Ocean Dream (1972 ship)

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from MS Sun Princess (1974))

This article is about the Norwegian cruise ship "Ocean Dream". For the Australian cruise ship "Ocean Dream", see Ocean Dream (1982 ship).

"MS Southern Cross" redirects here. For other uses, see Southern Cross (disambiguation).

"MS Sun Princess (1974)" redirects here. For other ships by this name, see Sun Princess (ship).

Launching 1972.jpg

Spirit of London being launched in 1972.

History

Flag of Norway.svgNorway

Name Seaward (failed name)

Owner Norwegian Cruise Line

Ordered Klosters Rederi A/S

Builder Cantiere navale di Riva Trigoso

Yard number 290

Laid down 1970

Acquired Never

Identification IMO number: 7211517

British Red EnsignUnited Kingdom

Name Spirit of London

Owner P&O Passenger Division

Port of registry London, United Kingdom

Launched 11 May 1972

Completed 11 October 1972

Acquired 30 March 1971

Maiden voyage 11 November 1972[1]

Fate Transferred to Princess Cruises 1974

Notes First diesel powered P&O's liner

Name Sun Princess

Owner Princess Cruises

Port of registry London, United Kingdom

Acquired 1974

Fate Sold to Noel Shipping Ltd./Premier Cruises 1988

Name Starship Majestic

Owner Premier Cruises

Route Port Canaveral to Bahamas

Acquired 22 September 1988

Fate Chartered to CTC Lines 1994. 19 December 1996, Premier Cruises sold vessel to Bowyers Maritime Corporation.

Notes Renamed Majestic, followed by $6 million refit in Lloyd Werft shipyard, later renamed Starship Majestic Also operated as a Disney Cruise during this time.

Name Southern Cross

Owner CTC Lines

Port of registry Nassau,  Bahamas

Acquired July 1995

Identification Call sign: C6HK9

Fate Sold to Festival Cruises 1998

Notes In February 1995, the ship sailed from the Caribbean to Birkenhead in order to be refitted by Coast Line.

Owner Bowyers Maritime Corporation

Acquired 1996

Fate Reported sold on 15 January 1997 to Festival Cruises for $25 million.

Name Flamenco

Owner Festival Cruises

Acquired 1997

Fate Sold to Cruise Elysia 2004 for $12.25 million

Notes $9 million 45 day refit to meet the Festival standard.

Name New Flamenco

Owner Cruise Elysia

Acquired 2004

Fate Sold to Club Cruise 2008 for £26 million

Flag of Panama.svgPanama

Name Flamenco I

Owner Club Cruise

Port of registry Panama City,  Panama

Acquired 2008

Fate Sold at auction 2010 for $3.4 million

Notes Callsign : 3EAO9

Flag of Sierra Leone.svgSierra Leone

Name Ocean Dream

Owner Runfeng Ocean Deluxe Cruises

Route Haikou, China to Halong Bay, Vietnam

Acquired 2012 Sold by EASTIME CRUISE CO. LTD.

Notes Call Sign: 9LY2427

Flag of Togo.svgTogo

Name MV Ocean Dream

Owner Ocean Dream Cruise (Thailand) Co. Ltd.

Route Pattaya, Koh kong, Sihanoukville

Acquired 2013

Notes Call Sign: 5VBW6

Flag of Panama.svgPanama

Name MV Ocean Dream

Owner Shanghai Eastime Ship Management

Acquired March 2014

Fate Sank off the coast of Laem Chebang Port in Thailand on 27 February 2016 and scrapped in situ

Notes Call Sign: 5VBW6

General characteristics

Type Cruise ship

Tonnage 17,042 GRT[3]

Length 163.30 m (536 ft)[2]

Beam 22.80 m (75 ft)[2]

Draught 7.0 m (23 ft)

Decks 8

Installed power 4 × FIAT diesel engines

Speed 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph)

Capacity

760 (normal)

1,027 (maximum)[citation needed]

Crew 390

Spirit of London was an Italian built cruise ship put into service in 1972. In January 2012, Runfeng Ocean Deluxe Cruises (Chinese: 香港润峰豪华邮轮公司) took over as operator, renaming the ship Ocean Dream (Chinese: 海洋之梦; pinyin: hǎiyángzhīmèng).[4]

