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Ocean Cruise Line

 

 

This page is devoted to postcards and photographs of the Ocean Cruise Line. An alphabetical list of ships shown on this page is shown below. The Table beneath gives links to complete history pages on selected individual ships. Below the table is a Fleet List in chronological order.

 

Ocean Cruise Line was formed in 1984 by a combination of British, Swiss and American travel interests. They used two high-quality conversions of Italian-built ships on luxury cruises throughout the world. Their first conversion was Costa Line's 1967-built Italia, rebuilt as the Ocean Princess. Their second ship was the Ocean Islander, originally the Adriatica San Giorgio of 1956. In 1990, Ocean Cruise Line was sold to French cruise company Paquet, but the deal only included the Ocean Princess. Ocean Islander then passed to Starline Cruises, owned by Swiss-owned African Safari Club. She was renamed Royal Star and was used on cruises out of Mombasa to the islands of the Indian Ocean. Ocean Princess was sunk in the Amazon in 1995, and the ship was declared a Total Constructive Loss (although subsequently re-appearing as the Sapphire of Louis Cruises).

 

 

Ships on This Page:-

Ocean Princess (1984-95)

Ocean Islander (1984-90)

 

Associated Pages:-

Costa Line

Louis Cruises

Paquet

Ferry Postcards

Cruise Ship Postcards

Ocean Liner Postcards

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Table of Ship Histories

Name	Other names	Built
Ocean Islander	San Giorgio, City of Andros, Royal Star	1967
Ocean Princess	Italia, Princess Italia, Sapphire	1967

 

 

 

 

 

Ocean Cruise Line Fleet List

 

 

Ocean Princess (1984-95)

 

Italia was ordered by Sunsarda SpA in 1963, from the Felszegi yard in Muggia, near Trieste. Both the builders and ordering company were owned by the Giacomell group. Italia was one of the earliest purpose-built cruise ships, and was of an advanced design with rear engines and lifeboats mounted on lower decks, giving a very spacious open top deck. Her interiors were designed by Gustavo Finali and Romano Boico, who designed many other fine Italian liners such as the Augustus, Guglielmo Marconi, Homeric, Raffaello and Oceanic.

 

Construction proceeded slowly, and Italia was not launched until April 1965. During fitting out, both the owners and builders were declared bankrupt, and ownership passed to the the creditor bank BNL. BNL formed a new company Crociere d'Oltremare, based in Cagliari, Sardinia, to charter or sell the ship. Italia was delivered in 1967, with a logo of red and yellow triangles on her white funnel. A bareboat charter with Fratelli Cosulich (Genova) had been arranged, and Italia ran three Mediterranean cruises for them. Crociere d'Oltremare then chartered her to Princess Cruises, who used her to inaugurate their Mexican cruises out of Los Angeles. Italia was marketed as Princess Italia during her time with, although her name was not officially changed. At this stage she retained her original funnel logo, not receiving the famous Princess logo until the following year. In 1969, Princess Italia moved to Alaskan cruises out of San Francisco. The charter to Princess Cruises was cancelled in 1973, and Italia was returned to Crociere d'Oltremare. After a partial modernisation, Italia was then chartered to Costa in February 1974, although she was not purchased by them until 1977. She cruised around the world with Costa, plus served on further charters, until sold in September 1983 to Ocean Cruise Lines.

 

Under the name Ocean Princess, she spent summers in the Mediterranean, and winters on Latin America/Caribbean itineraries. In 1990, Ocean Cruise Lines was bought by Accor SA and Chargeurs SA, who also owned Paquet Cruises. Her career with them came to an abrupt end in March 1993, when she hit a sunken wreck in the Amazon, and she settled on the bottom, flooding the engine room and lower decks. All passengers and crew were removed without injury. Ocean Princess was declared a Constructive Total Loss. She was sold by the insurers to a Greek company and she was renamed Sea Prince. She was due to re-enter service with Sunshine Cruise Line, but suffered a fire in May 1995 and was offered for sale again. She was bought by Cyprus-based Louis Cruise Lines and briefly renamed Princesa Oceanica. Following a further major refit, she was chartered to Thomson Cruises as the Sapphire. She remained in the Louis fleet after the Thomson charter.

 

A complete history of this ship is shown on this link.

 

 

Official Ocean Cruise Lines postcard of Ocean Princess.

 

Official Ocean Cruise Lines postcard of Ocean Princess.

 

Official Ocean Cruise Lines postcard of Ocean Princess.

 

Chantry Classics postcard CC/S73 of Ocean Princess.

Photo: A.O.Wilhelmi 3rd.

 

 

 

 

 

Ocean Islander (1984-90)

 

Ocean Islander was built as the San Giorgio for Adriatica Line services from Italy to Piraeus, Istanbul and Izmir. She sailed both from the east coast ports of Trieste and Venice, and the west Mediterranean ports of Genoa, Naples and Marseilles. Passengers totalled 274 in three classes, and were 4755 gross tons. San Giorgio entered service in 1956, and the round trip from either Trieste or Genoa took 12 days. San Giorgio was sold to Andreas and George Kyrtatas of Piraeus in 1976, and was converted into the cruise ship City of Andros. She operated on 3- and 4-day cruises out of Piraeus.

 

City of Andros was sold in 1984 to new cruise venture Ocean Cruise Lines. She was rebuilt into the luxury cruise ship Ocean Islander, and joined the Ocean Princess in a two-ship fleet. In summer she sailed along the Dalmatian coast from Venice, and in winter cruised the Caribbean from Barbados. In 1990, Ocean Cruise Lines was bought by Accor SA and Chargeurs SA, who also owned Paquet Cruises. Ocean Islander was not part of the deal, and she was sold to the Swiss-owned African Safari Club. She was renamed Royal Star and was used on cruises out of Mombasa to the islands of the Indian Ocean.

 

A complete history of this ship is shown on this link.

 

 

Official Ocean Cruise Line postcard of Ocean Islander.

 

Official Ocean Cruise Line postcard of Ocean Islander.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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