 Thomson Spirit in the Bay ofKotor | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name |
|
| Owner |
|
| Operator |
|
| Port of registry |
|
| Builder | Chantiers de l'Atlantique,Saint Nazaire,France[1] |
| Cost | $150 million[5] |
| Yard number | V27[1] |
| Launched | 20 August 1982[1] |
| Christened | by HRH Princess Margriet[5] |
| Completed | 1983 |
| Acquired | July 1983[1] |
| Maiden voyage | 1983 |
| In service | July 1983[5] |
| Out of service | 2018 |
| Identification | IMO number: 8024014[1] |
| Fate | Scrapped atAlang,India in 2018 |
| General characteristics (asThomson Spirit) | |
| Type | cruise ship |
| Tonnage | 33,930 GT[4][5] |
| Length | 214.66 m (704 ft 3 in)[5] |
| Beam | 27.26 m (89 ft 5 in)[5] |
| Draught | 7.52 m (24 ft 8 in)[5] |
| Decks | 10[5] |
| Installed power | 2 × Sulzer RLB66diesel engines, combined 22,400 kW[1] |
| Propulsion | 2 propellers[5] |
| Speed | 21 knots (38.89 km/h; 24.17 mph)[1] |
| Capacity | 1,350[5] in 627 staterooms[6] |
| Crew | 520[5] |
MSMarella Spirit was acruise ship owned byHolland America Line and operated under charter by the United Kingdom-basedMarella Cruises. She was built in 1983 at theChantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in France for Holland America Line asMSNieuw Amsterdam.[7] Between 2000 and 2001 she sailed forUnited States Lines, a subsidiary ofAmerican Classic Voyages, asMSPatriot.[2] In 2002 she returned under Holland America Line ownership and reverted to the nameNieuw Amsterdam, but was not used in active service. During the same year she was chartered toLouis Cruise Lines, who in turn sub-chartered the ship to Thomson Cruises, with whom she entered service under MSThomson Spirit in 2003.[7]
TheNieuw Amsterdam was the first in a pair of identical cruise ships built byChantiers de l'Atlantique atSt. Nazaire,France for theHolland America Line (HAL) with North-American cruising in mind. Her sister ship is now theMS Thomson Celebration. She was launched from drydock on 20 August 1982. While in final stages of construction a fire destroyed the ship's main switchboard on 24 June 1983, which delayed her delivery to her owners by three weeks.[7] She was delivered to HAL in July 1983.[1]
TheNieuw Amsterdam entered service with Holland America Line in July 1983, doing a transatlantic crossing from Le Havre to New York.[1][8] Following her maiden voyage she was used for cruising in the Caribbean during theNorthern Hemisphere winter seasons and cruises out ofVancouver to Alaska during the summer seasons. In April 1984 she was joined in service by her sisterMS Noordam (1984), which operated similar itineraries.[7] As the HAL fleet grew from the late 1980s onwards, theNieuw Amsterdam's itineraries widened to various destination around the world.[9] In 1989 the Holland America Line was acquired by theCarnival Corporation, but HAL remained a separate entity.[7]
In late 1999 theNieuw Amsterdam was sold toAmerican Classic Voyages, with delivery planned for October 2000. The ship finished her final cruise with HAL in Vancouver on 24 August 2000. Subsequently, she sailed without passengers toSydney, where she was moored as ahotel ship for the duration of the2000 Summer Olympics. On 2 October 2000 the ship left Sydney forSan Francisco where she was handed over to her new owners.[7]
On 18 October 2000 theNieuw Amsterdam was taken over by America Classic Cruises in San Francisco and renamed MSPatriot.[1] American Classic Cruises had decided to revive the historicUnited States Lines brand for cruises operated out ofHonolulu, and thePatriot was to be the first ship of this new venture. Unusual for a ship built outside the United States, thePatriot was registered inHonolulu.[2] By terms of thePassenger Services Act (also known as The Jones Act), only ships built in the United States may be registered in the United States, and only ships registered in the United States may be used in intra-United States passenger traffic.[10] American Classic Cruises planned to have two brand-new ships (codenamed "Project America") built for United States Lines at theIngalls Shipbuilding yards in Mississippi. This scheme was given generous support by the United States government with hopes that the project would help restart passenger ship construction in the United States. As a temporary measure United States Lines was allowed to register thePatriot in a US port to begin operations before completion of the Project America vessels, thereby allowing her to cruise around the Hawaiian Islands without the need to make calls at ports outside the US.[11] ThePatriot was the first oceangoing passenger ship since 1958 to enter service under the United States flag.[2]
Following a refit the ship left San Francisco on her first cruise with her new owners on 2 December 2000, arriving in Honolulu on 8 December and commencing normal service around theHawaiian Islands the same day. The United States Lines cruise venture proved to be short-lived. The11 September 2001 terrorist attacks caused a slump in US tourism and on 18 October 2001 American Classic Cruises declared bankruptcy due to massive debts owed to the US government.[5][7] Following the bankruptcy of her owners thePatriot was laid up in Honolulu.[1]
Holland America Line repurchased their old ship on 27 January 2002 and she reverted to her old nameNieuw Amsterdam. She did not re-enter service with HAL, but remained laid up, first in Honolulu and later inCharleston, South Carolina. In May 2002 theNieuw Amsterdam was chartered to the Cyprus-basedLouis Cruise Lines, renamed MSSpirit and sailed toPerama, Greece for a refit.[1]
Following a lengthy refit at Perama, Louis Cruise Lines sub-chartered theSpirit toThomson Cruises from 3 May 2003 onwards. Upon entering service with Thomson the ship's name was amended into MSThomson Spirit.[1] She was initially used on Western Mediterranean cruises out ofPalma, Majorca and continued making cruises on the Mediterranean during the northern hemisphere summer seasons and cruises on the Red Sea during the winter seasons.[7] Throughout summer 2012, the Thomson Spirit operated a variety of cruises to northern Europe from Harwich and Newcastle (North Shields), England. Throughout autumn 2012, she sailed the Western Mediterranean until she was laid up atLimassol, Cyprus for the winter, and restarted sailing March 2013. From 2014 certain cruises in the spring would operate fromLiverpool.
During the2014 Winter Olympics inSochi, Russia, she was used as a floating hotel. Alongside her on hotel duty were theGrand Holiday andLouis Olympia.[12]
Following the announcement in October 2017, thatThomson Cruises would be renamedMarella Cruises,TUI Group also announced thatThomson Spirit would have her charter increased by year and adopt the Marella name and the ship becameMarella Spirit. In October 2018 the charter for theMarella Spirit concluded and she was replaced by theMarella Explorer. Both Celestyal Cruises and Holland America Line had little interest in keeping theMarella Spirit in service, and she was sold for scrapping. She was renamedMare S for her last voyage fromPiraeus toAlang.[13] She was beached for scrapping on 5 December 2018.[14]
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