A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freighters once common on the seas in which the transport of passengers is secondary to the carriage of freight. The type does however include many classes of ships designed to transport substantial numbers of passengers as well as freight. Indeed, until recently virtually all ocean liners were able to transport mail, package freight and express, and other cargo in addition to passenger luggage, and were equipped with cargo holds and derricks, kingposts, or other cargo-handling gear for that purpose. Only in more recent ocean liners and in virtually all cruise ships has this cargo capacity been eliminated.
SS France was a Compagnie Générale Transatlantique ocean liner, constructed by the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard at Saint-Nazaire, France, and put into service in February 1962. At the time of her construction in 1960, the 316 m (1,037 ft) vessel was the longest passenger ship ever built, a record that remained unchallenged until the construction of the 345 m (1,132 ft) RMS Queen Mary 2 in 2004.
The MS Crown Iris is a cruise ship owned by the Israeli cruise line Mano Maritime since 2018. She was originally ordered by Birka Line as MS Birka Queen from the Wärtsilä Marine Turku Shipyard in Finland, but completed by Kvaerner Masa-Yards as MS Royal Majesty for Majesty Cruise Line. In 1997 she was sold to Norwegian Cruise Line as MS Norwegian Majesty and lengthened by 33.76 m at the Lloyd Werft shipyard in Bremerhaven, Germany. She was sold to Louis Cruises as MS Louis Majesty from 2008 to 2012 when she was chartered to Thomson Cruises as MS Thomson Majesty before being returned to Louis Cruises/Celestyal Cruises, as the Majesty. In 2018 the ship was sold to Mano Maritime.
MS Star Pisces was a cruise ship owned by Star Cruises and did short cruises from Hong Kong. She was originally built as the cruiseferry MS Kalypso in 1990 at Masa-Yards Turku New Shipyard, Finland for Rederi AB Slite for use in Viking Line traffic. The ship was designed by Per Dockson. Star Pisces had a sister ship, Pearl Seaways.
MS Bahamas Celebration was a midsize cruise ship formerly operated by Celebration Cruise Line. Between March 2009 and October 2014, she operated two- and three-day cruises from Port Everglades to the Bahamas. In March 2010 she started operating two-day cruises from the Port of Palm Beach.
MS Princess Seaways is a cruiseferry operated and owned by the Danish shipping company DFDS Seaways on a route connecting North Shields, England, to IJmuiden in the Netherlands. She was built in 1986 as Peter Pan by Seebeckwerft, Bremerhaven, Germany for TT-Line. Between 1993 and 2002, the ship was operated by TT-Line Company of Tasmania under the name Spirit of Tasmania a service across the Bass Strait. In 2002, the ship was sold to Fjord Line and renamed Fjord Norway for service from Denmark. In 2006, she was sold to DFDS Seaways and sailed as Princess of Norway before being given her current name in 2011.
Atlantic Star was a cruise ship built in 1984. She sailed for Sitmar Cruises, Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises Australia, and Pullmantur Cruises. Under ownership of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., the ship had been laid up since 2010 before being handed over to STX France in 2013 as a partial payment for the construction of what is now, Harmony of the Seas. She was later sold to a shipbreaker in Aliağa, Turkey, renamed Antic, and scrapped on 14 April 2013.
MS Moby Dada is a cruiseferry operated by Moby Lines, under charter from DFDS Seaways. She was built in 1981 as Finlandia for Effoa at Wärtsilä's Perno shipyard in Turku, Finland, and placed in service on Silja Line's Helsinki—Stockholm service. In 1990 she was sold to DFDS Seaways and renamed Queen of Scandinavia. From 2010 until 2016, she operated under the name of Princess Maria for St. Peter Line between Helsinki and St. Petersburg, Russia.
MS Salamis Filoxenia was a cruise ship formerly owned by the Cyprus-based Salamis Cruises at end, but sold, because company closed business. She was built in 1975 by Wärtsilä Turku Shipyard as the Belorussiya class-cruiseferry Gruziya for the Black Sea Shipping Company, Soviet Union. She was rebuilt into a cruise ship during the 1980s. In 1995, she was renamed Odessa Sky and in 1999 briefly Club 1 before renamed Van Gogh later in 1999. In 2009, she was acquired by her current owner and renamed Salamis Filoxenia. The ship has since been renamed to Titan and sold to ship-breakers in Gadani, Pakistan where she will be scrapped.
