Royal Cruise Line
| Royal Cruise Line | |
|---|---|
| legal form | |
| founding | 1972 |
| resolution | 1996 |
| Reason for dissolution | merged with Norwegian Cruise Line |
| Seat | Piraeus , Greece |
| management | Pericles S. Panagopoulos |
| Branch | Cruises |
The Royal Cruise Line was a Greek shipping company based in Piraeus that was founded in 1972. From 1974 until its dissolution in 1996, the Royal Cruise Line operated several cruise lines .
history
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The Royal Cruise Line was founded in 1972 in Piraeus by the Greek shipowner and businessman Pericles S. Panagopoulos. The following year, construction began in Helsingør Skibsværft in Helsingør for the shipping company's first ship, which was launched in February 1974 under the name Golden Odyssey . The Golden Odyssey was the first newly built cruise ship to be commissioned by a Greek owner. In the first few years, the 460-passenger ship was in service off the coast of Greece and on the US west coast , but later switched to various routes for the shipping company worldwide.
In the following years the Royal Cruise Line was able to build up a good reputation and won several awards, including the Readers' Choice Award for best shipping company. In 1981, the Royal Cruise Line therefore decided to enlarge its fleet and bought the Doric, which was commissioned as Shalom in 1964 , from the Italian Home Lines . After a renovation, the ship began operating for the shipping company in May 1982 as the Royal Odyssey .
In 1988, the Crown Odyssey , another new build, was put into service, while the Royal Odyssey was sold again. In 1989, the Royal Cruise Line became the property of Norwegian Cruise Line, which at that time still belonged to Kloster Cruises, for $ 125 million . In 1990 the shipping company received further fleet growth with the purchase of the Royal Odyssey (II), which was commissioned as the Royal Viking Sea in 1973 . It was followed in 1993 by the sister ship Star Odyssey , which came into service in 1972 as the Royal Viking Star . Both ships came from the fleet of the Royal Viking Line, which also belongs to Kloster Cruises .
In 1994 the now twenty year old Golden Odyssey was sold. In January 1995 the Royal Cruise Line's fleet received a new addition with the Queen Odyssey . The yacht-like ship was the former Royal Viking Queen of the Royal Viking Line, which entered service in 1992. After only twelve months in service, the Queen Odyssey moved in January 1996 from the now financially troubled Royal Cruise Line to the Seabourn Cruise Line .
The reason for the financial problems of the Royal Cruise Line was the parent company Kloster Cruises, which had been on the verge of bankruptcy since the early 1990s. In December 1995 the company finally went to the Carnival Corporation . Kloster Cruises was merged with Norwegian Cruise Line and henceforth operated as a subsidiary. Only two months after the Queen Odyssey was sold, the decision to liquidate the Royal Cruise Line was taken in March 1996. In the same month, the first ship was the Crown Odyssey , which went to the parent company Norwegian Cruise Line. The Star Odyssey was sold as the last ship of the shipping company in October 1996 . The Royal Cruise Line ceased to exist after 24 years.
After the dissolution
Of the total of six ships in the former Royal Cruise Line fleet, five are still in service. The Golden Odyssey runs after several changes of ownership since 2013 under the name Rex Fortune for casino cruises in the Bay of Hong Kong . The former Crown Odyssey and the Star Odyssey were sold to the British Fred after their service with Norwegian Cruise Line . Olsen Cruise Lines sold and used there as Balmoral and Black Watch . The second Royal Odyssey has been in service since 2003 under the name Albatros for the German travel company Phoenix Reisen . The Queen Odyssey remained in service as Seabourn Legend for the Seabourn Cruise Line until 2015 and has since been used under the name Star Legend for Windstar Cruises .
Only the first Royal Odyssey no longer exists: after seven years of service for the Regency Cruises shipping company, which went bankrupt in 1995 , the ship was laid up for six years and was sold to India for scrapping in 2001 , but sank in tow off South Africa .
Pericles S. Panagopoulos remained active as a shipowner even after the Royal Cruise Line was dissolved. In 1993 he and his son Alexander founded the ferry company Superfast Ferries , which has been calling at various ports in the Aegean and the Mediterranean ever since .
Ships
| year | Surname | tonnage | shipyard | Status / fate |
| 1974 | Golden Odyssey | 6757 GRT | Helsingør Skibsværft , Helsingør | Sold in 1994 as Rex Fortune for Star Sail Investments |
| 1981 (1964) | Royal Odyssey | 25,338 GRT | Chantiers de l'Atlantique , Saint-Nazaire | Sold in 1988, sunk in 2001 off South Africa |
| 1988 | Crown Odyssey | 34242 GRT | Meyer shipyard , Papenburg | 1996 at Norwegian Cruise Line as Balmoral for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines in motion |
| 1990 (1973) | Royal Odyssey (II) | 28 158 GRT | Wärtsilä , Helsinki | 1996 Norwegian Cruise Line, as Albatros for Phoenix Travel in drive |
| 1993 (1972) | Star Odyssey | 28,221 GRT | Wärtsilä, Helsinki | 1996 at Norwegian Cruise Line as Black Watch for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines in motion |
| 1995 (1992) | Queen Odyssey | 9961 GRT | Schichau Seebeck , Bremerhaven | Sold in 1996 as Star Legend for Windstar Cruises |
literature
- Jeannie Block: Company Profile Royal Cruise Line . In: Cruise Travel . Volume 9, No. 2 . Lakeside Publishing Company, Evanston October 1987, pp. 28 to 30 .
Web links
- The Royal Cruise Line at simplonpc.co.uk (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Royal Cruise Line's Royal Odyssey . in: Cruise Travel . Volume 6, Number 5, Lakeside Publishing Company, Evanston Apr 1985, 34.
- ^ Knud E. Hansen A / S: Golden Odyssey. Retrieved July 7, 2017 .
- ↑ Arturo Paniagua Mazorra: Crown Odyssey. October 30, 2001. Retrieved July 12, 2017 .