Starward
{{Short description|Cruise ship}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
| {{Infobox ship begin
| infobox caption = | display title = ital }} {{Infobox ship image | Ship image = MV Orient Queen in Beirut.jpg | Ship caption = Starward as Orient Queen in Beirut on 22 July 2006. }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship name = *1968–1995: Starward
| Ship operator = *1968–1995: Norwegian Caribbean Line
| Ship registry = *1968–1988: Oslo, {{flag|Norway}}
| Ship route = | Ship ordered = | Ship builder = A.G. Weser, Werk Seebeck{{cite ship register|register=DNV|id=07013|shipname=Louis Aura|accessdate=2 June 2014}} | Ship original cost = | Ship way number = | Ship laid down = 15 January 1967 | Ship launched = 21 June 1968 | Ship completed = 30 November 1968 | Ship christened = | Ship acquired = | Ship maiden voyage = 1968 | Ship in service = 1968 | Ship out of service = 2018 | Ship identification = *Call sign: 9HA2738
| Ship fate = Scrapped at Alang, India in 2018. | Ship notes = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = | Ship type = cruise ship | Ship tonnage = {{GT|15,781}} | Ship displacement = | Ship length = {{convert|160.11|m|ftin|abbr=on}}{{cite book|last=Ward|first=Douglas|title=Berlitz complete guide to cruising & cruise ships 2012|year=2011|publisher=Berlitz Publishing|location=London|isbn=978-178-004-000-4|pages=509|edition=20th}} | Ship beam = {{convert|22.84|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | Ship height = | Ship draught = {{convert|6.7|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | Ship depth = | Ship decks = *7 passenger decks, with 414 cabins
| Ship deck clearance = | Ship ramps = | Ship ice class = | Ship power = | Ship propulsion = | Ship speed = {{convert|16|kn}} | Ship capacity = * 714/912 as of 2005{{cite web|title=MS Orient Queen|url=http://www.choosingcruising.co.uk/cruiseweb/ShpDetailsQuery.asp?client=choosing&nShp=38|publisher=Choosing Cruising|accessdate=24 April 2012}} | Ship notes = }} |
MS Starward was a cruise ship built in 1968 at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremerhaven, West Germany.{{cite web |url=http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/BoleroPCs.html |title=Starward |website=Simplon Postcards |publisher=Ian Boyle/Simplon Postcards |access-date=1 April 2012}} Originally commissioned for Norwegian Caribbean Line after the success of its first ship, {{MS|Sunward|1966|2}}, Starward was the first purpose-built ship for the newly-established cruise line. In 1995, Starward was sold to Festival Cruises, which they renamed the vessel Bolero. The vessel was shortly chartered to Spanish Cruise Line, however, it was sold to Abou Merhi Cruises after Festival Cruises was forced to declare bankruptcy in early 2004. In 2006, Louis Cruise Lines bought Orient Queen and kept the name intact. Orient Queen was briefly used the United States Government in 2006 to evacuate U.S. citizens out of Lebanon due to conflict between Lebanon and Israel. Louis Cruise Lines renamed the ship to Louis Aura in 2012. In 2017, Etstur, a Turkish travel agency, chartered the ship and renamed it to Aegean Queen. She was sold to for scrap the following year, and was broken up in Alang, India.
