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Other ships came to the rescue like the famous liner Ile de France, but also the freighter Cape Ann. On Jan. 9, 2020, the Astoria made the first of three 11-day sailings from Puerto Peñasco, Mexico, also known as Rocky Point. The Communist Party used the ship to give leisure cruises to party officials, sailing the Baltic Sea as well as to Cuba.
Astoria Grande cruise ship forced to leave the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi

And, for a time, it was derided as “la nave della morte” — the ship of death. The Astoria, then called the Stockholm, was ordered by Swedish American Line in 1944 and was completed in 1948. In February 1948, the ship set sail on her maiden voyage as a transatlantic passenger vessel, offering luxury voyages between Sweden and the United States. The world's oldest cruise ship, Astoria, has been sold for scrap metal and will soon sail on her final voyage. TradeWinds reported that cryptocurrency billionaire Brock Pierce acquired the vessel in 2021 with the intention of using it as a cruise ship but has since dropped the idea. The Astoria was built just 36 years after the sinking of the Titantic, when ocean liners still ruled long-distance travel.
CMV Astoria - user reviews and comments
The 550-passenger vessel Azores was renamed to Astoria, replacing in the CMV fleet MV Discovery (scrapped in 2015). The ship was chartered from Portuscale Cruises (long term charter agreement) as fleet’s second UK-homeported liner (together with Marco Polo). As a chartered vessel, all its management services and crewing were handled directly by CMV. Astoria's inaugural cruise was a 30-night itinerary from Plymouth England, starting on January 26, 2015 (roundtrip UK to Caribbean). For summer 2016, Astoria was chartered to Rivages du Monde (Paris City-based French travel company). CMV chartered the ship for spring and fall cruises from the UK, which continued for 5 years.
‘Ship of death’: A floating piece of cruise history may be nearing its final voyage
Carnival Cruise Ship Visiting Multiple Shipyards for Repairs - Cruise Hive
Carnival Cruise Ship Visiting Multiple Shipyards for Repairs.
Posted: Tue, 21 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Astoria is a Columbia River cruise port (also seaport) and town in Oregon USA (Clatsop County) with a population of around 10,000. The town is surrounded by mountains, forests, sea (Pacific Ocean) and the rivers Columbia and Lower Willamette. The refurbishment was specifically planned for the cruise liner's 20th Anniversary. AIDA's first ship triggered a revolution on the German cruising market. Anytime Bar (disco nightclub on deck 11) was refurbished and its dancefloor redesigned.
We invite you to come down to enjoy the festivities and welcome our guests. A year later Athena was sold at auction to another Portuguese cruise line, led by business man Rui Alegre, Portuscale cruises. They had purchased all of CIC ships apart from the Princess Daphne and they sent her to a shipyard in Marseille to be upgraded. She was renamed Azores and in 2014 she sailed briefly for a period of nine months under charter for German Ambiente Kreuzfahrten. However, Portuscale Cruises like her former owners also encountered financially hard times and went bankrupt in 2015.
Notably, it was one of the first new passenger ships put into service after World War II, sailing its first voyage in February 1948. As TradeWinds noted, the ship was ordered way back in 1944, even as World War II still raged, by the Swedish American Line — a company that offered regular passenger service between Sweden and New York City. It was built specifically for transatlantic travel, with an ice-strengthened bow that could deflect the icebergs that used to be more common in the North Atlantic. Sailing the world's oceans since 1948, the 556-passenger ocean liner has had a second — and a third and a fourth — life as a cruise vessel, playing a role in the development of the modern age of cruising from the 1960s to the present day. For many years, it has been the longest-serving cruise vessel at sea. MV Astoria was launched (floated out from drydock) on September 9, 1946.
MS Stockholm
And, in its early days, it crisscrossed the Atlantic on a regular schedule along with such iconic vessels as the SS United States, Cunard's Queen Elizabeth and the SS Andrea Doria. The 13-night/14-day itinerary (themed "Land of the Northern Lights") had prices starting from ~GBP 1430 pp / EUR 1680 pp / USD 1860 pp (double occupancy). Astoria ship's 2020 itinerary program was based on turnarounds (roundtrip itineraries) to Baja California and Mexican Riviera ports leaving from homeport Puerto Penasco Mexico. The shipowner Grand Circle Corporation announced that the cruise vessel leaves CMV's fleet at the end of 2018. However, in April 2019, CMV announced the ship's 2020 "Baja California and Mexican Riviera" itinerary program from homeport Puerto Penasco.

