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Mv Balmoral

ex Crown Odyssey, Norwegian Crown, Crown Odyseey, Norwegian Crown

Steel twin screw motor vessel built in 1988 by Jos L Meyer Werft, Papenburg, Germany (Yard No 616) for Royal Cruise Line, Piraeus, Greece . Launched November 1st, 1987.

Technical Data

Length

187.71m (615.9 ft) (overall), 217.91m (2008)

Breadth of Hull

28.20m (92.5 ft), 32.3m (extreme)

Draught

7.25m (23.8 ft)

Tonnage

34,242 gross, 43,537 (2008), 15,401 net, 19,985 (2008), 5,186 deadweight

Engines

Two 8-cylinder and two 6-cylinder MaK Maschinenbau diesels

Power

21,752 bhp: 16,000 kW/2

Speed

22.5 knots

Capacity

1,209 passengers, 1,428 (2008), 470 Crew

Call Sign

C6II4

MMSI Number

308785000

IMO Number

8506294

Registry

Bahamas

History

November 1st 1987: Launched.

December 28th 1987 - December 31st 1987: Sea trials.

May 14th 1988: Christened.

June 1988: Delivered to Royal Cruise Line, Piraeus, Greece.

June 4th 1988: Crossed from Emden to Tilbury.

June 7th 1988: Commenced cruising.

1990: Registered to Bahamas flag, home port Nassau.

1992: Sold to Kloster Cruise, Nassau, Bahamas.

May 1996: Renamed NORWEGIAN CROWN for Norwegian Cruise Line, Nassau, Bahamas.

May 2000: Service for Orient Line. Renamed CROWN ODYSSEY.

March 26th 2003: Renamed NORWEGIAN CROWN at Sembawang Shipyard, Singapore.

September 15th 2003: Inaugural cruise from Baltimore.

2004: Registered Owner; Crown Odyssey Ltd.

2004: Registered Owner; Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd.

Nigel Thornton Collection

May 26th 2006: Sold to Fred Olsen Cruise Line, for delivery in November 2007, but chartered back to Norwegian Cruise Line for completion of 2007 cruise season.

June 7th 2006: Grounded on a sandbar in Bermuda between Dockyard and Spanish Point, but was eventually freed by three tugs that evening.

October 28th 2007: Last NCL cruise.

November 5th 2007: Fred. Olsen took delivery in New York.

November 14th 2007 (eve): Called at Dover.

November 15th 2007: To Blohm & Voss Repair GmbH, in Hamburg for refurbishment and lengthening by insertion of 30m mid-section.

November 17th 2007: “The ship is being cut in half today, prior to inserting a new 100-foot midsection, adding 350 berths. She will be renamed BALMORAL.”

November 2007: Renamed BALMORAL

January 23rd 2008: Anticipated inaugural arrival in Dover.

January 25th 2008: Inaugural arrival at Dover. Her first cruise was a 14-night Canary Islands voyage. The ship then ill then repositioned to Miami, FL, becoming the first Fred. Olsen vessel home-ported in the US.

2008: Commenced cruising for Fred Olsen.

January 20th 2009: Two passengers were taken to hospital with broken bones after she was hit by 50ft waves in the Bay of Biscay. She docked in the Spanish port of La Coruna after setting sail from Dover on January 17th .
Her owners said the passengers were injured when they fell over as the ship endured rough seas and winds of 60mph.

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All information is believed to be correct and no responsibility is accepted for any errors or omissions found. All items included in this article are subject to © copyright. We would like to take this opportunity of thanking: Jens Boldt, Benoit Donne, Christian Eckardt, Brian Fisher, Aleksi Lindström, Mikael Söderholm, jorodmon and Jan Tiedemann for their assistance in compiling this feature.