The Italia was ordered as one of two sisters for the Italian company Sunsarda SpA in 1963, and was one of the first purpose-built cruise ships. Her interiors were designed by Gustavo Finali and Romano Boico, who designed the interiors for other famed Italian liners, such as the SS Raffaello and her sister SS Michelangelo. Her funnel and engines were placed towards her stern, a design similar to that of the SS Oceanic of 1965. Fitting out had to be halted as both her future owners and Felszegi, the builders, went bankrupt, and consequently her planned sister was never built. Eventually her incomplete hull was purchased by Crociere d'Oltremare. Her on board features as built included self operational air conditioning, closed circuit televisions, a radio, and telephone in most of her staterooms.[3]
Service historyedit
Italia as Ocean Princess
Italia was never operated for Crociere d'Oltremare, who chartered her to a Genoa-based company called Fratelli Cosulich for three cruise voyages in the Mediterranean, and in turn was chartered to Princess Cruises. During her delivery voyage to Princess from Trieste to California the "camp classic" film Valley of the Dolls premiered on board in the ship's movie theater. Princess renamed her Princess Italia and had the ship sail to Mexico out of Los Angeles. In 1968 the logo on the ship's funnel was changed from red and yellow triangles to Princess's now signature "sea witch" logo.[4]
In 1969, Princess Italia began to operate cruises in Alaska, and continued both itineraries until 1973, when Crociere d'Oltremare canceled her charter to Princess. She was subsequently chartered to Costa Cruises, who changed her name back to Italia and operated her on cruises out of San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 1977 Costa purchased the ship and began chartering her to various companies. This ended in 1983 when Costa sold Italia to Ocean Cruise Line. Ocean Cruise Line renamed her Ocean Princess and had her do cruises in the Mediterranean during the summer, and in the Caribbean and Latin America during the winter. In March 1993, while cruising through the Amazon, the Ocean Princess struck a sunken wreck on the river bottom, causing her engine room and lower decks to flood. All passengers and crew were rescued unharmed, but the ship herself was declared a Total Constructive Loss.[5]
Italia, in her livery as Sapphire for Louis Cruise Lines on June 2 2010.
After repairs, she was purchased by Sunshine Cruise Line and due to re-enter service as Sea Prince in 1995, but a fire broke out on board, and she was again offered for sale. She was in the end purchased by the Cyprus-based cruise line Louis Cruises, who had her named Princesa Oceanica after a major refit. But Princesa Oceania did not keep her new name for long, as she was chartered to the British cruise company Thomson Holidays, who would rename her Sapphire. Sapphire went on to cruise with Thomson until 2002, when she was returned to Louis. Under the ownership of Louis she retained the name Sapphire. The itinerary of Sapphire before she was retired included cruises around the Greek Islands, as well as cruises calling in Lebanon and Syria and various ports of Greece.[6]
Fateedit
Sapphire did not fulfill the new regulations of SOLAS 2010, a convention that has caused the scrapping of many vintage cruise ships owned by Louis Cruise Lines, including the Ivory and Serenade. Because she had not been upgraded to meet these new safety requirements, Sapphire was retired from service in autumn 2010.[7]
In May 2012, the ship was beached for scrapping in Alang under the name of Aspire.[8]
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For other ships with the same name see List of ships named Italia MS Italia was a cruise ship built in Italy in 1967 She sailed in the Mediterranean Caribbean and Pacific under various names and operators and was scrapped in May 2012 2 Italia off the coast of Piraeus in 1980History NameItalia 1967 Princess Italia 1967 1973 Italia 1973 1983 Ocean Princess 1983 1993 Sea Prince 1993 1995 Princesa Oceanica 1995 1996 Sapphire 1996 2012 Aspire 2012 1 Owner1967 1977 Crociere d Oltremare 1977 1983 Costa Cruises 1983 1993 Ocean Cruise Line 1993 1995 Sunshine Cruise Line 1996 2012 Louis Cruise Lines 2012 Taymouth Ltd Operator1967 Fratelli Cosulich 1967 1973 Princess Cruises 1973 1983 Costa Cruises 1983 1993 Ocean Cruise Line 1993 1995 Sunshine Cruise Line 1996 2002 Thomson Holidays 2002 2010 Louis Cruise Lines Port of registry2004 2010 Majuro Marshall Islands 2010 2012 Valletta Malta 2012 Basseterre Saint Kitts and Nevis Ordered1963 BuilderCantieri Navale Felszegi Trieste Yard number76 Laid down23 June 1963 Launched29 April 1965 Completed1967 