.
On 24 April 1961 the Empress of Canada left Liverpool bound for Montreal on her maiden voyage, arriving on the 2 May having become the largest passenger ship to sail up the St Lawrence River. Among the 912 passengers (147 First and 765 Tourist) was author Nicholas Monsarrat.
The liner departed from Montreal on 10 November 1961 at the end of her inaugural transatlantic season bound for Liverpool, from where she departed on 12 December on her maiden crossing to New York, arriving on 19 December following a delay due to bad weather off the US coast. After making three West Indies cruises from New York, she departed on 9 February 1962 carrying 640 passengers on a 61-day, 31 port voyage of the Mediterranean. The ship then returned to the transatlantic service for the rest of the year during which she and her sister Empresses made a total of 33 round voyages between Liverpool and Montreal. On 18 February 1963 the ship departed from New York on her second Mediterranean cruise which over 61 days called at 28 ports. For this cruise which offered single-sitting dining the passenger capacity was limited to 570 guests with 70 extra catering staff employed to look after them.
The ship's first cruise from Britain departed from Liverpool on 21 December 1962 and called at Madeira, Tenerife, Sao Vincente, Las Palmas, Casablanca and Tangier, before ending at Southampton on 7 January 1963. Subsequent she departed on 10 January 1963 on a 28-day cruise of the West Indies. Following her return to Britain at the end of this cruise the Empress of Canada departed Southampton on 12 February 1963 for New York. From New York she then made another Mediterranean cruise which attracted only 369 passengers, which was lower than in previous years, causing her owners to never offer it again. The ship then returned to the transatlantic service for the rest of the year. While on a voyage from Liverpool in September of that year mechanical trouble caused the vessel to end her voyage at Quebec on 18 September 1963 where all her passengers disembarked. She then proceeded to Montreal without them, where repairs were undertaken. [1] Her next voyage from Liverpool was disrupted by a strike of St Lawrence longshoremen, which prevented her from berthing following her arrival off Quebec on 8 October 1963. After two days at anchor she sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she discharged her passengers and cargo. On 15 October she departed for Liverpool with one First class and five Tourist class passengers, looked after by a crew of 400.
Her last transatlantic crossing from Liverpool was to St John where she arrived on 13 December 1963. She then proceeded to New York from where over the winter of 1963-64 she made six Caribbean cruises of between nine and 16 days in duration. The last of the cruises departed from New York on 27 March 1964 with 715 passengers which was the most she had ever carried up until then. [1] On her regular transatlantic crossings she continued to carry many immigrants, an example being that 500 of the 1,006 passengers that she landed at Quebec on 12 July 1965 were immigrants. [1] A strike had prevented her transporting them all the way to Montreal and the same for the next crossing from Liverpool. Over the winter season from 11 December 1965 to 19 March 1966 the ship made eight cruises of up to 15 days in duration.
