This
website has no connection with any shipping company, cruise line,
boat operator or other commercial organisation
Discovery
Cruises
This page is devoted to
postcards of the Discovery Cruises, operators of short gambling/partying
trips out of Florida. An
alphabetical list of ships
shown on this page is shown below. The Table beneath gives links to complete postcard history
pages on selected individual ships. Below the table are official
postcards of
the fleet in chronological
order.
Discovery I was built in 1970 by Upper Clyde
Shipsbuilder Ltd, Clydebank, as the Blenheim (3), a
larger version of Black
Prince (2)
and Black
Watch (2).
Registered owners were Fred
Olsen Ltd, London,
and she had a British crew. Between September and May she cruised
to the Canary Islands, on a route London-Funchal-Santa Cruz de
Tenerife-Las Palmas, whilst during the summer months May-September
she ran ferry crossings from Kristiansand to Amsterdam or Harwich.
In 1981 Blenheim
(3) was sold
to Scandinavian
World Cruises,
Nassau, Bahamas (controlled by DFDS)
and renamed Scandinavian
Sea. She operated
short cruises to Freeport from Port Canaveral and Jacksonville.
In 1984 she was burnt out and declared a constructive total loss.
The remains for sold "as is" for further use. Registered
ownership changed a number of times, and in 1985 she was renamed
Venus Venture, whilst rebuilding occurred in Valencia.
In 1986 she was sold to Discovery Cruises, and renamed Discovery
I, returning to short cruises from Florida. She was withdrawn
in 1996 after a fire, and was scrapped in 1997.
Official
Discovery Cruises postcard of Discovery I
Official
Discovery Cruises postcard of Discovery I
Official
Discovery Cruises postcard of Discovery I
Official
Discovery Cruises postcard of Discovery I
Official
Discovery Cruises postcard of Discovery I
Discovery Sun was built in 1968 by Orenstein-Koppel
und Lübecker Machinenbau, Lübeck, as the Freeport
I for the Miami
Terminal Transport Co (Freeport Cruise Line), running between
Miami-Freeport. In 1973, she was sold to Oy Birka Line Ab, Mariehamn,
and renamed Freeport for cruises between Stockholm-Helsinki.
Later the same year, Freeport was sold again to Stockholms Rederi AB Svea, for the Trave-Line service Helsingborg-Tuborg (Copenhagen)-Travemünde
as Svea
Star. After
a period as Caribe
Bremen, she
was sold to Scandinavian
World Cruises as
the Scandinavian
Sun for a Miami-Freeport
service. She was chartered to SeaEscape
Cruises in 1985,
followed by purchase in 1988. In 1992, Scandinavian Sun was sold to Belle Meade Shipping,
and renamed Balanga
Queen for the
Corona Line between Karlskrona-Gdynia. In 1994 Balanga
Queen was chartered
to Hansatee, Tallinn, Estonia, and used on a Tallink
route Tallinn-Helsinki-Tallinn-Travemünde. The same year,
she returned to the Caribbean as Discovery Sun for Discovery Cruise Line. She
is the sole ship in the Discovery fleet.
Official
Discovery Cruises postcard of Discovery Sun
Official
Discovery Cruises postcard of Discovery Sun