After 34 years in cruising and almost six decades in service, Ocean Majesty unexpectedly ended its tenure with Stuttgart-based Hansa Touristik last week.
To the Netherlands
It will become an accommodation vessel at Velsen, Netherlands. Starting in September, the ship will house migrants who have residence permits and await permanent residence. All the typical cruise ship amenities like pool, bars and boutique will be closed, with public rooms converted into training rooms and offices.
Ocean Majesty's owners, Majestic International Cruises of Glyfada, Greece, had chartered the ship to Hansa and now will deploy it as an accommodation vessel for two years.
Season cut short
Hansa Touristik, which has operated the ship for a number of years, began its current time charter in April, with operations planned to continue until the end of October. The remaining cruises were canceled last week, with passengers receiving refunds or offered alternative cruises.
Hansa told Seatrade Cruise News low bookings on the last trips contributed to the decision to end the season earlier. But the 58-year-old ship was also not going to be able to meet new environmental regulations.
Another classic vessel
Hansa Touristik, headed by cruise veterans Horst and Karin Kilian, said the company is discussing options for a classic ship that meets current environmental requirements. They also want to keep their well-liked on-board employees.
It is hoped a new program can be published by year's end.
Many Germans appreciate traveling on smaller ships with an intimate atmosphere, and Hansa has a loyal customer base.
Former ferry
Ocean Majesty began its career in the mid-1960s as the ferry Juan March for Spain's Trasmediterránea. Equipped with side doors for loading cars and rolling cargo, the vessel was mainly deployed between the Peninsular and Balearic islands until its withdrawal in 1985. A spell as a Cyprus ferry, first named Sol Christina then Kypros Star, followed between 1985 and 1988.
In 1988 the ship was sold for conversion into cruising and began sailing as Ocean Majesty the following year, sometimes for Majestic International itself, but mainly on charter to companies like Epirotiki and others. Charters to Hansa Touristik began in 2013.
Spanish built
Buit at Union Naval de Levante in Valencia, the ship had three near sisters. One, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, caught fire while underway to a Greek shipyard in 1986 and was subsequently scrapped.
Another, the former Ciudad de Compostela, met a similar fate in June 1994. Named Saray Star, the ferry, on charter from its Greek owners to Turkish/German interests, caught fire on the positioning voyage to Venice at the beginning of the season near the Greek island of Cephalonia. Saray Star sank in the Ionian Sea without any loss of life.
Fire also ended the career of sister Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Rebuilt as the cruise ship Crown del Mar in 1986, it sailed nearly two decades until a fire broke out off Taiwan in 2005. The wreck was scrapped later.
So Ocean Majesty is the last of the quartet and a remnant of Spain's shipbuilding industry.
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