Cost £150 million Draft 5.95 m Beam 25 m | Yard number I31 Length 181 m | |
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Name 1998—2002 R Two2002—2003 Insignia2003—present Regatta Operator 1998—2001 Renaissance Cruises2001—2002 laid up2002—2003 Oceania Cruises2003 TMR2003—present Oceania Cruises Port of registry | ||
Cruise ship ms regatta at santo tom s guatemala
MS Regatta was built by Renaissance cruises as an R class cruise ship, she is owned and operated by Oceania Cruises where she is part of their Regatta Class. She was built in 1998 by the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in St. Nazaire, France for Renaissance Cruises as R Two. Between 2002 and 2003 she sailed as Insignia before receiving her current name.
Contents
- Cruise ship ms regatta at santo tom s guatemala
- Concept and construction
- Service history
- Exterior design
- Interior design
- Decks
- References
Concept and construction
Renaissance Cruises had begun operations in 1989, with a series of eight small luxury cruise ships constructed during the course of the next three years. In the mid-90s the company placed an order for eight identical 30,277 gross ton vessels with Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in France. The first ship in the series, MS R One, was delivered in June 1998, followed by R Two in November of the same year.
Service history
Following her delivery to Renaissance Cruises in November 1998, R Two was placed on cruise traffic in the Mediterranean. Renaissance Cruises went bankrupt on 25 September 2001, following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, and, on 7 October 2001, the R Two was arrested in Gibraltar and subsequently laid up. Six of her sisters were also laid up in Gibraltar, with only MS R Three and MS R Four absent as they were in the Pacific Ocean at the time of the collapse of Renaissance. In December 2001, R Two and the other former Renaissance ships laid up in Gibraltar were sold to Cruiseinvest, and subsequently moved to Marseille, France for further layup.
In October 2002, R Two was renamed Insignia, given a $10 million refit and chartered to Oceania Cruises, a new company founded by Frank Del Rio (the former vice president of Renaissance Cruises) and Joe Watters (the former CEO of Crystal Cruises). Between 19 April and 14 June 2003, Insignia was chartered to the French travel agency TMR, who marketed the ship under the name Vaisseau Renaissance (her registered name remained unchanged). On 15 June 2003, the ship returned to Oceania Cruises service, but was renamed Regatta, as the name Insignia had been passed to her sister R One that had also been chartered by Oceania.
Exterior design
R Two was built to a somewhat boxy, functional exterior appearance with a large square funnel. In Renaissance Cruises service her hull was painted dark blue, but in Oceania service this was changed to white with a thin blue stripe separating the hull from the superstructure.
Interior design
The interiors of Regatta are decorated in art deco style similar to the ocean liners of the 1920s and 30s with polished dark wood and warm colours, described by Douglas Ward, author of the Complete Guide to Cruising and Cruise Ships, as being "stunning and elegant". The ship retains most of her interior decorations from her days with Renaissance Cruises, although the lido area on deck 9 was entirely refurbished before she entered service for Oceania Cruises, while smaller changes were carried out in the cabins and restaurants.
Decks
The decks plans provided by Oceania Cruises only include the lay-outs of passenger accessible decks.
- Engine room and laundry fwd
- various offices
- Outside cabins
- Reception, outside and inside cabins
- Boutique, casino, bars, main dining room, lounge
- Suites, outside and inside cabins
- Suites, outside and inside cabins
- Bridge, suites, outside and inside cabins
- Card room, gym, spa, internet center, swimming pool, beauty salon, cafeteria, bar, sundeck
- Bar/lounge, library, grill restaurant, Italian restaurant, sundeck
- Sundeck