It was decided in court that Andrea Doria was 95% to blame for the accident because of her strange turn to port which should have been starboard according to maritime law. It had also become clear that onboard Andrea Doria not all watertight bulkheads had been fully operational. Had they been, there might have been a chance she would have survived. It had always been something of a miracle that a small vessel like Stockholm had been able to sink the Italian ship and this was part of the answer. Cruise and Maritime Voyages said it will not renew its contract to use the ship and that this will be its farewell season.
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Pepper robots are mobile and communicate in 3 languages (English, German, Italian). They can also interpret human emotions by analyzing voice tones and facial expressions. She sailed for them until May 2016 and then was chartered out for ten months to French tour operator Rivages du Monde.
Historic Cruise Ship Astoria Faces Uncertain Future in 75-Year Career - The Maritime Executive
Historic Cruise Ship Astoria Faces Uncertain Future in 75-Year Career.
Posted: Tue, 31 Jan 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Astoria offers traditional maritime experience in comfortable surroundings. Discover a wide range of cozy lounges and stylish leisure facilities. On sea days passengers may join a craft session, listen to one of CMV informative guest speakers, work off a few pounds in the gym or relax with a good book. The Calypso Show Lounge is the evening spot for cabaret performances, a show of song and dance or guest acts.
Along the way, its interiors were completely rebuilt to make it more suitable for modern-day cruising. Soon after the accident, after repairs, the vessel began its second life as a cruise ship — and an unusual one at that. The vessel was transferred in 1960 to the East German government to serve as a cruise vessel for East Germans under the new name Volkerfreundschaft.
The route was westbound, featuring a Transatlantic crossing and a Suez Canal transit. AIDAcara's itinerary program was based on Canary Islands voyages leaving roundtrip from Gran Canaria, as well as Baltic and Norwegian Fjords voyages leaving out of homeport Kiel Germany. In 2023 Astoria Grande launched a new cruise itinerary visiting Alexandria (Egypt), which increased Sochi's passenger traffic by ~20%. Akvilon's Astoria Grande cruises visit only countries that don't require Russian residents to obtain foreign travel visas.
Her career would likely have ended there except for the surge in the cruise industry. Retired by the Germans in 1985 she ended up in Italy where in a project reportedly heavily subsidized by the government she was rebuilt into a modern cruise ship. She was stripped to the steel and given a new diesel power plant as well as sponsons along the hull. In 1989 she was sold to Star Lauro, Italy who had plans to convert the liner into a luxury cruise ship. The conversion had to wait however as she was still under charter as a hotel ship for asylum seekers in Oslo until 1993.
For CMV, Astoria serves as an "adults only" ship (allowing 16-year-old-plus passengers only) and dedicated to the English speaking market. Fridtjof Nansen’s interior was completely gutted and her superstructure scrapped down to the promenade deck. She was renamed to Italia I, no doubt to make her a bit more popular with the Italians! Her new superstructure was extended aft, giving her a passenger ship profile now instead of her former combination-liner looks. She received a new bridge, was re-engined with new diesel engines and to improve stability, a ducktail was fitted to her stern.
On March 21 started 7-day "Scottish Islands and Emerald Isle" itinerary. On March 28 started 15-day itinerary "Azores, Madeira and Portugal", visiting Oporto-Leixoes, Lisbon, La Coruna, and two Azores Islands. Over time, the vessel sailed under many different names - Volkerfreundschaft, Volker, Fridtjof Nansen, Italia I, Italia Prima, Valtur Prima, and Caribe and became famous as Stockholm because of its collision with Andrea Doria in 1956. The collision of the two ships became one of the most notorious maritime disasters in history. Five members of Stockholm's crew were killed instantly, and several more were trapped in the wrecked bow.
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