Her owners had programmed a total of 23 transatlantic sailings for 1966 but a strike by the National Union of Seamen disrupted these plans. This caused her to sit after docking at Liverpool on 20 May until the 4 July when she was finally able to depart for Montreal, arriving on 11 July. The backlog of passengers due to the strike meant that the 1,087 passengers she carried on this voyage was her highest ever. Over the 1966-67 winter season she made seven cruises between 10 December 1966 and 24 March 1967. Among the 24 transatlantic sailings that she completed in 1967 she made a five special Expo branded sailings from Liverpool to support Expo 67, which was being held in Montreal. Among the passengers on the Expo sailing that arrived in Montreal on 5 July 1967 were Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco and their three children. [1]
Her last winter crossing for 1967 departed from Liverpool on 24 November 1967 to Quebec from where she made a coastal cruise to New York on 2 December from where she provided seven winter cruises, the last being completed on 23 March 1968. During one of them she ran aground at San Juan, Puerto Rico on 8 February 1968, but was pulled free with no damage. On 4 May in that same year she struck a whale which became impaled on her bow. It was dislodged by going full astern. [2] In 1968 she made 24 transatlantic sailings followed by 16 cruises with the season being extended by her sailing from New York on 3 June 1969 direct to Liverpool, from where she made three summer cruises: 14 days to the Scandinavian capitals and the North Cape starting on 2 July, a three-day mini cruise on 1 August, and a 15-day Mediterranean trip on 19 September, interspersed with the occasional transatlantic service. [1]
In 1968, Canadian Pacific modernised her look, changing their house flag, colour schemes and introducing a new funnel design. As the 1960s progressed transatlantic passenger crossings began to dramatically decrease due to the impact of increased air traffic following developments in aviation design which resulted in faster flights across the ocean. The decline in profitability on the transatlantic route resulted in a number of famous ships leaving or never sailing again such as the SS United States and RMS Queen Mary. As time went on Empress of Canada completed fewer and fewer trips across the Atlantic each year and by 1969 she completed only seven Atlantic voyages, compensating by spending the period between 6 December and 25 May 1970 on an extended cruise season during which she made 11 Caribbean cruises of between nine and 20 days in duration from New York and Port Everglades. On her last New York departure, she sailed on a four-day mini-cruise to Montreal on 5 April 1970, before commencing the first of the 11 Atlantic crossings that she undertook in 1970 during which the liner maintained an 82 per cent load factor. Over the winter of 1970-71 her cruise season lasted 7 December through 17 April before she returned to servicing the transatlantic trade. While one day out of Liverpool heading for Canada there was a blowback in one of her boilers which caused a fire in the boiler room at 8:15pm on 22 August 1971. [1] It was serious enough that passengers were assembled by the life boats, but the fire was under control within ten minutes.
On 9 November 1971 Canadian Pacific unexpectedly announced that they were immediately withdrawing the Empress of Canada from service, claiming that she was becoming economically unviable. As well as the decline in transatlantic tourist numbers, immigrant patronage had collapsed as by 1970 of the 26,500 Britons who had immigrated to Canada in that year only 4,400 had travelled by sea. Also contributing to the decision had the impact of a devalued US dollar which had reduced the profitably of the cruise voyage as well as continuing labour troubles among her British crew and in Canada. [1] The previously announced cruises were cancelled, and she departed on 17 November 1971 from Montreal under the command of Captain W.E. Williams on her last North Atlantic crossing to Liverpool with 274 (19 First and 255 Tourist) passengers aboard and 360 crew. [1] She made her final arrival at Liverpool on 23 November 1971 having completing 121 transatlantic voyages and 82 cruises for the Canadian Pacific line, thus closing for good the Liverpool–Canada link.
She remained at Liverpool until 14 December and then sailed with a skeleton crew (of under a 100) under the command of Captain Richard Walgate for London's Tilbury docks to be laid up pending sale, arriving (for the first and only time) at her port of registry on 17 December. [1] [2]
It was thought that Empress of Canada might be sold to the Shaw Savill Line, to be renamed Dominion Monarch alongside her former fleet mate Empress of England, which had become Shaw Savill's Ocean Monarch, but the sale did not take place.
Instead she was sold in January 1972 to then-startup Carnival Cruise Lines and after being renamed Mardi Gras on 14 February 1972 she underwent a few internal changes and an update of her colour scheme. Her registration was transferred from the United Kingdom to Panama with a measurement of 18,261 GRT (1,826,100 cu ft; 51,710 m3) under Panamanian measurement rules. This saved on dock dues, while Carnival advertised what was their first ship as "27,000 tons of fun!" Her departure from Tilbury was delayed by the National Union of Seamen who picketed the ship in protest about the threat to their members of ships sailing under flags of convenience, which allowed them to pay lower wages. As a result, tug crews and lock gate men at Tilbury 'blacked' the Mardi Gras which was eventually resolved and she left Tilbury on 26 February 1972 for Miami.
