Identification IMO number 7032997 Length 142.12 m (466 ft) Launched 16 October 1970 Capacity 770 | Status out of service Beam 21.90 m (72 ft) Builder Chantiers de l'Atlantique Completed 16 May 1971 | |
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Name 1971-1975 Eagle
1975-1987 Azur
1987-2004 The Azur
2005-Present Royal Iris Tonnage 14,717 gross tonnage (GT) Operators Festival Cruises, Mano Maritime | ||
MS Royal Iris is a 1971 built car ferry/cruise ferry which was later rebuilt into a cruise ship in 1981. She is the last surviving ship ever owned by the Chandris Lines. She is the last surviving ship out of three near identical sisters, the others being the ill-fated Scandinavian Star and the Fred. Olsen & Co. ferry Bolero. In late 2014, Mano Cruise stopped the ship's service.
Contents
1971-1987
In 1971, the British company Southern Ferries, a subsidiary of P&O Ferries, launched the MV Eagle for a new car/cruise ferry service, a six-day-long Southampton-Lisbon-Tangier itinerary. She did not stay in service with her original owners for very long, as the route she was designed for proved unsuccessful, and in 1975 she was sold to the Paquet Cruises subsidiary Nouvelle Cie. de Paquebots. Her new owners had her repainted white and renamed Azur, carrying out cruise and ferry voyages in the Mediterranean. This continued on uneventfully until 1981 when Paquet decided to drop ferry services completely and rebuild Azur into a full-time cruise ship, with many extra cabins being built into her car decks, and an extra swimming pool installed on her stern. In 1987 Paquet sold Azur to the Greek cruise company Chandris Lines.
1987-2004
Upon entering service with Chandris's subsidiary Chandris Fantasy Cruises, she was renamed The Azur, and her funnels were painted the traditional Chandris blue with a white chi. By 1994 Chandris was "phasing out" their Fantasy Cruises brand, doing so by selling The Azur to Festival Cruises. Festival had The Azur cruise on voyages out of Venice and Genoa until they declared bankruptcy in 2004. When this happened The Azur was placed under arrest by harbor authorities Gibraltar. At Festival Cruises bankruptcy sale, The Azur was sold to the Israel-based Mano Maritime for over USD $10 million.
2005-Present
Upon entering service for them, Mano Maritime renamed her the Royal Iris and painted a smiling yellow fish on both sides of her hull. On June 21, 2005, a small fire broke out on board while the ship was anchored of Samos. It was quickly extinguished by the crew. Today Royal Iris regularly sets out on cruises through the Greek Islands and Cyprus. In 2014 Mano Cruises stopped the ship's operations and today Royal Iris is out of service. On January 28, 2017, Cruise Industry News reported that the vessel (now named the Roy Star) would enter into service for Sovfracht and Rosmorport in a joint venture calling on ports in the Black Sea including Crimea, Yalta, Sevastopol and Istanbul, with the ship sailing round-trip from Sochi. The Cruise legal site Cruisebruise raised question if such an Itinerary could be in violation of sanctions.
On board features
On board Royal Iris there are three swimming pools, two night clubs, a discotheque, sauna, sports facilities, a casino, hairdressing salon and movie theater.