Delayed construction

The vessel was originally ordered in 1970 by Norwegian Caribbean Line as Seaward. The shipyard, Cantieri Navali del Tirreno & Riuniti, encountered financial troubles and was consequently taken over by the IRI Group, which canceled the building contract of Seaward. After much protest from NCL the IRI Group agreed to partially complete the vessel. Despite this Norwegian Caribbean sold the hull to P&O, which would complete the Seaward as Spirit of London.[5]

Due to being originally ordered for Norwegian Caribbean Line Spirit of London had a sister ship in the NCL fleet, Southward. Both vessels' superstructures are identical, however the funnels differed. Although Southward is smaller in tonnage than Spirit of London, both are 537 feet long.[6]

History

In 1974, P&O bought Princess Cruises and transferred Spirit of London to their fleet, with Princess operating her as Sun Princess, alongside Island Princess and Pacific Princess.

In September 1979 whilst under charter to Mutual of Omaha and cruising from Portland to San Francisco, a fire broke out in the laundry room. Lifeboats were lowered to embarkation level but were not used as the fire was brought under control.[citation needed]

1988 saw the sale of Sun Princess by P&O to Premier Cruises, where it was initially named Majestic, becoming Starship Majestic in 1989 which included refurbishment of her interior. The majority of the Columbo 1975 episode "Troubled Waters" was filmed in the interior of the ship, creating a video time capsule of the ship's history before her refurbishment. During this time Premier Cruise Line became the licensed partner cruise line with Disney. In 1991, a fire in the auxiliary engine room sent passengers and crew scrambling for the lifeboats and left the ship dead in the water, resulting in the ship being towed back to Florida.[7] In 1994, she was purchased by CTC and was renamed Southern Cross. She was renamed again in 1998 when Festival Cruises began operating her as Flamenco.

Southern Cross in Copenhagen, Denmark 1995.

When Festival Cruises collapsed in 2004,[citation needed] she was sold for $12.25 million at a bankruptcy auction to Cruise Elysia, who renamed her New Flamenco. In 2007 Club Cruise acquired New Flamenco.[8] Club Cruise had New Flamenco serve as a hotel ship in New Caledonia until they failed in late 2008. The vessel was sold for scrap after over a year of lay up off Singapore.[9] In 2012 the ship was saved from the scrapyard and was renamed Ocean Dream with a dragon painted on her bow. Then owned by Runfeng Ocean Deluxe Cruises, she began operating cruises from Haikou, China to Halong Bay, Vietnam.[10][11]

Legal Dispute

On 13 February 2004, the ship, then known as The New Flamenco, was chartered by her then-owners, Cruise Elysia Inc to Fulton Shipping of Panama for a year. The ship was then purchased by Globalia Business Travel who assumed the rights and liabilities of the previous owners under the charterparty by novation. Globalia and Fulton extended the charter for two years in August 2005, to be returned on 28 October 2007. The charterparty was subsequently extended for another two years on 8 June 2007. Fulton subsequently disputed the last extension, and returned the ship on 28 October 2007. Globalia accepted this as an anticipatory repudiatory breach, and commenced arbitration against Fulton for breach of contract, seeking the net loss of profits they would have earned during the last 2-year extension. Globalia contended that the Fulton had not actually suffered any loss because it managed to sell the ship at a substantial profit subsequently.

The case was appealed to the Court of Appeal, and subsequently to the Supreme Court. Lord Clark, delivering the unanimous judgment of the court, held that Fulton was liable for the net loss of profits Globalia suffered during the 2-year extension, and that the subsequent sale of the ship was res inter alios acta, and was not an act of mitigation.[12][13]

Sinking and scrapping

The ship capsized and sank off Laem Chabang, Sri Racha, Thailand in shallow water on 27 February 2016 after having been abandoned without crew or maintenance for about a year.[14] An attempt to upright the ship was made but failed. It was decided the ship would be scrapped on site.[15] Photos later taken show the ship undergoing demolition starting sometime in late 2017.[16] By the end of 2019, much of the wreck that was still above the waterline has now been removed.[17]

In popular culture

The ship appeared briefly in the 1975 Starsky & Hutch episode, "Terror on the Docks", and in the 1975 Columbo episode, "Troubled Waters". The majority of "Troubled Waters", which guest starred Robert Vaughn, was filmed in the interior of the ship, creating a video time capsule of the ship's history from the start of her life.

The ship was also featured in at least one episode of The Love Boat, involving a competition between Captain Stubing of Pacific Princess and the captain of Sun Princess,[when?] and in the original 1976 TV movie, The Love Boat. She was also featured in the 1980 film Herbie Goes Bananas.