Golden Prince
Golden Prince in May 2012 in the port of Heraklion
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The Golden Prince was a ferry built in 1973 at the KK Usuki Iron Works Saiki shipyard, Japan , which was converted into a cruise ship in 1991 . It was originally in service under the name Whakashio Maru .
history
Whakashio Maru
The ship was commissioned by a Japanese shipping company in 1973 and was used for various ferry operations around Japan in the years that followed.
Sun Flower 7
In 1979 the ship was sold to Kansai Kisen KK, Osaka , and renamed Sun Flower 7 .
Apollo
In 1991, Epirotiki Lines SA, Piraeus , Greece , bought the ship and renamed it Apollon . It was converted into a cruise ship, with the passenger capacity being reduced from 805 to 500.
Minoan Prince
In 1995 it was sold to Minoan Lines Shipping SA , Heraklion . The ship was briefly renamed Prince . A little later, the name was changed to Minonan Prince and the ship was registered with Minonan Cruises SA, Heraklion. On October 9, 2001, the ship was launched in Eleusis , Greece.
Golden Prince
In November 2002 the Greek shipping company Golden Princess bought the ship and from 2003 used it as the Golden Prince for mini cruises from Heraklion. In April 2007 the ship was towed to the Neos Molos Dapetsoa shipyard in Piraeus, where it was overtaken in a dry dock . At the end of April 2007 it drove back to Heraklion to resume its cruise service from there.
Later, due to tightening of security requirements, the operator was only allowed to use the ship for one-day trips to Santorini . Since 2011 the ship has been laid up in the port of Heraklion. In April 2014, the Golden Prince was sold to Aliağa , Turkey, after four years of lay- in, where it arrived on April 14, 2014.