Ocean Diamond
 As Le Diamant in front of Neko Harbor, February 2010
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The Ocean Diamond is a cruise ship of the US travel company Quark Expeditions , which was built in 1974 as a RoRo ship under the name Begonia . From May to September the Ocean Diamond sails for the Hamburg company Iceland Pro Cruises on a full charter around Iceland with nine ports and to Greenland.
history
The Begonia was built under construction number 220 at Kristiansands M / VA / S in Kristiansand and launched on April 26, 1973. In February 1974 the delivery took place to her owner NV Stoomv Maats, based in the Netherlands Antilles . The Begonia was used as a RoRo cargo ship, but could also carry up to 12 passengers.
In 1985 the ship went to Fearnley & Eger, based in Oslo , who renamed it Explorer Starship and had it brought to Bremerhaven for conversion as a cruise ship in May 1985 . In November 1985, the renovation began in the Lloyd shipyard . In July 1986, work on the Explorer Starship was completed. The ship was henceforth used for expedition cruises.
In 1989 the Explorer Starship went to the Skaugen Marine, also based in Oslo, which it renamed the Song of Flower . After another fourteen years in service under this owner, the ship went to the French Compagnie du Ponant in October 2003 , which, after modernization, used it for both expedition trips and conventional cruises in the Mediterranean under the name Le Diamant .
In December 2011, Le Diamant went to its current owner Explorer Partners Ltd. based in Marseille . Since October 2012 the ship registered in the Bahamas has been operated by Quark Expeditions under the name Ocean Diamond .
Since 2016 the ship has been chartered by Iceland Pro Cruises for circumnavigations of Iceland and tours to Greenland. The contract runs until 2022.
Web links
- official website (English)
- the ship on faktaomfartyg.se (Swedish)