Star Pisces Beached for Scrapping in India

Posted on 16 July, 2022 by Spacejunkie2

The Star Pisces was beached for scrapping in Alang, India, on July 12.

Formerly operated by Star Cruises, the 1991-built vessel will now be dismantled by one of the many local ship-breaking yards.

During the process, its building materials, fixtures, engines and systems, are set to be sold off for repurposing or recycling.

Ending a 31-year sailing career, the Pisces was originally built for Viking Line as the cruise ferry Kalypso.

After being acquired by Star Cruises in 1993, the 40,000-ton ship spent the last three decades offering cruises catering to the Asian market.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the vessel used to offer one-night cruises to nowhere departing from Hong Kong.

More recently, in December, the 1,090-guest ship started what turned out to be its last operation, kicking off a series of short cruises in Malaysia.

Sailing from Penang, the program marked its return to service after a two-year operational pause.

With Genting filing for liquidation shortly after, however, the ship found itself out of service again in late January.

After spending four months laid-up in Southeast Asia along with other former Star Cruises vessels, the Pisces began its last voyage in early June.

With the Star Pisces now beached, a total of ten cruise ships have been sold to ship-breaking yards in 2022.

The list includes the SuperStar Libra, another cruise ship formerly operated by Star Cruises.

The 1988-built vessel arrived at Aliaga in May, following a four-year stint serving as a floating hotel at a Genting-owned shipyard.

After leaving Southeast Asia along with the Star Pisces, two additional ex-Star Cruises, the SuperStar Gemini and the SuperStar Aquarius were also expected to arrive at scrapyards soon.

The vessels, however, sailed to Sri Lanka, where, according to local news reports, they are set to spend a month in lay-up.

New Feature: My Photo Dairy Story.

Posted on 15 July, 2022 by Spacejunkie2

Part 1 MSC Virtuosa.

MSC Virtuosa Welcome to my First attempt to explain the images I have taken and some feedback about the ships and locations I have travelled on and too, so here goes.

MSC Virtuosa
Built in 2021 by Chantiers de l’Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, France
Meraviglia Plus ship
Displacement 181,541 tons
Capacity 4842 double occupancies, (1704 crew)
Length 331.43mtrs, Beam 50mtrs, Height 64.9mtrs

MSC Virtuosa was launched and Christened during the Covid-19 Pandemic and her first voyages were around the UK coastline from Southampton, I took the above photo of her arriving in Southampton on the day we boarded her for a Baltic cruise in May 2022. Virtuosa’s name was used to pay homage to the ship designers describing them as someone highly skilled in any field of activity.
This ship is huge with 16 decks including 3 main decks with the bars, lounges, casinos, shopping and that Amazing LCD screen running nearly 100 meters called the main Galleria Virtuosa, a 3-minute video can be viewed from the following – link https://youtu.be/3JuMc0v3VR8

Outside or the topside is the main pool deck with two main pools and 4 round
jacuzzies and 2 jacuzzis jutting out over the side of the ship, at the rear of the ship is an Adult only pool surrounded by sun loungers and bartenders. On deck 15/16 is the indoor Tropical pool with the main pool and 4 large Jacuzzies all themed as a tropical forest there’s even a Monky and a Patriot in the palmtrees, this is a great area but can get a bit noisy when there are children around.

The main theatre called the Grand Theatre is where the ship’s singers and dancers perform great shows, and where guest acts tread the boards, there is a huge LCD screen around the back and sides of the stage giving the performances an extra Wow factor and that to a wonderful sound system and the show go up another level. On decks 7 and 8 is the Carousel Lounge where they perform 2 Fantastic Cirque Soleil shows with once again a huge 40-meter LCD screen to add that extra Wow to an already amazing show.
This is the end of Part 1 I hope you enjoyed this section, on quite cruise news days I’ll post a bit of a review and more of the photos I took around the ship, so stay tuned in.

Above is the Main Atrium with the

Galleria displaying the British Union Flag.

Transcend Cruises Offering Unique Charter Model on European Rivers

Posted on 15 July, 2022 by Spacejunkie2

Transcend Cruises has already sold $20 million of the charter products ahead of its 2024 launch, said Matthew Shollar, CEO and co-founder.

The company is building two highly-customized riverboats for debut in Europe that are solely targeted at the charter market.

With a background in full-ship charters, Shollar said he had identified an opening in the market to essentially customize a ship for full-ship charters for groups, alumni associations, corporate clients and more.

“The physical hardware of the ships (in the market) doesn’t optimize itself (for charters),” he said. “The process for chartering is not optimal, taking retail departures out of inventory, and the software is not that flexible to be customized for the groups.”

The company’s two newbuilds will feature convertible staterooms, meaning 60 rooms or 30 double rooms (or a mix), depending on client specification. That means the ships are also smaller, capacity-wise than most of the European riverboat fleet which holds about 200 guests. There’s also a wellness area which is absent from most riverboats.

“This has opened up spaces for group locations,” he said, noting five spaces on each ship the entire group can meet and 10 additional spaces for breakout groups. Customized lighting and screens can be tailored to the client. In addition are storage areas for materials, an office for the charter client and even a separate reception desk if a group needs one.

“We’re not in the FIT business, we have no retail pricing, and we will never re-market to the guests on board as we have nothing to sell them,” Shollar said. “We are 100 per cent focused on the full-ship charter market.”

The company plans to operate a season similar to the mainstream European riverboat brands, going from March through New Year. If available, clients can select specific dates with a three-night minimum. Itineraries, the onboard product and destination experiences are fully customizable. Clients can also plan their own shore programs without penalty.

“We will have a customization team that will cover all the different elements for a flat fee. No markups,” Shollar said.

Shollar said the booking window for charters is between 12 and 36 months. With a normal shipbuilding cycle of 14 months, it’s possible the company is able to grow organically by selling inventory and then ordering more capacity.

The ships are also expected to be shallower, saving about 10 centimetres on draft, which could come in handy with water level issues. Battery packs will be used for peak shaving and for close-in manoeuvring.