History
After the success of {{MS|Sunward|1966|2}}, Knut Kloster, founder and owner of Norwegian Caribbean Line, asked naval architect Tage Wandborg to design an optimum cruise ship for the market.{{cite book |last=Gallagher |first=Stephanie |title=True North: A Flickering soul in no man's land; Knut Utstein Kloster, father of the $20-billion-a-year modern cruise industry |year=2009 |publication-date=September 2009 |page=10 |isbn=978-1-44-017917-4}} Built at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremerhaven, West Germany, Starward would also have a roll-on/roll-off freight capacity to transport vehicles. During construction, however, the demand for cruises on Sunward greatly exceeded, which prompted Kloster to request Wandborg to change the design and exclude the freight capacity for cabins instead. On 21 December 1968, Starward sailed on its first cruise out of Miami, Florida, United States.{{cite web |url= http://www.faktaomfartyg.se/starward_1968.htm |title=M/S Sunward |access-date=18 March 2019 |language=Swedish}} Starward was the first Norwegian-flagged ship to meet American ‘Method 1’ fire-protection standards that specified the use of non-combustible materials throughout passenger and crew accommodations.{{cite book |last1=Quartermaine |first1=Peter |last2=Peter |first2=Bruce |title=Cruise: Identity, Design and Culture |year=2006 |publisher=Rizzoli |publication-date=May 2006 |page=103 |isbn=978-0-84-782796-1}}
File:Port of Piraeus - panoramio.jpg]]
In 1995, Greek line Festival Cruises announced that Starward would be delivered to them from Norwegian Cruise Line in October of the same year, renaming the vessel to Bolero.{{cite web |url=https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/14650-bolero-for-festival.html |title=Bolero for Festival |date=28 February 1995 |website=Cruise Industry News |access-date=18 March 2019}}{{cite web |url=http://www.sealetter.com/news/misc.html |title=Sealetter Cruise News Miscellaneous |website=SeaLetter News Magazine |accessdate=29 May 2015}} In 2001, Festival Cruises chartered the ship to Spanish Cruise Line.{{cite web |url= http://www.ferry-site.dk/cruiseship.php?id=6821080&lang=en |title=M/S Louis Aura |website=The Ferry Site |access-date=18 March 2019}} Following the collapse of Festival Cruises, Bolero was bought by Cruises Elysia in 2004 who sold her on to Abou Merhi Cruises as Orient Queen.{{cite book |last=Smith C. |first=Peter |title=Cruise Ships: The Small Fleet Scale |date=31 March 2014 |publisher=Pen and Sword |publication-date=July 2014 |pages=221–222 |isbn=978-1-78-159281-6}} She was refitted the following year at a cost of $9.5 million, with the addition of a helicopter pad that was added and managed by Österreichischer Lloyd Ship Management. Orient Queen operated from Beirut for six months with seven-day cruises to Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, and Turkey. In November 2005, the ship was re-positioned in Dubai to begin what was an unsuccessful Persian Gulf cruise program,{{cite web |url= http://www.cybercruises.com/shiplist.htm |title=Cruise Ships List, Cruise Companies, Name of Each Ship and Number of Passengers |website=CyberCruises |publisher=Michael Koefoed-Hansen |access-date=18 March 2019}} providing the first luxury cruise line service between Dubai and Gulf Cooperation Council countries. The ship was then positioned in Beirut and scheduled to begin a 2006 cruise season in the Mediterranean Sea.
In July 2006, Orient Queen was used to help evacuate United States citizens from Lebanon because of the ongoing conflict with Israel. Orient Queen was escorted by {{USS|Gonzalez|DDG-66|6}}, a U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer, and {{USS|Barry|DDG-52|6}}. It took the evacuees to the port of Larnaca in Cyprus.{{cite web |url=http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=1719www.cruisecritic.com |title=Orient Queen Leaves Beirut with U.S. Evacuees |date=19 July 2006 |website=Cruise Critic |publisher=The Independent Traveler, Inc. |access-date=18 March 2019}}
File:Aegean Queen P72 Votsis moored at Quay and Ti Bi underway in Port of Rhodes 18 September 2017.jpg on 18 September 2017]]
In August 2006, Orient Queen was sold to Louis Cruise Lines of Cyprus and operated cruises under the same name.{{cite web |url=https://centurycyprus.com/fusion/detailship.pl?chosencruise=&shipid=389&sid=6100%20Description |title=Orient Queen |website=Century Travel |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708132702/http://www.centurycyprus.com/fusion/detailship.pl?chosencruise=&shipid=389&sid=6100 |archive-date=8 July 2011 |access-date=8 July 2011}} In 2013, Louis Cruise Lines renamed Orient Queen as Louis Aura, which sailed to the Greek Isles from Limassol, Cyprus and Piraeus, Greece.{{cite web |url=http://www.cruisecyprus.com/louis_OrientQueen.htm |title=Orient Queen| website=Cruise Cyprus |access-date=18 March 2019}} Under the flag of Malta, the ship was owned and operated by the Cyprus-based company Louis Cruises. For the summer season of 2014, the ship executed 3/4/5/6 & 7-day cruises to the Greek Isles departing from Limassol, Cyprus.{{cite web |url=http://www.cruisecyprus.com/louis.htm |title=Louis Aura |publisher=Louis Cruise Lines |access-date=10 September 2020}}
In 2017, the Turkish travel agency Etstur chartered the ship. At the end of May 2017, the ship was renamed Aegean Queen after more than a year's layover and returned to service in July 2017. In October 2017, the ship was again out of service near Piraeus. With her 49 years of service, she was one of the longest-serving cruise ships in the world.
In 2018, she was sold for scrap, and was broken up at Alang, India on 17 July 2018.{{csr |register=MSI |id=6821080 |shipname=Louis Aura |accessdate=11 December 2018}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
{{commons category|IMO 6821080}}
- [http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/search.php?search_imo=6821080 Shipspotting.com]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Starward (ship)}}
Category:Ships built in Bremen (state)