FairSky was built in 1984 by Chantiers de Nord et de la Mediterranee of La Seyne-Sur Mer in France for the Italian cruise company, Sitmar Cruises. In keeping up with the rest of the Sitmar fleet, she was originally named FairSky and was registered in Liberia. In September 1988, when Sitmar was purchased by P&O Cruises, she was renamed the Sky Princess for P&O's Princess Cruises subsidiary and re-registered in London.
Sky Princess sailed her last cruise for Princess Cruises in October 2000, arriving in Sydney on 23 October, where she was to be transferred to P&O Cruises Australia under the name, Pacific Sky, after a $10 million refurbishment at Cairncross Dockyard in Brisbane.[3] Replacing the 1957-built Fair Princess, Pacific Sky's was quickly accepted by Australian cruise passengers.[3] Between 2000 and 2006, Pacific Sky carried 275,000 passengers on 200 cruises. Her popularity prompted the expansion of the P&O Australia fleet to include Pacific Sun (2004), Pacific Dawn (November 2007), Pacific Jewel (2009) and Pacific Pearl (2010).
In May 2006, the transfer from P&O Cruises Australia to Pullmantur Cruises in Spain was made, after a series of 33 seven-day cruises based out of Singapore. Sky Wonder was registered in Valletta, Malta. The Italian-built Regal Princess took Sky Wonder's place in the P&O Cruises fleet in mid-2007 as the Pacific Dawn. From March 2009 on, Sky Wonder was laid up in Piraeus. In April 2009, she was renamed Atlantic Star and sailed for the Portuguese market.[4]
Atlantic Star at sea
In January 2010, Kyma Ship Management expressed interest in purchasing the ship,[5] but they backed out due to the high cost of replacing the steam turbines with diesel engines.[6] It was speculated that she would be operating on charter for a German tour operator as Mona Lisa previously did,[7] but the vessel remained moored in Marseille, France until March 2013.[8]
In January 2013, it was announced that the ship had been transferred to STX France as part of the deal with the new order of the Oasis-class cruise ship ordered by Royal Caribbean International.[6] In March 2013 it was reported that the ship had departed under tow for Suez, Egypt,[9] and on 14 April 2013, Atlantic Star arrived the shipbreaking yard in Aliaga, Turkey, under the name Antic.[10]
General characteristicsEdit
Promenade deck on the Sky Wonder
Atlantic Star was 240.4 m (788 ft 9 in) in length and 29.8 m (97 ft 9 in) in width at her widest point. Her draft was approximately 8.5 m (27 ft 11 in), but this figure varies with respect to the amount of stores, fuel and water on board. The size of a cruise ship is expressed in gross tonnage, which is actually a measurement of the vessel's volume and not the actual weight. Atlantic Star measured 46,087 GT.
Atlantic Star was powered by steam turbines and was one of the last steam turbine cruise ships in the world. While at sea, she operated on two or three boilers depending on the speed required. When two were in use, she could achieve a maximum speed of 19.8 kn (36.7 km/h); when all three boilers were in use, she could steam at a maximum of 21.8 kn (40.4 km/h). At full speed, she would consume up to 220 tonnes of fuel oil a day.
The vessel had two fixed-pitch propellers and a single rudder. She was fitted with one bow thruster and one stern thruster for maneuvering at ports
Atlantic Star was fitted with two retractable stabilizer fins, which could be extended either individually or together depending on the sea conditions. Each fin was 4 m (13 ft) long and 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) wide. They were controlled by hydraulic rams and were fed information from gyroscopes which sense the vessel's rolling motion. When in use, they could reduce the amount of the vessel's roll by up to 85% but they had no effect on the ship's pitching motion.
Atlantic Star had two anchors. Each anchor weighed nine tonnes and was attached to approximately 80 tonnes of anchor chain.
IncidentsEdit
Atlantic Star was involved in many incidents during her career. Some are listed below in chronological order.
