MS Renaissance
 Renaissance in Toulon, France. | |
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: |
1966-1977: Renaissance 1977: Homeric Renaissance 1978-1995: World Renaissance 1995-1998: Awani Dream 1998-2004: World Renaissance 2004-2006: Grand Victoria 2007-2009: Blue Monarch 2010: Maestro |
| Operator: |
1966-1977: Compagnie Francaise de Navigation 1977-1978: Epirotiki Lines 1978-198?: Costa Cruises 198?-1983: Epirotiki Lines 1983-1984: TFC Tours 1984-1995: Epirotiki Lines 1996-1998: Awani Cruises 1998-2004: Royal Olympic Line 2005-2006: Elysian Cruise Lines 2006: Metropolis Tur 2007-2009: Blue Monarch Shipping |
| Builder: | Chantiers de l’Atlantique |
| Launched: | 1965 |
| In service: | 1966 |
| Out of service: | 2009 |
| Nickname: | As Renaissance: The White Dolphin |
| Status: | Up for sale off of Mumbai |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 12,000 tons |
| Length: | 492 feet |
| Propulsion: | Stabilizers |
| Speed: | 16 knots |
| Capacity: | 474 |
| Crew: | 230 |
MS Renaissance is a 1966 built cruise liner. She was built by Chantiers de l’Atlantique for Compagnie Francaise de Navigation, a subsidiary of Paquet Cruises. She operated for various owners until she was sold to be beached and scrapped at Alang, India in 2009.
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Paquet Line
She entered service as a dual purpose vessel, ferrying passengers from Marseilles, France to Haifa, Israel, and also operating Eastern Mediterranean cruises. She sailed on these itineraries successfully for 4 years. In 1970, due to fierce competition from the commercial jet industry, Paquet unestablished Compagnie Francaise de Navigation, and founded the new subsidiary Nouvelle Compagnie de Paquebots. For the new company she began operating a transatlantic route from Marseilles to New York City. After 11 years of service with her original owners she was sold to Epirotiki Cruises. [1]
Epirotiki Lines
During a 1977-78 refit several new cabins were added. She was renamed Homeric Renaissance and upon entering service became Epirotiki's flagship. However very soon after this she was chartered to Costa Cruises, and operated for them as World Renaissance until the early 80s. After the charter she was given back to Epirotiki. She continued service with them until 1983, when World Renaissance was chartered yet again, this time to TFC Tours, with her completing a single voyage for them. In 1985 Epirotiki began to World Renaissance for Caribbean and Amazon river cruises. She continued this service for 10 uneventful years until 1995, when she was purchased by Awani Cruises. [2]
Awani Cruises
A 1995-96 refit saw her renamed Awani Dream. However she barely saw a year and a half of service due to the collapse of Awani Cruises. She was sold to the reformed and renamed Epirokiti company Royal Olympic Cruise Line.
Royal Olympic Cruise Line
In 1998 she entered service with Royal Olympic, really a renamed, merged version of her old owners Epirokiti. She was again renamed World Renaissance, operating 3 and 4 night Aegean cruises out of Piraeus, Greece. All went well until 2001, when the September 11th terrorist attacks caused a slump in the tourist and cruise industries. Royal Olympic managed to survive until the fall of 2004, when they filled for bankruptcy due to the high operational costs of operating the old ships in their fleet and fierce competition from other cruise lines. After being laid up for several months World Renaissance was sold for over $3 million dollars to Pelorus Maritime Inc.
Last Years of Service
She was renamed Grand Victoria after Pelorus placed her under the management of Elysian Cruise Lines. She was chartered by them to Metropolis Tur until the end of 2006. In 2007 she was chartered to Blue Monarch Shipping Inc and renamed Blue Monarch. Under their ownership she carried out 3, 4 and 7 night cruises to Greek islands. Blue Monarch Shipping attempted to purchase her in 2008, but could not come up with the $8 million dollars required. Her charter continued until she ended service in early 2009, when it was realized that she did not meet SOLAS 2010 standards. [3]
Demise
Blue Monarch was promptly laid up. One company attempted to buy her for use as a hotel ship for the 2010 Winter Olympics, but this plan fell through. In February 2010 Blue Monarch was sold for $1.8 million dollars to Indian scrap merchants. [4] She was renamed Maestro for her voyage to Alang. When scrap merchants attempted to sell her for further use she was anchored off of Port Said. No one was interested, so Maestro continued on to reach her final destination [5]
Possibility of further trading
Although the attempt to sell her in Port Said had failed, Maestro is currently laid up in Bombay, for scrappers are once again attempting to sell her, as this would be more profitable due to the current rates of steel costs. It has been confirmed she has been bought by Dubai based company ARGO Systems for further possible service, though this is very unlikely considering that she did not comply to SOLAS 2010 mechanically. ARGO Systems has been known to buy and transport ships to recycling yards in India, China, and Bangladesh. They have transported many liners to Alang scrapyards, including the Eugenio C.[6] As of June 20th ARGO still has her off Mumbai, and express interest in using her as an accommodation ship. [7]
