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Favorite cruise ship & why?

roslyn01

By roslyn01,
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MicCanberra Holiday Sharing Rare

MicCanberra

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Celebrity Solstice, the modern ship, the design with great public areas for entertaining and private secluded areas, the overall cruise package of service food and facilities.

Ticks all the boxes.

For me it feels like coming home when I step aboard.:D

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Flatbush Flyer

Flatbush Flyer

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Since the Ocean Princess has left the fleet, the Pacific is our favorite. She does spectacular itineraries and is a beautiful ship

 

 

You may want to see the reincarnation of Ocean Princess as Oceania's Sirena. There's nothing that a multi-million dollar makeover can't make spectacular.

 

With under 700 passengers and the traditional look/feeling of a true ocean liner, R ships should be on top of many preference lists. We're big Regatta fans (though we'll be doing a month plus transpacific on Insignia in 2018.)

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LHT28 Holiday Sharing Rare

LHT28

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Thank you- what's an R ship? Seen this listed before....

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

The ships were built for Renaissance cruise line (now defunct ) & were named R 1 to R 8

the R ship name just stuck

They are now owned by Oceania (4) Azamara (2) P & O & Princess have 1 each

 

Small ships of under 700 passengers

Edited by LHT28
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Flatbush Flyer

Flatbush Flyer

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Thank you- what's an R ship? Seen this listed before....

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

Cut and pasted from the web, here's an older brief history of the <700 passenger R ships (note that, most recently, Ocean Princess became Oceania's Sirena - returned to and surpassed its original glory).

 

"Some of the loyal fans of now-defunct Renaissance Cruises are wondering where the line's eight "R class" ships ended up. For all the R-ship fans out there, here's a brief summary of the cruise line's history and each ship's current name and location.

 

Renaissance Cruises was founded in 1989, and ceased operations on September 25, 2001. During 12 years of operation, the company built a very loyal following of passengers who were drawn to their small ships, port-intensive itineraries and willingness to buck the cruise industry norms.

 

For example, despite the upscale nature of their ships, there were no formal nights. And until the final few months of operation, smoking was prohibited throughout their ships and children under the age of 18 were not allowed.

 

After Renaissance filed for bankruptcy, a company called Cruiseinvest purchased six of the eight R-ships at auction, with plans to lease or charter the vessels to existing cruise lines. The remaining two ships were re-possessed by the French Polynesian government.

 

The R1 and R2, both built in 1998, were out of service until 2002, when Frank Del Rio, former CEO of Renaissance and Joseph Watters, former president of Crystal Cruises, founded Oceania Cruises.

 

The new cruise line leased the R1 and R2 from Cruiseinvest and renamed them Insignia and Regatta, respectively. At first, many thought Oceania would be a reincarnation of Renaissance, but leaders at the new company were very careful to distinguish themselves as an entirely different line. The startup enjoyed immediate success and a 3rd Renaissance ship, the R5, was leased in 2005 and renamed Nautica. (From 2002 until 2005, the R5 was chartered by Spanish cruise line Pullmantur and operated as the Blue Star.) In 2006, Oceania purchased all three ships outright.

 

Around the same time Oceania Cruises made their debut in 2002, Princess acquired the R3 and R4 from the French Polynesian government and renamed them Pacific Princess and Tahitian Princess, respectively. Both ships were originally built in 1999. The Pacific Princess offers cruises to destinations such as Tahiti, the Mediterranean and South America, and sailed its first full World Cruise in January, 2008. The Tahitian Princess was originally dedicated to Tahiti cruises, but eventually began offering cruises in Alaska, as well as its first full World Cruise departing in January, 2009. In late 2009, Princess renamed the ship Ocean Princess, and it cruises in exotic destinations around the world such as Asia, Africa and Europe.

 

Built in 2000, the R6 was purchased by Pullmantur in 2002 and renamed Blue Dream. The R7, also built in 2000, was chartered by German cruise line Delphin Seereisen and renamed Delphin Renaissance. In 2005, Pullmantur purchased the Delphin Renaissance and renamed it Blue Moon. In 2006, Royal Caribbean acquired Pullmantur and eventually announced that these two ships would sail for a brand new cruise line, Azamara Cruises, as the Azamara Journey and Azamara Quest.

 

Last, but not least, the R8, built in 2001, was leased from Cruiseinvest by Swan Hellenic starting in 2003 and renamed Minerva II. The Minerva II sailed as the line's only ship for four years. In April 2007, the ship was transferred to Princess' fleet and now sails as the Royal Princess."

Edited by Flatbush Flyer
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pris993

pris993

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Two of my favorite ships are the Ruby Princess... enjoy the Sabatini diningroom... location... for one thing... very nice room at the top of the ship. We spent about 20 days on this ship... we have cruised with Princess 23 times, of all the ships, love the Ruby best.

 

Another favorite... is the Queen Victoria... did two cruise on it -- it is just the right size, smaller than the Queen Mary 2, better layout than the QM2 as well, has the same class as the OM2, but even better for me. We were actually disappointed by the QM2... thought it would be better since may rave about it. We tried it once, never again.

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Flatbush Flyer

Flatbush Flyer

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Thanks everyone- I have lots of research to do [emoji2]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

Just to be clear, Oceania also has 2 "O" ships, custom built for Oceania to carry approx 1100 passengers (with one if the highest crew to passenger ratios in the industry). Total fleet equals 4 Rs plus 2 Os.

Edited by Flatbush Flyer
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