September 2002 – Dianne Brimble, 42, of Brisbane, died after overdosing on the drug GHB. An inquest found that her drink had been spiked while on a 10-day cruise of the Pacific.[11]
November 2004 – Pacific Sky was due to begin a scheduled cruise off the Australian coast, but could not sail after a swarm of jellyfish blocked a cooling water intake. The engines had automatically shut down, leaving the vessel stuck fast at its Brisbane River berth. The shutdown also triggered the automatic dumping of vast quantities of distilled water used by the ship's boilers, and a fresh supply had to be trucked.[12]
1 April 2005 – P&O Cruises was forced to cancel another two Pacific Sky cruises to allow extended work on the ship’s troublesome starboard gearbox. P&O Cruises said the two-month layoff would lead to the cancellation of five cruises but was confident problems would have been fixed in time for its scheduled 4 June cruise.[13]
7 March 2006 – Hundreds of passengers on a seven night cruise were left stranded for about 30 hours after the vessel broke down in the Malacca Strait near Singapore. About five hours after leaving Singapore the ship experienced problems with its starboard engine and came to a halt with more than 1,300 passengers on board. Crew tried to fix the problem but were unsuccessful.[14]
18 January 2007 – Early in the morning, the Sky Wonder with 1,600 passengers ran aground on a sandbar in the Rio de la Plata, 3 kilometres from the port of Buenos Aires, Argentina. There were no injuries other than a heart problem suffered by a 50-year-old male passenger, who was treated ashore. The ship was freed by tugboats at high tide several hours later, so she could reach her destination of Punta del Este, Uruguay.[15] She was chartered for CVC Cruises at the time. The grounding was reported to be a navigational error, made by her captain.[16]
ReferencesEdit
^Stieghorst, Tim (17 December 2012). "Royal Caribbean orders third Oasis ship from STX France". Travelweekly.
atlantic, star, cruise, ship, atlantic, star, formerly, fairsky, princess, pacific, wonder, cruise, ship, built, 1984, sailed, sitmar, cruises, princess, cruises, cruises, australia, pullmantur, cruises, under, ownership, royal, caribbean, cruises, ship, been,. Atlantic Star formerly FairSky Sky Princess Pacific Sky and Sky Wonder was a cruise ship built in 1984 She sailed for Sitmar Cruises Princess Cruises P amp O Cruises Australia and Pullmantur Cruises Under ownership of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd the ship had been laid up since 2010 before being handed over to STX France in 2013 as a partial payment for the construction of what is now Harmony of the Seas 1 She was later sold to a shipbreaker in Aliaga Turkey renamed Antic and scrapped on 14 April 2013 2 Atlantic Star cruise ship Sky Wonder at Villefranche November 2007 HistoryNameAntic 2013 Atlantic Star 2009 2013 Sky Wonder 2006 2009 Pacific Sky 2000 2006 Sky Princess 1988 2000 FairSky 1984 1988 OwnerBelinda Shipholding 2013 Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd 2006 2013 Carnival plc 2004 2006 P amp O Princess Cruises 2000 2003 P amp O 1988 2000 Sitmar Cruises 1984 1988OperatorPullmantur Cruises 2006 2010 P amp O Cruises Australia 2000 2006 Princess Cruises 1988 2000 Sitmar Cruises 1984 1988Port of registry MaltaBuilderLa Seyne Sur Mer FranceLaid down16 July 1981Launched6 November 1982ChristenedMarch 1984Completed12 April 1984Maiden voyage1984In service1984 2013Out of service2013IdentificationIMO number 8024026FateScrapped at Aliaga Turkey in 2013General characteristicsTonnage46 087 GTLength240 m 790 ft Beam29 8 m 97 ft 9 in Draft8 m 26 ft Decks11Installed powerThree steam turbines 29 500 shp 22 000 kW Speed19 8 kn 36 7 km h service 21 8 kn 40 4 km h maximum Capacity1 250 passengersCrew600 Contents 1 History 2 General characteristics 3 Incidents 4 References 5 External linksHistory Edit Sky Princess in Auckland New Zealand in February 2000FairSky was built in 1984 by Chantiers de Nord et de la