Despite her age the Empress of Canada was a good choice for the new company as she had been well-maintained and was in better condition than a number of the vessels offering cruises from Miami. As the newly established company was in a very weak financial position the ship soon after departed Miami on 11 March 1972 with 530 passengers and 200 crew on board, on her first cruise without any major refurbishments in order to bring in some income. At that time she was the largest passenger ship using the port of Miami and fully laden her draft caused her to run aground as she departed. After twenty-four hours of attempting to free her, the passengers were disembarked. After being refloated and being found to be watertight the passengers rejoined the ship and the cruise continued. This mishap caused some competitors calling the vessel “Mardi Gras On The Rocks”. [3]
Initially Carnival was constantly financially struggling but the company's strategy of marketing the array of activities and entertainment available on board the ship, rather than its destination eventually caught on, so that by 1975 Carnival was making a profit. [4] By 1975 business had improved to such an extent that the company purchased her near sister Empress of Britain, which was renamed Carnivale.
In August 1979 the ship undertook a cruise to Canada and made her first visit to Montreal in eight years. A second Canadian cruise and which was her last in Canadian waters was undertaken in 1980. [2]
Early in 1982 she was given an extensive refurbishment. [2] From the end of 1990 onwards she began operating out of Port Canaveral.
By 1993 Carnival wanted to update their fleet by ordering new tonnage so she was sold to Epirotiki in that year, and was initially renamed Olympic.
In that same year she was chartered to Gold Star Cruises, based in Galveston, Texas, who renamed her Star of Texas. She departed on 30 October 1993 on her first of the ten weekly sailings that the company operated each week consisting of four six-hour cruises, and six “night-club” cruises. The company soon found itself in financial difficulties, and the ship was relocated to Miami, where she provided short cruises under the name Lucky Star. [2] Gold Star Cruises stopped operating in December 1994 and the ship was laid up in the Bahamas for a short period before sailing to Piraeus, where she arrived on 10 May 1995. In 1995 Epirotiki merged its operations with Sun Line, creating a new company named Royal Olympic Cruise Lines and the vessel was renamed Apollon. For a while she sailed for this line before being chartered for five years by Direct Cruises (division of Direct Holidays) for voyages around the United Kingdom. In preparation the vessel was given a multi-million dollar refurbishment at the Skaramanga shipyard, prior to departing from Piraeus for Liverpool. However while enroute she had to be diverted to Avonmouth for engine repairs which meant that it was not until 30 May 1998 that she reached Liverpool. [2] For her charterers the vessel operated cruises from Liverpool, Greenock and Newcastle upon Tyne.
Direct Holidays was purchased by the tour operator Airtours in 1999. Coincidentally perhaps, around this time Carnival acquired a share of Airtours plc (around 23%) – though primarily to secure distribution of the Carnival brand through the tour operator. This was a relatively short lived liaison. A quid-pro-quo agreement was made between Royal Olympic and Airtours to scrap the Apollon charter agreement and in 2000 all voyages planned for the vessel were cancelled and she was returned to Greece where she was laid up. This agreement saw the Airtours vessel MS Seawing transferred from Airtours Sun Cruises (the Airtours in-house cruise division) management to Royal Olympic under a third party management agreement. This agreement also included an option to purchase at the end of the newly agreed management deal.
In May 2001 the Apollon was put back in service for three- and four-day cruises out of Piraeus due to the late delivery of Olympic Explorer . She operated alongside the new Olympic Countess with a break as an accommodation ship in July 2001 for delegates and press attending the G8 summit being held at Genoa. [2] By 2003 the aging vessel was in need of a complete refurbishment so to avoid this expense she was laid up in that same year. Taking advantage of higher prices currently being offered for scrap metal she was sold for scrap on 16 September 2003, having been in service for 42 years. [2] On 12 November the former Empress of Canada departed Piraeus for breaking up at Alang in India, where she arrived on 4 December 2003. [2]
In February 2021 Carnival Cruises announced that the first Carnival Excel Class Ship will bear the Mardi Gras name. [5] This ship entered service in July 2021.
A curved bulkhead wall made from mahogany and featured 24 panes of glass that was part of the ship's original Mayfair Lounge and later the casino starting from Carnival Cruise Lines and onward was salvaged by passenger ship historian Peter Knego when the ship was scrapped in 2004. The wall was later sold to Carnival Cruise Lines and has since been installed as part of The Golden Jubilee Lounge for the 2nd Carnival Excel Class Ship the Carnival Celebration . [6]
Cunard Line is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its four ships have been registered in Hamilton, Bermuda.