In service1967 Out of service2010 1 IdentificationCall sign V4LA2 IMO number 6513994 FateScrapped in Alang India 2012 General characteristics Tonnage12 263 GRT Length149 m 489 ft Beam21 50 m 71 ft Draught6 80 m 22 ft PropulsionSulzer CRDA diesel engines Speed17 knots 31 km h 20 mph Capacity706 passengers citation needed Crew240 Contents 1 Construction 2 Service history 3 Fate 4 References 5 External linksConstruction editThe Italia was ordered as one of two sisters for the Italian company Sunsarda SpA in 1963 and was one of the first purpose built cruise ships Her interiors were designed by Gustavo Finali and Romano Boico who designed the interiors for other famed Italian liners such as the SS Raffaello and her sister SS Michelangelo Her funnel and engines were placed towards her stern a design similar to that of the SS Oceanic of 1965 Fitting out had to be halted as both her future owners and Felszegi the builders went bankrupt and consequently her planned sister was never built Eventually her incomplete hull was purchased by Crociere d Oltremare Her on board features as built included self operational air conditioning closed circuit televisions a radio and telephone in most of her staterooms 3 Service history edit nbsp Italia as Ocean Princess Italia was never operated for Crociere d Oltremare who chartered her to a Genoa based company called Fratelli Cosulich for three cruise voyages in the Mediterranean and in turn was chartered to Princess Cruises During her delivery voyage to Princess from Trieste to California the camp classic film Valley of the Dolls premiered on board in the ship s movie theater Princess renamed her Princess Italia and had the ship sail to Mexico out of Los Angeles In 1968 the logo on the ship s funnel was changed from red and yellow triangles to Princess s now signature sea witch logo 4 nbsp Italia as Sapphire in Malaga Spain nbsp Italia as Sapphire in Messina 2006In 1969 Princess Italia began to operate cruises in Alaska and continued both itineraries until 1973 when Crociere d Oltremare canceled her charter to Princess She was subsequently chartered to Costa Cruises who changed her name back to Italia and operated her on cruises out of San Juan Puerto Rico In 1977 Costa purchased the ship and began chartering her to various companies This ended in 1983 when Costa sold Italia to Ocean Cruise Line Ocean Cruise Line renamed her Ocean Princess and had her do cruises in the Mediterranean during the summer and in the Caribbean and Latin America during the winter In March 1993 while cruising through the Amazon the Ocean Princess struck a sunken wreck on the river bottom causing her engine room and lower decks to flood All passengers and crew were rescued unharmed but the ship herself was declared a Total Constructive Loss 5 nbsp Italia in her livery as Sapphire for Louis Cruise Lines on June 2 2010 After repairs she was purchased by Sunshine Cruise Line and due to re enter service as Sea Prince in 1995 but a fire broke out on board and she was again offered for sale She was in the end purchased by the Cyprus based cruise line Louis Cruises who had her named Princesa Oceanica after a major refit But Princesa Oceania did not keep her new name for long as she was chartered to the British cruise company Thomson Holidays who would rename her Sapphire Sapphire went on to cruise with Thomson until 2002 when she was returned to Louis Under the ownership of Louis she retained the name Sapphire The itinerary of Sapphire before she was retired included cruises around the Greek Islands as well as cruises calling in Lebanon and Syria and various ports of Greece 6 Fate editSapphire did not fulfill the new regulations of SOLAS 2010 a convention that has caused the scrapping of many vintage cruise ships owned by Louis Cruise Lines including the Ivory and Serenade Because she had not been upgraded to meet these new safety requirements Sapphire was retired from service in autumn 2010 7 In May 2012 the ship was beached for scrapping in Alang under the name of Aspire 8 References edit a b Sapphire 6513994 Equasis Ministry of Ecology Sustainable Development and Energy Retrieved 2012 04 28 Louis Announcement Archived from the original on 5 January 2013 Sapphire DECKED Archived 2010 11 27 at the Wayback Machine Princess Italia Ocean Princess gt gt Sapphire Voyages Surviving Ocean Liners Archived from the original on 2010 07 14 Retrieved 2010 08 10 http merseyshipping blogspot de user generated source External links editProfessional photographs from shipspotting com in Swedish M S Italia at Fakta om Fartyg Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title MS Italia 1965 amp oldid 1157162419, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