Mediterranee of La Seyne Sur Mer in France for the Italian cruise company Sitmar Cruises In keeping up with the rest of the Sitmar fleet she was originally named FairSky and was registered in Liberia In September 1988 when Sitmar was purchased by P amp O Cruises she was renamed the Sky Princess for P amp O s Princess Cruises subsidiary and re registered in London Pacific Sky in Port Douglas Queensland AustraliaSky Princess sailed her last cruise for Princess Cruises in October 2000 arriving in Sydney on 23 October where she was to be transferred to P amp O Cruises Australia under the name Pacific Sky after a 10 million refurbishment at Cairncross Dockyard in Brisbane 3 Replacing the 1957 built Fair Princess Pacific Sky s was quickly accepted by Australian cruise passengers 3 Between 2000 and 2006 Pacific Sky carried 275 000 passengers on 200 cruises Her popularity prompted the expansion of the P amp O Australia fleet to include Pacific Sun 2004 Pacific Dawn November 2007 Pacific Jewel 2009 and Pacific Pearl 2010 Sky Wonder in Dubrovnik CroatiaIn May 2006 the transfer from P amp O Cruises Australia to Pullmantur Cruises in Spain was made after a series of 33 seven day cruises based out of Singapore Sky Wonder was registered in Valletta Malta The Italian built Regal Princess took Sky Wonder s place in the P amp O Cruises fleet in mid 2007 as the Pacific Dawn From March 2009 on Sky Wonder was laid up in Piraeus In April 2009 she was renamed Atlantic Star and sailed for the Portuguese market 4 Atlantic Star at seaIn January 2010 Kyma Ship Management expressed interest in purchasing the ship 5 but they backed out due to the high cost of replacing the steam turbines with diesel engines 6 It was speculated that she would be operating on charter for a German tour operator as Mona Lisa previously did 7 but the vessel remained moored in Marseille France until March 2013 8 In January 2013 it was announced that the ship had been transferred to STX France as part of the deal with the new order of the Oasis class cruise ship ordered by Royal Caribbean International 6 In March 2013 it was reported that the ship had departed under tow for Suez Egypt 9 and on 14 April 2013 Atlantic Star arrived the shipbreaking yard in Aliaga Turkey under the name Antic 10 General characteristics Edit Promenade deck on the Sky WonderAtlantic Star was 240 4 m 788 ft 9 in in length and 29 8 m 97 ft 9 in in width at her widest point Her draft was approximately 8 5 m 27 ft 11 in but this figure varies with respect to the amount of stores fuel and water on board The size of a cruise ship is expressed in gross tonnage which is actually a measurement of the vessel s volume and not the actual weight Atlantic Star measured 46 087 GT Atlantic Star was powered by steam turbines and was one of the last steam turbine cruise ships in the world While at sea she operated on two or three boilers depending on the speed required When two were in use she could achieve a maximum speed of 19 8 kn 36 7 km h when all three boilers were in use she could steam at a maximum of 21 8 kn 40 4 km h At full speed she would consume up to 220 tonnes of fuel oil a day The vessel had two fixed pitch propellers and a single rudder She was fitted with one bow thruster and one stern thruster for maneuvering at portsAtlantic Star was fitted with two retractable stabilizer fins which could be extended either individually or together depending on the sea conditions Each fin was 4 m 13 ft long and 1 5 m 4 ft 11 in wide They were controlled by hydraulic rams and were fed information from gyroscopes which sense the vessel s rolling motion When in use they could reduce the amount of the vessel s roll by up to 85 but they had no effect on the ship s pitching motion Atlantic Star had two anchors Each anchor weighed nine tonnes and was attached to approximately 80 tonnes of anchor chain Incidents EditAtlantic Star was involved in many incidents during her career Some are listed below in chronological order September 2002 Dianne Brimble 