RMS Empress of Russia was a steam turbine ocean liner built in 1912–13 by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company at Govan on the Clyde in Scotland for Canadian Pacific steamships (CP). She regularly worked the trans-Pacific route between Canada and the Far East.
RMS Mauretania was a British ocean liner that was launched on 28 July 1938 at the Cammell Laird yard in Birkenhead, England, and was completed in May 1939. She was one of the first ships built for the newly formed Cunard-White Star company following the merger in April 1934 of the Cunard and White Star Line. On the withdrawal of the first Mauretania in 1935, to prevent a rival company using the name and to keep it available for the new liner, arrangements were made for the Red Funnel paddle steamer Queen to be renamed Mauretania in the interim.
RMS Empress of Britain was a steam turbine ocean liner built between 1928 and 1931 by John Brown shipyard in Scotland, owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company and operated by Canadian Pacific Steamship Company. She was the second of three Canadian Pacific ships named Empress of Britain, which provided scheduled trans-Atlantic passenger service from spring to autumn between Canada and Europe from 1931 until 1939.
RMS Empress of Britain was a transatlantic ocean liner built by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company at Govan on the Clyde in Scotland in 1905–1906 for Canadian Pacific Steamship (CP). This ship – the first of three CP ships to be named Empress of Britain – regularly traversed the transatlantic crossing between Canada and Europe until 1923, with the exception of the war years. Empress of Britain was the sister ship of RMS Empress of Ireland, which was lost in 1914.
RMS Empress of Britain was a transatlantic ocean liner built by Fairfield Shipbuilding at Govan on the Clyde in Scotland in 1955-1956 for Canadian Pacific Steamships (CP). This ship — the third of three CP vessels to be named Empress of Britain — regularly traversed the trans-Atlantic route between Canada and Europe until 1964, completing 123 voyages under the Canadian Pacific flag.
RMS Empress of Canada may refer to one of the following ships of the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company:
RMS Empress of Japan was an ocean liner built in 1929–1930 by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company at Govan on the Clyde in Scotland for Canadian Pacific Steamships (CP). This ship was the second of two CP vessels to be named Empress of Japan – regularly traversed the trans-Pacific route between the west coast of Canada and the Far East until 1942.
RMS Saxonia was a British passenger liner built by John Brown & Company at Clydebank, Scotland for the Cunard Steamship Company for their Liverpool-Montreal service. She was the first of four almost identical sister ships built by Browns between 1954 and 1957 for UK-Montreal service. The first two of these ships, Saxonia and Ivernia were extensively rebuilt in 1962/3 as dual purpose liner/cruise ships. They were renamed Carmania and Franconia respectively and painted in the same green cruising livery as the Caronia. Carmania continued transatlantic crossings and cruises until September 1967 when she closed out Cunard's Montreal service. She and her sister had been painted white at the end of 1966 and from 1968 Carmania sailed as a full time cruise ship until withdrawal after arriving at Southampton on 31 October 1971. In August 1973 she was bought by the Soviet Union-based Black Sea Shipping Company and renamed SS Leonid Sobinov. The ship was scrapped in 1999.
RMS Sylvania was an ocean liner built in 1957 by John Brown & Co (Clydebank), in Glasgow, for the United Kingdom-based shipping company Cunard Line. She was the last Cunard Line vessel built specifically for transatlantic crossings. The ship was later heavily rebuilt as a cruise ship, and sailed under the names SS Fairwind, SS Sitmar Fairwind, SS Dawn Princess and SS Albatros before being scrapped in 2004. She was renamed SS Genoa for her last voyage.
MS Queen Elizabeth (QE) is a cruise ship of the Vista class operated by the Cunard Line. The design is modified compared to earlier ships of the same class, and slightly larger than Queen Victoria, at 92,000 GT. This is due to a more vertical stern, and additional cabins for single travelers. The bow of Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria are both reinforced having thicker than the standard for hull plating, to handle North Atlantic weather. The ship is able to carry up to 2,092 passengers.
