Mona Lisa departing Helsinki, Finland during the summer of 2005. |
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| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | 1966—1979: Kungsholm 1979—1995: Sea Princess 1995—2002: Victoria 2002—2007: Mona Lisa 2007—2008: Oceanic II 2008 onwards: Mona Lisa |
| Owner: | 1966—1975: Swedish America Line 1975—1978: Flagship Cruises 1978—2002: P&O Cruises 2002—2010: Leonardo Shipping 2010—present: DMSE-Oman |
| Operator: | 1966—1975: Swedish America Line 1975—1978: Flagship Cruises 1978—1999: P&O Cruises/Princess Cruises 1999—2000: Union-Castle Line 2000—2002: P&O Cruises 2002—2006: Holiday Kreuzfahrten 2007: Louis Cruise Lines 2007: Pullmantur Cruises 2007—2008: Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (The Scholar Ship) 2008: Lord Nelson Seereisen[1] 2008—2009: Peace Boat[2] 2009—2010: Lord Nelson Seereisen |
| Port of registry: | 1966—1975: Gothenburg, Sweden 1975—1978: Monrovia, Liberia 1978—2002: London, United Kingdom 2002 onwards: Nassau, Bahamas[3] |
| Builder: | John Brown & Company, Clydebank, Scotland[4] |
| Yard number: | 728[4] |
| Laid down: | January 1964 |
| Launched: | 14 April 1965[4] |
| Christened: | 14 April 1965 by Mrs. Annabella Broström[5] |
| Completed: | 17 March 1966[5] |
| Maiden voyage: | 22 April 1966[5] |
| Out of service: | September 2010 |
| Identification: | IMO number: 6512354 |
| Status: | Out of service as of 2010 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 26,678 gross tons (as built) 27,670 (1979) 28,891 (as of 2008) |
| Length: | 201.33 m (660 ft 6 in) |
| Beam: | 26.57 m (87 ft 2 in) |
| Draught: | 8.56 m (28 ft 1 in) |
| Installed power: | 25,200 SHP |
| Propulsion: | Two direct drive Götaverken 9 cylinder slow speed two stroke diesel engines Twin propeller |
| Speed: | 20 kn (37.04 km/h) service speed; 25 kn (46.30 km/h) top speed |
| Capacity: | 713 passengers (transatlantic service) 450 (cruising as built) 782 (as of 2008) |
| Crew: | 417 |
MV Mona Lisa is a cruise ship that was last owned by Leonardo Shipping[6] and operated under charter by Lord Nelson Seereisen [3]. She was built in 1966 by the John Brown & Company shipyard in Clydebank, Scotland as the combined ocean liner / cruise ship MS Kungsholm for the Swedish American Line.[5] She was later rebuilt as a full-time cruise ship. She has also sailed under the names MV Sea Princess, MV Victoria and MV Oceanic II.[2] In September 2010 she was retired from service as she did not fulfill requirements to SOLAS 2010 and her charter with Lord Nelson Seereisen had ended. Interest in preserving her had been expressed. [7]
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The Kungsholm was launched in 1965, built by John Brown & Company, Clydebank, Scotland.[4] Unusually for a passenger ship at the time, especially one built as a trans-Atlantic liner, she was fitted with slow-speed two stroke diesel engines. Her two Swedish built Götaverken nine cylinder engines have a combined output of 25,200 SHP, which gave her a service speed of 21 knots, although she achieved 25 knots during her sea trials.[5] The ship is equipped with Denny Brown stabilizers and currently has a maximum cruising speed of 21 knots. The vessel met all updated SOLAS requirements as of the 1992 amendments.
The ship's original Gross Registered Tonnage was 26,700. After rebuilding for service with P&O, her tonnage was increased to 27,670 GRT. Currently, the ship is measured at 28,891 GRT. She is 201 meters (660 ft) long with a breadth of 26.5 meters.
The ship's passenger capacity was 713 as a trans Atlantic liner, but only 450 as a cruise ship before the addition of extra cabins increased the number of berths to 730. She carries 417 crew members. The maximum capacity utilizing upper (passenger) and lower (crew) berths is 994 persons.
Currently, the 790 passenger vessel has 397 passenger cabins (292 outside, 105 inside), all equipped with televisions, safe boxes, hairdryers and additional amenities. Sixty-eight of the cabins also have refrigerators.
The ship currently has 8 passenger decks, 4 passenger elevators, 2 outdoor and 1 indoor swimming pool, a sauna and a massage parlor. She has 3 restaurants, 4 lounges, 4 indoor bars, 1 outdoor bar and a 300 passenger capacity theater. There is also a fitness center, hair salon and a fully equipped hospital.
As the Kungsholm, the ship first entered service for the Swedish America Line in 1966 as a transatlantic ocean liner, the last liner built for the Gothenburg - New York run. Although built for transatlantic service, she was also designed to spend a large proportion of the year cruising.[5]
In 1975, the Swedish America Line dissolved and the Kungsholm was sold to Flagship Cruises, who retained her name and used her for cruising from the United States.