42 of Brisbane died after overdosing on the drug GHB An inquest found that her drink had been spiked while on a 10 day cruise of the Pacific 11 November 2004 Pacific Sky was due to begin a scheduled cruise off the Australian coast but could not sail after a swarm of jellyfish blocked a cooling water intake The engines had automatically shut down leaving the vessel stuck fast at its Brisbane River berth The shutdown also triggered the automatic dumping of vast quantities of distilled water used by the ship s boilers and a fresh supply had to be trucked 12 1 April 2005 P amp O Cruises was forced to cancel another two Pacific Sky cruises to allow extended work on the ship s troublesome starboard gearbox P amp O Cruises said the two month layoff would lead to the cancellation of five cruises but was confident problems would have been fixed in time for its scheduled 4 June cruise 13 7 March 2006 Hundreds of passengers on a seven night cruise were left stranded for about 30 hours after the vessel broke down in the Malacca Strait near Singapore About five hours after leaving Singapore the ship experienced problems with its starboard engine and came to a halt with more than 1 300 passengers on board Crew tried to fix the problem but were unsuccessful 14 18 January 2007 Early in the morning the Sky Wonder with 1 600 passengers ran aground on a sandbar in the Rio de la Plata 3 kilometres from the port of Buenos Aires Argentina There were no injuries other than a heart problem suffered by a 50 year old male passenger who was treated ashore The ship was freed by tugboats at high tide several hours later so she could reach her destination of Punta del Este Uruguay 15 She was chartered for CVC Cruises at the time The grounding was reported to be a navigational error made by her captain 16 References Edit Stieghorst Tim 17 December 2012 Royal Caribbean orders third Oasis ship from STX France Travelweekly Collard Ian 2017 P amp O Cruise Ships Gloucestershire England Amberley Publishing ISBN 978 1 4456 6740 9 a b Plowman Peter 2004 The SITMAR Liners Past and Present Australia Rosenberg Publishing Pty Ltd pp 247 255 ISBN 1 877058 25 4 Pullmantur sets new course for Pacific Dream Atlantic Star Seatrade Cruise News 20 May 2009 Archived from the original on 3 November 2020 Retrieved 3 November 2020 Home a b RCI offloads veteran Atlantic Star Tradewindsnews com TradeWinds 4 January 2013 ATLANTIC STAR ex FAIRSKY to MONA LISA II MaritimeMatters Cruise and Maritime News MaritimeMatters http www marinetraffic com ais shipdetails aspx MMSI 256205000 dead link Old PACIFIC PRINCESS Mired in Scrap Issues NCL s former SOUTHWARD at breakers MaritimeMatters Cruise and Maritime News MaritimeMatters Atlantic Star 8024026 Miramar Ship Index Retrieved 21 October 2019 Jacobsen Geesche 1 December 2010 Dianne Brimble unknowingly drugged inquest rules The Age Fairfax Media Retrieved 2 November 2016 Setback for sea search smh com au 9 January 2005 Two more Pacific Sky cruises cancelled Archived 8 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine Pacific Sky stranded into troubled waters Archived 8 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine Playfuls com Play your life Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine 20th Century Ocean Liners Cruise Ship News Current 20thcenturyliners com Archived from the original on 28 May 2007 Retrieved 25 May 2007 External links Edit Statement from P amp O Cruises Australia on Safety and Security pocruises com au 13 January 2006 Sniffer dogs for Cruise liners The Advertiser 2 April 2006 dead link Drugs and death in cramped cabin The Sunday Mail 22 March 2006 Archived from the original on 1 July 2006 Wikimedia Commons has media related to IMO 8024026 Professional photographs from shipspotting com Atlantic Star 8024026 Equasis French Ministry for Transport Retrieved 31 August 2010 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Atlantic Star cruise ship amp oldid 1147514474, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
