MV Azamara Pursuit

Azamara Pursuit as Adonia leaving Havana in July 2016
History
Name:
  • R Eight (2001–2003)
  • Minerva II (2003–2007)
  • Royal Princess (2007–2011)
  • Adonia (2011–2018)
  • Azamara Pursuit (2018-present)
Owner:
Operator:
Port of registry:
Builder:
Cost: GB£150 million[2]
Yard number: Z31[1]
Christened: 2001
Completed: 2001
Acquired: 1 February 2001[1]
In service: 2001
Identification:
Status: Under refit
General characteristics (as Adonia)
Class and type: R-class cruise ship
Tonnage:
Displacement: 15,100t
Length: 180.45 m (592 ft)[2]
Beam: 25.46 m (83 ft 6 in)[1]
Draught: Max. Draft 5.95 m (19 ft 6 in)[2]
Decks: 12 (9 passenger accessible)
Installed power:
Propulsion: Two propellers[2]
Speed: 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)[1]
Capacity: 777 passengers (max. capacity)
Crew: 380 crew

MV Azamara Pursuit (previously R Eight, Minerva II, Royal Princess and Adonia) is a cruise ship that is operated by Azamara Club Cruises. The ship was built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique at their shipyard in St. Nazaire, France in 2001.

Azamara Pursuit is a sister ship of Azamara Journey and Azamara Quest, as well as Pacific Princess of Princess Cruises, and Regatta, Nautica, Insignia and Sirena of Oceania Cruises. She previously sailed for Renaissance Cruises, Swan Hellenic, Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises and Fathom.

The ship was sold to Azamara Club Cruises in 2018 and was renamed Azamara Pursuit.

Service history

R Eight

Originally built as the last of eight 'R' class ships for Renaissance Cruises, Azamara Pursuit was first known as R Eight, and entered service in 2001.[3] After Renaissance ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy in late 2001, the vessel was seized by creditors and laid up in Marseille, France.

Minerva II

In 2003, the vessel re-entered operation, this time as the sole cruise ship in Swan Hellenic's fleet. The vessel was named Minerva II, after both the Roman goddess and the company's previous vessel, Minerva.

Royal Princess

On 7 April 2007, Minerva II completed her final voyage with Swan Hellenic and was transferred by the parent company, Carnival Corporation & plc, to Princess Cruises. She was renamed Royal Princess and entered into service for Princess, with her [3] first voyage as a Princess Cruises ship on 19 April 2007.

On 18 June 2009, a major fire broke out in her engine room. Royal Princess was on a 12-day Holy Land voyage and just left Port Said, Egypt. A little while later a serious fire broke out in her engine room, disabling the ship. She waited to dock in Port Said for an assessment of the damage.[4]

Adonia

In 2010, it was announced that Royal Princess was to transfer to the P&O Cruises fleet.[3] The ship entered service with the company on 21 May 2011, and was renamed Adonia.[3] She was the second P&O ship to be named Adonia, succeeding Sea Princess.

On 18 March 2013, two of the ship's passengers were shot in Bridgetown, Barbados, on her 2013 world cruise. P&O Cruises confirmed two of its passengers from the Adonia, which left Southampton on 8 January, believed to be a man in his 70s and a woman in her 50s, were taken to hospital after the incident. The ship's staff and medical team also provided support.[5]

After completing a major refit in 2016,[6] Adonia was reassigned within the Carnival Corporation, and became the first ship for a new brand called "fathom", focusing on the growing number of people who wanted to work alongside local communities as part of their travel experience in areas such as education, the environment and economic development.[7] She sailed out of Miami to the Dominican Republic and Cuba on an alternating weekly basis. While in the Dominican Republic and Cuba, passengers had the opportunity to work on programs designed to make a positive social impact on the communities they visited.[3]

On 2 May 2016, Adonia docked in the port of Havana, the first port of her Cuban itinerary for Fathom. It marked the first time in over 50 years that a U.S. cruise line has sailed from the U.S. to Cuba.[8] It was also the first time in decades that Cuban-born individuals were able to travel by sea to or from Cuba.[9] An outbreak of gastro-intestinal illnesses occurred on the initial voyage, striking 14 passengers.[10]

In November 2016, Carnival announced that Fathom would discontinue operations in June 2017. The MV Adonia returned to Carnival’s P&O Cruises fleet at that time.[11]

Farewell Voyage

On September 26th 2017 P&O announced[12] that Adonia would be retired in March 2018 with the last cruise leaving Barbados on February 23 and ending in Barbados on March 9, 2018. She arrived at the Grand Bahama Shipyard on March 13, 2018 and was officially handed over to Azamara the following day.[13] She completed a short drydocking in Grand Bahama (which included hull inspections, along with changing her name and registry) before sailing for Belfast's Harland and Wolff shipyard.

Azamara Pursuit

Her first cruise under Azamara Club Cruises took place in August 2018, where upon she joined two other R-Class vessels in the fleet, Azamara Journey and Azamara Quest. Before launching into service, the ship underwent a substantial refit at Harland & Wolff shipyard[14], bringing her decor and image into line with her two sister ships within Azamara.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Asklander, Micke. "M/S R Eight (2001)". Fakta om Fartyg (in Swedish). Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Ward, Douglas (2006). Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships. Singapore: Berlitz. pp. 398–99. ISBN 981-246-739-4.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Sampson, Hannah (June 4, 2015). "Carnival launches fathom, a new "social impact travel" brand". Miami Herald. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
  4. ↑ cruiseind.wordpress.com: CruiseInd, retrieved 19 June 2009
  5. ↑ Staff writers (18 March 2013). "Adonia cruise ship Britons 'shot' in Bridgetown, Barbados". BBC News. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
  6. ↑ Burke, Tom. "More problems for fathom – first sailing cancelled". Tom's Cruise Blog. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  7. ↑ Golden, Fran. "Will Carnival's volunteerism cruise line Fathom do good?". USA Today. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  8. ↑ Marcus, Lilit. "Fathom's Adonia Makes History as First U.S. Cruise Ship Back in Cuba". Conde Nast Traveler. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  9. ↑ Clary, Mike and Arlene Satchell. (May 1, 2016). Cruise to Cuba: Travelers to 'make history' in Havana . Sun Sentinel. Accessed on May 4, 2016.
  10. ↑ Whitefield, Mimi. "Cases of gastro-intestinal illnesses reported aboard Fathom Adonia". Miami Herald. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  11. ↑ Sampson, Hannah (23 November 2016). "Carnival Corp. Is Pulling the Plug on Its New Cruise Line Fathom". Skift. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  12. ↑ "P&O Cruises". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2017-09-26.
  13. ↑ Staff, CIN (2018-03-14). "Azamara Signs for Ownership of Pursuit". Retrieved 2018-03-14.
  14. ↑ Staff, CIN (2018-01-08). "Azamara Pursuit Refit Scheduled at Harland & Wolff by MJM". Retrieved 2018-01-29.
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