Aegean Queen
 As Louis Aura in front of Tallinn, June 2015
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The Aegean Queen was a cruise ship of the Turkish travel company Etstur , which was commissioned in 1968 as Starward for the Norwegian Cruise Line .
history
Norwegian Cruise Line
The Star Ward was created under the hull number 935 at AG Weser in Bremerhaven and was on the 21 June 1968 stack left. After the takeover by Norwegian Cruise Line, which was then still part of Kloster Rederi AS, on November 29, 1968, the ship began its cruise service from Miami on December 21, 1968 . The ship was the shipping company's first new building. The ship should be used as a cruise ship and as a ferry.
In 1975, the Starward gained brief fame as the location for the film The Wrong Sister starring Natalie Wood and Michael Caine . In October 1976 the ship received a modernization in Jacksonville . In a further conversion in 1988, the Starward received a so-called ducktail at the rear. After sailing under the Norwegian flag for twenty years, the flag was changed to the Bahamas in 1988 .
Festival cruises
After more than 25 years in service for the Norwegian Cruise Line, the Starward was sold to Festival Cruises in July 1995 and renamed Bolero . After a renovation in Piraeus , the ship began service for its new owner on December 22, 1995 under the Panamanian flag . The Bolero was also offered on the German-speaking market in the following years. In March 2003 the ship was briefly in service under the charter of the Spanish travel company Spanish Cruise Line. After Festival Cruises filed for bankruptcy in January 2004, which was Bolero in Gibraltar launched .
Abou Merhi Cruises
In May 2004 the ship was bought by the Arab shipping company Abou Merhi Cruises , renovated for more than 10 million dollars and renamed Orient Queen in November 2004 . In 2005 it made its first trip for the shipping company, making it the first cruise ship based in Dubai . In the summer months, the Orient Queen was also stationed in Beirut.
In July 2006, the ship evacuated American citizens from Lebanon when there was unrest over a conflict with Israel . It was escorted by the destroyers USS Gonzales and USS Barry .
Louis Cruise Line
In August 2006 the Orient Queen was sold to the Cypriot Louis Cruise Line and henceforth used for cruises in the Mediterranean . In the following years she changed her home port several times: in July 2007 Piraeus, in April 2009 Majuro and finally since March 2011 Malta . In September 2013 the ship was renamed the Louis Aura .
In September 2014, the Louis Cruise Line was renamed Celestyal Cruises and restructured. The Louis Aura was the only ship in the fleet to continue sailing under its old name and the Louis Cruises banner and was therefore also used in the North and Baltic Seas in the 2014 and 2015 seasons . In April 2016, the Louis Aura was finally retired after ten years in service for the shipping company and launched near Piraeus.
Etstur
In 2017 the Turkish travel company Etstur chartered the ship. At the end of May 2017 it was renamed Aegean Queen after more than a year of lay and put back into service in July 2017. From October 2017 the ship was laid up again near Piraeus . In June 2018 it was sold for demolition and transferred to the demolition yard as an Aegean under the flag of Palau . It left Paloukia near Piraeus on June 21 and arrived in the Gulf of Khambhat on July 17, 2018 . On July 27 of that year, the ship was stranded in Alang for demolition. With 49 years of service, it was one of the longest-serving cruise ships in the world.
Technical specifications
The ship was propelled by two MAN diesel engines (type: V8V 40/54). The motors acted on two controllable pitch propellers via reduction gears . The ship reached a top speed of 16 knots (about 30 km / h). It was equipped with an electrically powered bow thruster .
Six generators powered by Bergen Marine diesel engines (type: RTGB-8) were available for generating electricity. Furthermore, an emergency generator powered by a Deutz diesel engine (type: BF6M716) was installed.
There was accommodation for a maximum of 850 guests in 414 cabins on a total of eight passenger decks. The ship had 400 crew members .
Sister ship
The sister ship of the Aegean Queen is the former Skyward , built in 1969 , which is now used as Leisure World for casino cruises off the coast of Singapore .
Web links
- the ship on faktaomfartyg.se (Swedish)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Aegean Queen. DNV GL, accessed on July 27, 2018 .
- ↑ End of a Cruise Pioneer , Daily Port Report , July 23, 2018.
- ↑ Louis Aura - The End? travelswithanthonytwo, April 14, 2016, accessed June 1, 2016 .
- ^ L'ex-Louis Aura partirait à la casse. Mer et Marine, May 23, 2018, accessed May 23, 2018 .
- ^ Micke Asklander: M / S SKYWARD. Retrieved June 1, 2016 .