The MS Windward was a cruise ship that was built in 1993 by the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in St. Nazaire, France for Kloster Cruise as Windward. In 1998 she was lengthened at Lloyd Werft in Bremerhaven, Germany and renamed Norwegian Wind. In 2007 she was transferred to the fleet of Star Cruises as SuperStar Aquarius. The ship remained in passenger service for the cruise line until the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown in 2020. The ship was sold for scrap as Arius in 2022 following the liquidation of the cruise line's parent company after filing for bankruptcy, which also led to the demise of Star Cruises.
TS Maxim Gorkiy was, until 30 November 2008, a cruise ship owned by Sovcomflot, Russia, under long-term charter to Phoenix Reisen, Germany. She was built in 1969 by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, Hamburg, West Germany for the German Atlantic Line as TS Hamburg. In late 1973 she was very briefly renamed TS Hanseatic. The following year she was sold to the Black Sea Shipping Company, Soviet Union and received the name Maksim Gorkiy in honour of the writer Maxim Gorky, renamed to Maxim Gorkiy after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
MV Astoria is a ship that was constructed as the transatlantic ocean liner Stockholm for Swedish American Line, and rebuilt as a cruise ship in 1993. Ordered in 1944, and commenced service in 1948, at 76 years old, she is the oldest deep water passenger liner still around in a non retired status. As Stockholm, she was best known for an accidental collision with Andrea Doria in July 1956, resulting in the sinking of the latter ship and 46 fatalities off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States.
MS Sagafjord was an ocean liner built in 1965 by Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée for Norwegian America Line as a combined ocean liner/cruise ship. Between 1983 and 1996 the Sagafjord was operated by Cunard Line. In 1996–1997 she was briefly operated by Transocean Tours as MS Gripsholm prior to being sold to Saga. She was last owned and operated by Saga Cruises on worldwide cruises targeted at the senior market out of the United Kingdom, known as the MS Saga Rose. She was retired in 2009 and scrapped in 2010.
MV Kungsholm was built in 1966 by the John Brown & Company shipyard in Clydebank, Scotland as a combined ocean liner / cruise ship for the Swedish American Line. She was later rebuilt as a full-time cruise ship sailing under the names Sea Princess, Victoria, Oceanic II and Mona Lisa. In September 2010 she was retired from service as she did not fulfill requirements to SOLAS 2010, becoming the floating hotel Veronica, before being scrapped in 2016.
Fjord Line is a Norwegian ferry operator offering services between Norway and Denmark; in October 2020 the company announced a scale-back of operations whereby the ferry operations will only serve the ports of Kristiansand, Hirtshals, and Stavanger.
MS Nordstjernen is a vessel constructed in Hamburg, Germany in 1956, and used on the Hurtigruten coastal service until 2012. It was the oldest operational ship in the Hurtigruten fleet at the time of its withdrawal, and is the ship with the longest history of Hurtigruten service. In 2012, she was protected as a national heritage in Norway.
The Bergen Steamship Company (BDS), was founded in 1851 by Michael Krohn to operate a shipping service between the Norwegian ports of Bergen, Stavanger, and Kristiansand and the German port of Hamburg with the paddle steamer Bergen. The company funnel was black with three widely spaced narrow white bands.
SS Bergensfjord was a Norwegian ocean liner that sailed for the Norwegian America Line to the United States. During the Second World War she was requisitioned by the British Ministry of War Transport and used as a troop ship. After the war she continued sailing as a Trans-Atlantic passenger liner, first for South American owners, then for an Israeli company.
The MS Jupiter was a cruiseferry owned and operated by Vietnamese Jupiter Cruises. The vessel operated cruises between Sihanoukville and the island of Phú Quốc. It sank November 2017 with 2 deaths, having been moored since 2010.
The United Kingdom to Norway ferry service was a route connecting Newcastle in England with Stavanger, Bergen, and Haugesund in Norway. It existed for over 140 years until 2008, when it was last operated by DFDS Seaways. Between 2010 and 2015 there were attempts by various companies to relaunch service.
