Palm Beach Princess
 The Palm Beach Princess in December 2007
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The Palm Beach Princess was a cruise ship of the Palm Beach Casino Line put into service in 1964 , which was originally used as the passenger ferry Ilmatar for the FÅA . The Palm Beach Princess remained in service until 2010, after which it was sold to Venezuela and scrapped in Santo Domingo Este, RD in 2015.
period of service
Ilmatar
The Ilmatar was ordered in July 1962 and built near Wärtsilä in Helsinki . The ship was launched on October 29, 1963. The godmother of the Ilmatar was Sylvi Kekkonen , wife of the then Finnish President Urho Kekkonen .
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On June 15, 1964, the Ilmatar was delivered to the FÅA and put into service on the same day on the route from Helsinki and Turku to Stockholm . The ship had space for 1000 passengers and 50 vehicles. From 1965 the Ilmatar was used for short cruises from Stockholm in addition to its usual route. On November 28, 1968, the Ilmatar collided with the passenger ferry Botnia in thick fog during a crossing from Stockholm to Turku . Five passengers and one crew member were killed on board the Botnia . Both ships were badly damaged in the collision. In 1970 FÅA founded the Silja Line with several other shipping companies . The Ilmatar was used on her old route together with other FÅA ships.
Since the Ilmatar was viewed as too small from the start, she came to the Howaldtswerke Hamburg dock in 1973 and was lengthened there by twenty meters. The now 128 meter long ship now had space for 1210 passengers and 75 vehicles. From 1978 the Ilmatar was converted into a cruise ship near Wärtsilä. The ship received additional cabins, a casino, a swimming pool, a gym, a cinema and a lounge with a show stage.
In the years to come, the Ilmatar was used on changing routes both as a ferry and as a cruise ship. In 1980 the Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab bought the ship and continued to use it for cruises until it was launched in Toulon in 1982 .
Viking Princess
In 1984 the Ilmatar was renamed the Viking Princess and used by the Crown Cruise Line for short cruises from San Diego . In 1985 the ship moved to Long Beach . After the Crown Cruise Line bankruptcy, the Viking Princess was launched and offered for sale.
Palm Beach Princess
After a two-year layover, the ship was sold to Deerbrok Invest in 1997 as the Palm Beach Princess and operated by the newly founded Palm Beach Casino Line. The Palm Beach Princess remained in service for casino cruises from Palm Beach for the next thirteen years .
In December 2009 the ship suffered engine damage, but was still used despite the defect. It was only after the US Coast Guard threatened to decommission it on December 4, 2009 that the ship was finally repaired, but only remained in service for two more months.
scrapping
In February 2010 the ship was sold to Haiti as a floating hotel . On February 17, 2010, the Palm Beach Princess ended her last cruise and was then brought to Freeport in April 2010 . The plans as a hotel ship were not realized, so that the Palm Beach Princess was sold to Santo Domingo for scrapping in November 2011 after a long layover time , where she arrived on December 19, 2012. The ship remained there for more than two years until demolition work began in autumn 2014. By summer 2015, the ship was dismantled to the superstructure.
Web links
- technical data and history of the ship on faktaomfartyg.se (Swedish)
- technical data and photos of the ship on shipparade.com (English)
Footnotes
- ↑ Ian Boyle: Illmatar. 2005, accessed November 3, 2015 .
- ↑ Tom Greeley: Crown Cruise Decides to Shove Off From San Diego. October 31, 1985, accessed November 3, 2015 .