MV Ola Esmeralda (1966)

  • Ola Esmeralda (2009-2012)
  • Venus (1970-1983) ( in the summer )
  • Black Prince (1966-2009)

IMO number: 6613328

The Ola Esmeralda was a cruise ship converted, former ferry, which was built as the Black Prince for the Norwegian shipping company Fred Olsen & Co..

History

The first years

The launch of the Black Prince took place at the Flender Werft, Lübeck, Germany on 14 May 1966. On October 19, 1966, the ship was put into service. It continued as a ferry between Las Palmas, Tenerife, Madeira and London in the summer time between Norway and the UK during the winter. Besides the passengers were transported a large amount of fruit always to winter time.

The Black Prince had a sister ship, the Black Watch, which has also been used as a ferry.

Venus

1970 received the cruise line Fred Olsen & Co., a new, albeit somewhat smaller ship with the name of Blenheim. For this reason, we entered into a partnership with the Bergen Line shipping company over the use of the Black Prince. This went under the name Venus during the summer months the route Newcastle upon Tyne - Bergen and Bergen - Amsterdam. In winter, the routes were changed: Venus drove between Rotterdam, Lisbon, Casablanca, Madeira, Las Palmas and Tenerife. The return trip took two weeks.

1975, the track was co-marketed under the name Fred Olsen - Bergen Line. This was exemplified by the attachment of three white stripes of the Bergen Line to the existing logo of the Fred Olsen & Co.

The 1980s

In the early 1980s expanded the Danish DFDS in the area of ​​Nordseefährverkehrs so that capacities were needed. Newcastle upon Tyne and mountains - - For this, the Venus of the route Bergen was chartered Amsterdam. 1985 chartered the Headquartered in Bergen, Norway, Norway Line the ship for the route Bergen - Newcastle upon Tyne.

In 1986, the partnership between Fred Olsen & Co. and the Bergen Line was completed. In order to reduce the wage bill sold Fred Olsen & Co., the ship in October 1986 based in Manila in the Philippines subsidiary Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines.

Cruise ship

During the year 1986, was remodeled with the ship at the Wartsila Marine Shipyard in Turku Finland to a pure cruise ship. Here, the previous cargo areas have been harnessed to set up such as a fitness center, an inner, heated pool, play table tennis, badminton court and a children's play area. The tailgate is retained and built this so that these could be folded horizontally. Thus, a marina, which could be used during the idle periods at sea by passengers emerged. For this purpose, a portable staircase and a swimming pool area was lowered into the water, the guests could swim from where. It also water sports like jet ski were offered. The total capacity was after reconstruction with 441 passengers in a single class.

On February 12, 1987, the Black Prince was once again as a cruise ship in service. On February 27, 1987 launched the first cruise from Southampton to Northern Africa and the Mediterranean. In 1990, the ship on which Fred was. Olsen Cruise Lines, Hvisten, Norway, entered in the register. This brought the Danish and Swedish sailors union up in arms because their opinion on the ship an underpaid Filipino crew was doing their service. When starting in Gothenburg, Sweden, demonstrated a lot of people, who were joined by some dockers. The ship was then taken out of service and in Oslo, Norway, launched.

In January 2001, the Black Prince was reflagged with home port Nassau after 35 years under the Norwegian flag propelled to the Bahamas.

Sale to Venezuela

In 2010, the security policies were tightened at Sea ( SOLAS). This meant that, on the Black Prince should have been performed, which was however rejected for cost reasons, a number of alterations. Therefore, the ship on 16 October 2009 was decommissioned.

A little later the Venezuelan Ola Cruises shipping company purchased the ship and renamed it Ole Esmeralda. Since then it has been used for cruises along the coast of Venezuela. In November 2012, the ship was sold for scrap to Santo Domingo.

Trivia

Shortly before the decommissioning of the ship sailed into Lübeck on 28 September 2009. 40 former employees of 2002 gone into insolvency Flender -Werke, were involved in the construction of the vessel, were invited to visit on board.

On 6 October 2009, the ship sailed for the last time from the port of Funchal, Madeira, from where it was in more than 40 years, 594 times as a guest. Several vessels, among others, the Costa Europa and Costa Luminosa accompanied leakage.

The shipping company Ola Cruises is the first cruise operator from Venezuela.

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