In 1978 she was purchased by P&O and had her appearance dramatically altered by the removal of her forward (dummy) funnel, reshaping of her remaining funnel, and the addition of extra cabins. She was renamed the Sea Princess and was initially based in Australia, taking over from the SS Arcadia which was scrapped in 1979. The Australian cruising role was taken over by SS Oriana in 1981 and from then Sea Princess alternated between deployments with P&O's UK fleet and the subsidiary Princess Cruises fleet. As her deployments changed, so did the colour of her funnel; buff (yellow) for P&O, white with the Sea Witch logo for Princess Cruises.[8]
In 1995 she was renamed Victoria and for the rest of her career with P&O Cruises operated with its UK fleet out of Southampton. The name change was to allow the then new addition to the Princess Cruises fleet to be named Sea Princess.[5][8]
In 1999/2000 Victoria was chartered for the Union-Castle Line centenary voyage and had her funnel repainted in that company's livery.[5]
In 2002 she was sold by P&O and sailed for Holiday Kreuzfahrten as Mona Lisa until 2006, bearing a large image of the painting of the same name on her funnel.[5] Holiday Kreuzfahrten was declared bankrupt in September 2006. Following the bankruptcy of Holiday Kreuzfahrten the Mona Lisa was briefly laid up at Pireus, Greece,[3] but in November 2006 she was chartered for use as a hotel ship in Doha, Qatar for the duration of the Asian Games. The charter to Qatar ended on 1 January 2007.[2][3]
In 2007, the ship was chartered by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCCL) and was renamed Oceanic II. From 30 April to 28 May 2007, Louis Hellenic Cruises sub-chartered the ship as a temporary replacement for the MV Sea Diamond, which went aground off the coast of Santorini, Greece and sank earlier in April. Following this she was operated by Pullmantur Cruises (a subsidiary of RCCL) for the 2007 northern hemisphere summer season.[3]
The ship was refitted to become an educational vessel for The Scholar Ship international education program, a cooperative venture between seven major world universities and RCCL. The Scholar Ship offered undergraduate and graduate semester programs during four-month voyages. The inaugural voyage embarked in September 2007, with a second voyage in early 2008. In June 2008 the discontinuation of the program was announced.
The Oceanic II reverted to the name Mona Lisa prior to her charter to German tour operator Lord Nelson Seereisen, which ran from 28 April to 31 August 2008.[1] On 4 May 2008 the Mona Lisa was grounded in the Irbe Strait while leaving Riga. She suffered no major damage,[9] but the passengers were evacuated from the ship on 5 May after unsuccessful efforts to free the ship from the sand bank.[10] The Mona Lisa was eventually pulled free from the sandbank on 7 May 2008. She subsequently sailed to a drydock in Ventspils, Latvia for inspection and returned to normal cruise traffic on 8 May 2008.[3]
Following the completion of her charter to Lord Nelson Seereisen, the Mona Lisa was chartered to Peace Boat for the duration of the 2008/2009 northern hemisphere winter season.[2] For the duration of the 2009 northern hemisphere summer season she again returned to the fleet of Lord Nelson Seereisen.
From 26 January to 23 March 2010, Mona Lisa was used as floating accommodations while docked at the Squamish port in British Columbia, Canada. During the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Vancouver and Whistler, approximately 1,400 crew, volunteers and paid staff were housed aboard.[11]
She has resumed her voyages with Lord Nelson Seereisen during 2010 from May until August. Her future after termination of her charter to Lord Nelson Seereisen in August 2010 is uncertain as she does not comply with the new SOLAS regulations coming into effect in October 2010.[12] However, a letter of intent had been signed between the ship's owners and Swedish entrepreneur Lars Hallgren for the acquisition of the ship in 2010. Hallgren was planning to use the ship as a floating hotel in Gothenburg. Should his plans have been realized, certain features of the Kungsholm's original appearance, such as her two funnels, would have been restored.[6] Mr. Hallgren withdrew his offer to purchase the Mona Lisa because the City of Gothenburg would only lease dock space for the ship to be berthed in Gothenburg for only five years,[6][13] and scrap buyers are to inspect her in the following weeks.[14] However, the city of Stockholm had expressed a sudden interest in letting Lars Hallgren berth and preserve Mona Lisa there, first for use as a student accommodation ship and then for use a permanently berthed hotel and museum. Mona Lisa made her way from Germany to Piraeus, where she should have arrived by September 10, 2010. Mona Lisa left Piraeus on October 11, bound for the Suez Canal and for use as an accommodation ship in Oman.[15] Lars Hallgren later confirmed that Mona Lisa would not be preserved in Stockholm.[16] It was rumored that she is heading to Far Eastern interests who have purchased her for use as a luxury hotel in Oman.[17] Mona Lisa arrived in Oman on October 26, 2010, where she is planned to spend the next five years as a luxury Floating Hotel in the scenic wilayat of Duqm, in the Sultanate of Oman, housing tourists as well business guests from Duqm and the nearby areas.[18][19] She is now owned by DSME Oman LLC. (Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Oman LLC).
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