Fairsky (ship, 1984)
.jpg) The ship as Atlantic Star
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The Fairsky (also written FairSky ) was a cruise ship put into service in 1984 by the Liberia- based shipping company Sitmar Cruises . Upon delivery, she was one of the largest passenger ships in the world and was the last cruise ship to be equipped with steam turbines . The Fairsky remained in the service of the shipping company until the bankruptcy of Sitmar in 1988 and then drove as Sky Princess for Princess Cruises until 2000 . The ship was then used as Pacific Sky for P&O Cruises Australia . The last operator was the Spanish shipping company Pullmantur Cruises , for which the steamer sailed under the names Sky Wonder and Atlantic Star . In 2010, high operating costs led to the decommissioning of the ship, which was sold to Turkey for demolition in April 2013 after almost three years of berthing .
prehistory
After losing the old Fairsky through fire in 1977, the shipowner Boris Vlasov decided to put a new Fairsky into service as the flagship of his shipping company. Originally, the former Portuguese passenger ship Príncipe Perfeito was planned for this purpose , and since its retirement in 1976 it has served as the Al Hasa accommodation ship. Vlasov acquired the ship in 1980 and renamed it Fairsky . A complex conversion of the former, almost 20-year-old liner to the latest standards was planned. Despite already published sketches of the new fleet access, these plans were rejected shortly afterwards as too expensive. In 1982 the former Príncipe Perfeito was sold as a hotel ship to the Greek shipowner Giannis Latsis .
Instead, Sitmar Cruises opted for a new building, which would also bear the name Fairsky and which would far surpass the former Principe Perfeito in size.
Planning and construction
The new Fairsky was built at Chantiers du Nord et de la Méditerranée in La Seyne-sur-Mer , France . The ship was launched on November 6, 1982. The Fairsky was delivered to Sitmar Cruises on April 12, 1984. On May 2, 1984, the ship arrived in Los Angeles , where it was christened three days later.
At the time of her commissioning, the Fairsky was one of the largest cruise ships in the world. Only the ships Norway and RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 , originally designed as transatlantic liners , had an even higher tonnage. Another special feature of the Fairsky was that it was powered by steam turbines, which were already considered obsolete when they were built. This made her the last large passenger ship to be equipped with this drive. Sitmar Cruises' motivation for this decision is unknown.
period of service
Sitmar Cruises
In the next four years, the Fairsky was used for cruises on the west coast of the USA and to Alaska . The ship remained in service for Sitmar Cruises until September 1988. The home port of the Fairsky was Monrovia .
Princess Cruises
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After Sitmar Cruises was bought up by P&O Cruises in September 1988 and dissolved a little later, P&O renamed the ship Sky Princess and used it for its subsidiary Princess Cruises. From 1994 to 1998 the ship was registered in London before it was then flagged again to Monrovia.
During her time with Princess Cruises, the Sky Princess was used for cruises on the east and west coasts of the United States as well as to Australia and New Zealand . At the time of her takeover, she was the largest ship in the Princess fleet, before she was replaced in this position by the Star Princess in 1989 .
P&O Cruises Australia
In 2000 it changed to P&O Cruises Australia under the name Pacific Sky and the new home port London and took over the route of the more than 40 year old Fair Princess . The ship carried more than 275,000 people on over 200 cruises between 2000 and 2006. The great popularity of the Pacific Sky prompted P&O to expand its fleet with the Pacific Sun and the Pacific Dawn , Pacific Jewel and Pacific Pearl, which are also planned for Sitmar Cruises .
On March 7, 2006, the Pacific Sky suffered an engine failure in the Strait of Malacca and was unable to maneuver. Only after 30 hours could the ship be towed back into port.
Pullmantur Cruises
After a number of month-long cruises from Singapore , the ship was taken over by Pullmantur Cruises in 2006 and renamed Sky Wonder . Valletta became the new home port . The Regal Princess took over the further cruises of the decommissioned ship. The Sky Wonder was mainly used by Pullmantur Cruises for shorter cruises in the Mediterranean .
On March 25, 2009, the Sky Wonder ran aground off Kusadasi. The ship was only slightly damaged and was able to continue its voyage a little later. However, a 50-year-old passenger died of a heart attack believed to have been panic.
After this unsuccessful cruise, the ship was laid up in Piraeus .
In April 2009, the Sky Wonder was put back into service under the new name Atlantic Star for the Portuguese market and used again in the Mediterranean. The Atlantic Star was withdrawn from service in January 2010 due to excessive operating costs and relaunched.
In September 2010, the Atlantic Star was reactivated for some charter trips, but was finally decommissioned in October 2010 and launched in Marseille .
The last few years
The Atlantic Star was put up for sale. There were plans to convert the ship and equip it with a more modern machine system and use it as the Mona Lisa II . However, these plans were never implemented because of the high costs. in January 2013 the owner Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. the ship to the shipyard STX France as a partial payment for the new Harmony of the Seas . In March 2013, the ship pulled by tugs left the port of Marseille to be scrapped in Aliağa (Turkey). For its final voyage, the ship was renamed the Antic . It arrived in Aliağa on April 14th. The demolition of the Antic began a few days later and was completed by the end of the year.
Technical specifications
The Atlantic Star was around 240 meters long and 28 meters wide. She was the last passenger ship that still ran with steam turbines. This machine system enabled her to reach a top speed of 21.8 knots (around 40 km / h). At full speed, the Atlantic Star used 220 tons of heavy fuel oil per day.
The Atlantic Star had a measurement of 46,087 GT. The ship had two fixed propellers and a transverse thruster control system .
literature
- Mary Ann Hemphill: SITMARS FAIRSKY . In: Cruise Travel . Volume 6, No. 4 . Lakeside Publishing Company, Evanston February 1985, pp. 34 to 39 .
Web links
Footnotes
- ^ Reuben Goossens: The Other Sitmar Cruise Ships. In: ssmaritime.com. Retrieved July 9, 2019 .
- ↑ Sky Princess. In: Seadogs Reunited. Retrieved July 9, 2019 .
- ↑ Shawn Dake: Last Steamship Sold. In: Maritime Matters. January 21, 2011, accessed July 9, 2019 .