SS Duchess of Richmond was an ocean liner built in 1928 for Canadian Pacific Steamships by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland. In 1947 she was renamed SS Empress of Canada.
RMS Empress of Scotland, originally SS Kaiserin Auguste Victoria, was an ocean liner built in 1905–1906 by Vulcan AG shipyard in Stettin for the Hamburg America Line. The ship regularly sailed between Hamburg and New York City until the outbreak of war in Europe in 1914. At the end of hostilities, re-flagged as USS Kaiserin Auguste Victoria, she transported American troops from Europe to the United States. For a brief time Cunard sailed the re-flagged ship between Liverpool and New York.
SS Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm was an ocean liner for North German Lloyd (NDL) from her launch in 1907 until the end of World War I. After the war, she briefly served as USS Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm (ID-4063) for the United States Navy returning American troops from France. The vessel was first chartered—and later purchased outright—by Canadian Pacific Steamships (CP) and operated under the names Empress of China, Empress of India, Montlaurier, Monteith, and Montnairn. She was scrapped in 1929.
RMS Ivernia was a Saxonia class ocean liner, built in 1955 by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland for Cunard Line, for their transatlantic passenger service between the UK and Canada. In 1963 she was rebuilt as a cruise ship and renamed RMS Franconia, after the famous pre-war liner RMS Franconia. She continued to sail for Cunard until being withdrawn from service and laid up in 1971. In 1973 she was sold to the Soviet Union's Far Eastern Shipping Company and, renamed SS Fedor Shalyapin, cruised around Australia and the far East. In 1980 she was transferred to the Black Sea Shipping Company fleet, and for a time returned to cruising in the Mediterranean and around Europe. In 1989 she was transferred again, to the Odessa Cruise Company, and continued her career as a cruise ship until 1994. She was then laid up at Illichivsk, a Black Sea port 40 km southwest of Odesa, until 2004 when, as the Salona, she sailed to Alang, India, where she was scrapped.
RMS Empress of England was an ocean liner built in 1956-1957 by Vickers-Armstrongs, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom for the Canadian Pacific Steamships. The ship was launched in 1956; and she undertook her maiden voyage in 1957 and was a near identical sister ship to Empress of Britain.
SS Calgaric was a steam ocean liner that was completed in 1917, assumes service in 1918 and scrapped in 1934. She was built for the Pacific SN Co Line as Orca. In 1923 she was transferred to the Royal Mail Line. In 1927 she was transferred to White Star Line and renamed Calgaric.
Carnival Celebration is an Excel-class cruise ship operated by Carnival Cruise Line. She is Carnival's second vessel of the fleet's Excel class, a subclass of Carnival Corporation & plc's Excellence class. At 183,521 GT, she is the largest ship in Carnival's fleet. Unlike her sister ship, Mardi Gras, as well as the original Celebration, this ship is named Carnival Celebration using the Carnival prefix. Her name was announced on 21 August 2020. She was ordered on 6 November 2016 from the Finnish shipyard Meyer Turku. She features the worlds first roller coaster at sea, named Bolt. Construction started on 13 January 2021 and was completed on 2 November 2022.
Mardi Gras is an Excellence-class cruise ship operated by Carnival Cruise Line. She is Carnival's lead vessel of the fleet's Excel-class, a subclass of the Excellence class, and was built by Finnish shipbuilder Meyer Turku in Turku, Finland. She also has often been incorrectly referred to as Carnival Mardi Gras, though Carnival has specified that her name does not include the "Carnival" prefix, a first since the Fantasy-class vessels originally omitted "Carnival" in their names upon their debuts. Mardi Gras has been subject to numerous delays in her construction, delivery, and debut amid the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent impact on tourism. First scheduled for a summer 2020 delivery and debut, she was delivered to Carnival on 18 December 2020. After her debut was postponed on numerous occasions, Mardi Gras began operating weekly sailings on 31 July 2021.
Three vessels have been named Mardi Gras: