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Star Cruises - Page 1
These pages are devoted to postcards and photographs of the Star Cruises fleet.
An alphabetical list of ships
shown on this page is shown below.
A table
has been added below, linking to
complete postcard career histories
of various acquired ships. Below this table, I have added scans of the complete
Star Cruises fleet
of acquired vessels. A second page shows the
purpose-built Star Cruises vessels
.
Of the five large ships shown on
Star Cruises - Page 2
, only
SuperStar Virgo
is in the 2005 Star Cruises fleet, the others having been transferred to
NCL
. Smaller ships in the Star Cruises fleet are being disposed of (
SuperStar Aries
,
SuperStar Capricorn
, etc) whilst the mid-sized ships in the
NCL
fleet will be transferred to Star Cruises as further large newbuildings are delivered. The first transfer is due to be
Norwegian Sea
in summer 2005, to be followed by
Norwegian Dream
,
Norwegian Wind
,
Norwegian Majesty
, and
Norwegian Crown
.
Ships on This Page:-
Langkapuri Star Aquarius
MegaStar Aries
MegaStar Sagittarius
MegaStar Taurus
Norwegian Star
Star Pisces
SuperStar Aries
SuperStar Capricorn
SuperStar Europe
SuperStar Gemini
SuperStar Taurus
Ships on
Star Cruises - Page 2
:-
SuperStar Leo
- now
Norwegian Spirit
SuperStar Libra (1)
- now
Norwegian Star (2)
SuperStar Libra (2)
- ex-
Norwegian Sea
SuperStar Sagittarius II
- order cancelled
SuperStar Scorpio
- now
Norwegian Dawn
SuperStar Virgo
Star Cruises & NCL Pages:-
Star Cruises - Page 1
- this page!
Star Cruises - Page 2
NCL Page 1
- First generation NCL ships
NCL Page 2
- Second generation NCL ships (to be completed)
NCL Page 3
- NCL Fleet in new blue livery
NCL Page 4
- NCL mega-ships delivered since 1999
Associated Pages:-
DFDS
HAPAG Lloyd
Silja Line
Viking Line
Cruise Ship Postcards
Ocean Liner Postcards
Simplon Postcards Home Page
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Table of Ship Histories
Name
Other Names
Built
Langkapuri Star Aquarius
Athena, Pearl of Scandinavia
1989
Norwegian Star
Royal Viking Sea, Royal Odyssey
1972
Star Pisces
Kalypso
1990
SuperStar Aries
Europa (III), SuperStar Europe
1981
SuperStar Capricorn
Royal Viking Sky, Sunward, Golden Princess, etc
1973
SuperStar Libra (2)
Seaward, Norwegian Sea
1988
Star Cruises Fleet List
An official Star Cruises multi-view card of the fleet in 1997.
Another official Star Cruises multi-view card of the fleet in 1998.
Langkapuri Star Aquarius
The first ships acquired by Star Cruises were the AB Slite (part of the Viking Line consortium) ferries
Athena
and
Kalypso
, purchased in 1993. They had been built in 1989 and 1990 respectively for the Viking Line Sweden-Finland services, and had become available following the bankruptcy of AB Slite. They were named
Langkapuri Star Aquarius
and
Star Pisces
. Their funnel design was adopted as the Star Cruises logo. In February 2001 it was announced that
Langkapuri Star Aquarius
had been purchased by DFDS Seaways for service between Copenhagen and Oslo as the
Pearl of Scandinavia
. Unconfirmed reports also suggested that her sister
Star Pisces
had been bought by Color Line.
A complete history of
Langkapuri Star Aquarius
is available
on this link
.
This was the first card issued of
Langkapuri Star Aquarius.
The rather ponderous name
Langkapuri Star Aquarius
was later simplified to
Star Aquarius
, and the card was reissued.
A photographic card of
Star Aquarius.
A photographic card of
Star Aquarius.
A later card of
Star Aquarius.
A newer series of official Star Cruises cards is now appearing. These are slightly larger than previous issues, and the ships have received hull lettering in place of coloured hulls or bands. This card shows
Langkapuri Star Aquarius
(yes, the name is shown in long form again). This series of cards is unusual in having a faint copy of the main picture on the card back - a sample card back is shown below.
Langkapuri Star Aquarius
returned to Northern Europe in 2001, when purchased by DFDS for their Oslo-Copenhagen service, receiving the name
Pearl of Scandinavia
. This is the first official DFDS postcard of
Pearl of Scandinavia.
Star Pisces
The first ships acquired by Star Cruises were the AB Slite (part of the Viking Line consortium) ferries
Athena
and
Kalypso
, purchased in 1993. They had been built in 1989 and 1990 respectively for the Viking Line Sweden-Finland services, and had become available following the bankruptcy of AB Slite.
Kalypso
was renamed
Star Pisces
.
A complete postcard history of
Star Pisces
is available
on this link
.
Three photographic cards of
Star Pisces
with blue hull.
The latest card of
Star Pisces,
with white hull.
Star Aquarius + Star Pisces
Various cards were issued showing both sisters
Star Aquarius
and
Star Pisces
, here shown in Penang.
Star Aquarius
and
Star Pisces
in Singapore.
Star Aquarius
and
Star Pisces.
Star Aquarius
and
Star Pisces.
SuperStar Gemini
The next large vessel acquired was
Crown Jewel
in 1994, built in 1992 for the Effjohn group. She was renamed S
uperStar Gemini.
The first card issued has a retouched copy of the
Aquarius/Pisces
funnel, quite unlike her real funnel.
MegaStar Aries
Also acquired in 1994 were the small cruise ships (2900 grt)
Aurora I
and
Aurora I
I, which became
MegaStar Aries
and
MegaStar Taurus.
MegaStar Taurus
The
MegaStar Taurus.
MegaStar Sagittarius
SuperStar Capricorn
Superstar Capricorn
was built by Oy Wärtsilä Ab, Helsinki, in June 1973 for Kloster Cruise Line, Bergen. She entered service as the
Royal Viking Sky
for Royal Viking Lines, which was originally owned by a consortium of owners including Kloster.
Royal Viking Sky
was the third of three sisterships, the others being
Royal Viking Star
(1972) and
Royal Viking Sea
(November 1973). In 1987,
Royal Viking Sky
was transferred fully to Kloster Group ownership, and in 1991 was assigned to
Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL)
as the
Sunward
.
In 1992
Sunward
was sold to Birka Line Ab and renamed
Birka Queen (2)
, replacing
Birka Queen (1
) which was sold to Majesty Cruise Line before delivery as the
Royal Majesty
.
Birka Queen (2)
, was introduced on cruise services from Stockholm to Riga and St Petersburg during the summer of 1992. However, in October 1992 she was chartered back to Kloster, resuming the identity of
Sunward
for
NCL
. In 1993 she was chartered to
Princess Cruises
as the
Golden Princess (1)
. This charter continued until new Princess tonnage was delivered in 1996, when Birka Line sold her to
Star Cruises
as the
Superstar Capricorn
. In 1998 she was chartered to Hyundai Merchant Marine Co Ltd, as the
Hyundai Keumgang
, for use on pilgrim traffic between South and North Korea. She returned to
Star Cruises
as
Superstar Capricorn
in 2001.
Superstar Capricorn
became the
Grand Latino
of new Spanish operator Iberojet in January 2004 (ship owners were Grand Latino Nav.SA). She is due to maintain Mediterranean itineraries throughout 2005. In January 2005, it was announced that she had been sold to
Fred. Olsen Cruises
for 2006 delivery, and was to be named
Boadicea
, later amended to
Boudicca
.
Complete history of
Superstar Capricorn
This is a retouched
Golden Princess
card with particularly crude funnel logo.
SuperStar Europe - SuperStar Aries
SuperStar Aries
was built as
Europa (III)
for
Hapag-Lloyd
in 1981 by Bremer Vulkan. She weighs 37012grt, is 656ft long and has engines of 28900hp.
Europa (III)
carried 770 passengers, and cruised worldwide for
Hapag-Lloyd
until 1999, when she passed to Star Cruises on delivery of
Europa (IV)
. In 2000, she is the
SuperStar Aries
(after being originally renamed
SuperStar Europe
). In March 2001 it was announced that
SuperStar Aries
would transfer to the
Orient Lines
fleet (also owned by Star Cruises) from 2002 as their
Ocean Voyager
. This transfer did not take place and
Orient Lines
reverted to a single ship operation with
Marko Polo
.
SuperStar Aries
was sold to
Pullmantur
in 2004 and renamed
Holiday Dream
.
A complete history of this ship is available
on this link
.
Star Cruises have settled on the name
SuperStar Aries
for the
ex-Europa.
Note the Japanese characters under the name and on the hull side. Photos indicate that those on the bow exist on the ship, but not those along the sides.