Later today she will leave on a 34-day circumnavigation of Australia, with highlights including the Whitsundays, Broome, Kangaroo Island and Tasmania, with side trips to Papua New Guinea, Komodo and Bali.
When she returns to Sydney on April 9 she will leave on a 14-day voyage to Auckland, taking in Eden, Melbourne, Burnie, the fjords of Milford Sound, Akaroa, Nelson, Wellington, Napier and Tauranga. She then heads for French Polynesia on her repositioning voyage to North America.
Built in 1999 for now-defunct Renaissance Cruises where Frank Del Rio was co-ceo, Sirena is a sister of three other Renaissance ships in the Oceania fleet—Regatta, Insignia and Nautica. She had been sailing for Princess Cruises for more than a decade, first as Tahitian Princess and later as Ocean
Princess.
In 2014, when Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings purchased Prestige Cruise Holdings, the parent company of Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises where Del Rio was chairman and ceo, it announced its intention to buy Ocean Princess for Oceania.
She had a $50m facelift before she was renamed in Barcelona in April 2016 by chef and cookbook author Claudine Pépin, daughter of famed chef Jacques Pépin who has been Oceania’s culinary director since Del Rio and a group of investors founded the company in 2002.
‘We launched Oceania Cruises with a visionary belief that we could create something special,’ Del Rio, now president and ceo of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, parent company of Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, said at Sirena’s christening.
‘With an unwavering commitment to serve our guests the finest cuisine at sea, we established a culinary reputation that to this day defines the Oceania Cruises brand,’ he said.
Steve Odell, svp and md Asia Pacific for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, said he is ‘incredibly excited’ to be showcasing Sirena to local industry partners and media.
Odell said Oceania Cruises is committed to expanding its presence and offerings in the Asia Pacific region.
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