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Former Statendam/Rhapsody/Regent Star Beached


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Maritime Matters reports that HARMONY I, formerly HAL's STATENDAM (IV), Paquet's RHAPSODY, and finally Regency's REGENT STAR, has been beached at Alang, India for scrapping.

 

For a brief history of this ship, see my Regency Fleet History (written under my previous username).

 

Doug Newman

Cruise Critic Message Boards Host

e-mail: shiploverny AT yahoo DOT com

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Too bad - another lovely ship gone....I was on her in the early 1980's for an 11 day New Years cruise in the carib - after being displaced from the NORWAY due to a fire.

 

Thats when there was great quality in cruises!

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  • 5 months later...

We loved Regency cruises -- I love the old ships and the cruise line offerred a terrific value -- our brush with the Star was shortly before the end of Regency and you could, unfortunately, see it coming.....we were on the Alaska cruise the exact week before she burned. We were travelling on a "too good to be true" offer. We had paid $500 per person for the cruise including air from Anchorage to Seattle (I still remember it because it was too good to be true) and we had an incredible cabin (large, two portholes, sitting area -- could really appreciate what she once was from that room). We loved Alaska and we particularly appreciated all of the open deck space that was available on multiple levels (unlike on today's liners where the deck space is sold off piecemeal to those who can afford it). You could stand out on the port side, and move to the starboard side as the view changed. There was also plenty of viewing space right over the bow from several different elevations. Everyone who wanted to stand out on deck could see the glaciers and canals and listen to the sound of chunks of ice bouncing off the hull like ice cubes clinking in a large glass.

 

On that cruise we could smell diesel fuel all of the time in the dining room and that portion of the ship. The chemistry teacher in me had a lot of trouble with that. When we would ask about the odor we were told that it was sterno from the kitchen -- but now we know the truth about that one -- as I recall it was a rupture in the diesel line near the kitchen that started the fire during the following week's cruise.

 

I justified our continued presence on this probably dangerous cruise by noting that we were housed no where near the diesel odor and we were in a location that had more than one route to the outside decks close to our cabin. We survived and we were fortunate enough not to have to endure the fire that followed a few days later.

 

Despite a clear drop in the quality of food, the service offered by the staff was still wonderful, as was Alaska. I understand that she has outlived her usefulness but I am still sorry to see her go.

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A few years before our Alaskan cruise on the Star, my parents did a partial Panama Canal transit on the Star. One of their ports was Costa Rica. That evening, shortly after they left port there was an earthquake in Costa Rica. My parents had no knowledge of the quake, but they came home and told an interesting tale about dinner that evening. During dinner, quite unexpectedly, the ship listed at a tilt of several degrees for what seemed to them a significant period of time. Needless to say, during those moments everyone at their table grabbed at the plates and glasses (not completely successfully) as they listened to the chaos of crashing and broken pots, pans and assorted kitchenware from the galley. After the ship righted itself and all calmed down, the maitre d announced that they were unable to complete the meal and that it would be a while before any food service could be resumed. They were able to present the midnight buffet which was well attended that evening.

 

When my parents returned to their cabin they were faced with that not entirely uncommon scourge that used to happen on the old ships, the bath tub, etc filled with the bilge that emerged from the drains when the ship did its acrobatics. All was soon cleaned up.

 

It is my assumption that the list was possibly caused by a large wave (ala a mini poseidon adventure) that resulted from the Cota Rican quake that evening. No explanation was offered to the passengers from the cruise line.

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  • 12 years later...
  • 1 month later...
We loved Regency cruises -- I love the old ships and the cruise line offerred a terrific value -- our brush with the Star was shortly before the end of Regency and you could, unfortunately, see it coming.....we were on the Alaska cruise the exact week before she burned. We were travelling on a "too good to be true" offer. We had paid $500 per person for the cruise including air from Anchorage to Seattle (I still remember it because it was too good to be true) and we had an incredible cabin (large, two portholes, sitting area -- could really appreciate what she once was from that room). We loved Alaska and we particularly appreciated all of the open deck space that was available on multiple levels (unlike on today's liners where the deck space is sold off piecemeal to those who can afford it). You could stand out on the port side, and move to the starboard side as the view changed. There was also plenty of viewing space right over the bow from several different elevations. Everyone who wanted to stand out on deck could see the glaciers and canals and listen to the sound of chunks of ice bouncing off the hull like ice cubes clinking in a large glass.

 

On that cruise we could smell diesel fuel all of the time in the dining room and that portion of the ship. The chemistry teacher in me had a lot of trouble with that. When we would ask about the odor we were told that it was sterno from the kitchen -- but now we know the truth about that one -- as I recall it was a rupture in the diesel line near the kitchen that started the fire during the following week's cruise.

 

I justified our continued presence on this probably dangerous cruise by noting that we were housed no where near the diesel odor and we were in a location that had more than one route to the outside decks close to our cabin. We survived and we were fortunate enough not to have to endure the fire that followed a few days later.

 

Despite a clear drop in the quality of food, the service offered by the staff was still wonderful, as was Alaska. I understand that she has outlived her usefulness but I am still sorry to see her go.

 

We also have found memories of Regency. We sailed 7 times on their various ships. 2 of them were a N/S B2B on the Star in 1994. We were concerned when it went from a public to a private company and tried to expand too fast. It was not much after the expansion that they went bankrupt.

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