Cruiseship16

Cunard Countess (1974-present) was launched on 20 September 1974 as ms Cunard Countess at Burmeister & Wain Skibsbyggeri, Köpenhamn/Copenhagen, Denmark for Great Britain's Cunard Line. Although delivered on 21 May 1975, Cunard Countess did not begin sailing for Cunard until 1976. Upon leaving the Cpenhagen shipyard, she was towed to La Spezia, Italy where she arrived on 28 May 1975 to be fitted out at the Industrie Navali Meccaniche Affini Shipyard. She was christened in August 1976 by Janet Armstrong, wife of astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon.

Cunard Countess began service for Cunard with British officers and an international crew and would soon become a staple at Miami, Fl, San Juan, Puerto Rico (her home port), Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and several other Caribbean ports. Countess was well-known for her amenities which were of a very high standard and even included an onboard hospital. She had a sister ship, Cunard Princess (1976), which was almost a carbon copy, but would not be as famous.

 

 

Cunard Countess was one of the few ships to regularly visit the Caribbean island of Grenada during the revolutionary period of that island between 1979 and 1983 playing a major role in supporting the local tourist industry during those years. From 1982 until 1983 she was chartered by the British Ministry of Defense and sent to the South Atlantic as a troop ship during the Falklands conflict between Great Britain and Argentina. She was back cruising the Caribbean for Cunard in July 1983. In 1990, she was re-registered in Nassau, the Bahamas.

 

 

On 26 October 1996, before Carnival's buy-out of Cunard Line in 1998, Cunard Countess was sold to an Indonesian company by the name of Awani Cruises, and renamed Awani Dream II. Unfortunately, the Awani cruise company ran into financial trouble and in 1997, she was sold to Greece-based Royal Olympic Cruise Line who renamed her Olympic Countess. The International Olympic Committe had a problem with that name and filed a protest. It wasn't until 2002 however, when she was renamed Olympia Countess.

 

 

In Royal Olympic/Olympia operation, the ship alternated between three and four-day cruises from Piraeus, visiting the Greek ports of Mykonos, Rhodes, Patmos, Santorini and Kusadasi in Turkey interspersed with longer cruises including some crossings.

 

 

Following the financial collapse of Royal Olympia in January 2004, the ship was arrested on 8 January in Durban, South Africa due to outstanding bills. On 29 January 2004, she was aquired at public auction by Majestic International Cruises' subsidiary Maximus Navigation and named Ocean Countess on 8 March 2004. For the 2005 summer season, she was chartered to Spanish tour operator TravelPlan/Globalia for Mediterranean cruising.

 

 

On 12 November 2005 her next operator would be German-based Holiday Kreuzfahrten for which she would sail on long-term charter as Lili Marleen. Mr. Murphy had other plans however, and decided to pay yet another visit when Holiday Kreuzfahrten failed on 21 September 2006, declaring bankrupcy. The ship arrived back at Piraeus in October 2006, was returned to Majestic International, once again renamed Ocean Countess one month later and laid up in Eleusis Bay.

 

 

On 28 May 2007 she was chartered by Cyprus-based Louis Cruise Line (operated by their Greek arm, Louis Hellenic Cruises) who renamed her Ruby and used to replace their Sea Diamond which had sunk at Santorini after striking a reef.

Nice pictures! good info