Ocean Princess News

On January 7, 2021, the dry bulk carrier Ocean Princess struck the uncrewed/out-of-service oil and gas production platform SP-83A while operating 24 miles south of Pilottown, Louisiana. Now, some 19 months later,  the National Transportation Safety Board has released an investigation report which showed that poor bridge resource management and a charting error led to the bulk carrier striking the oil and gas production platform.The 24-person crew of the Ocean Princess was drifting overnight in the Gulf of Mexico before going to New Orleans to load a cargo of grain. The master planned to drift throughout the night with the engine on 15-minute standby, keeping clear of traffic and platforms, NTSB said.Area where the Ocean Princess contacted platform SP-83A, as indicated by a red X.

The owner and operator will pay a total criminal fine of $3,000,000.00.U.S. Attorney Gretchen Shappert for the District of the Virgin Islands announced that IONIAN SHIPPING & TRADING CORP., LILY SHIPPING LTD., STAMATIOS ALEKIDIS, ATHANASIOS PITTAS and REY ESPULGAR have been convicted and sentenced for various pollution, recordkeeping, and obstruction of justice crimes on the Motor Tanker (“M/T”) Ocean Princess in St. Croix, U.S.V.I. The defendants’ conduct included using fuel that exceeded the maximum allowable sulfur concentration in the U.S. Caribbean Emission Control Area (“U.S.

P&O Cruises, part of Carnival Corporation & PLC, has chosen GE’s Marine Solutions once again to provide upgrades on board its 77,499-ton cruise vessel Oceana. Formerly known as Ocean Princess, the cruise ship was built in 1998 and had GE’s Syconum 2 electronic controller on board. GE will now be responsible for replacing existing controllers with the new generation of power electronics controllers on the four propulsion drives. Enabled by a decentralized architecture, the new digital propulsion controller benefits from a compact design…

Carnival Corp's Princess Cruise Lines will plead guilty to seven felony charges for polluting the seas and deliberate acts to cover it up, and pay a record $40 million criminal penalty, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday. Shares of Carnival, the world's largest cruise operator, were down more than 2 percent at $50.29 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange after the announcement. The Caribbean Princess had been making illegal discharges since 2005 using bypass equipment - including a so-called "magic pipe" - to circumvent pollution-prevention equipment that separates oil and monitors oil levels in the ship's water, the department said.

South Africa’s ports are ramping up for a bumper cruise season with at least eight luxury cruise lines and over ten passenger vessels of varying sizes set to ferry international and domestic tourists across the country’s port cities. The South African cruise season kicked off officially in October with a number of smaller vessels already having called at South Africa’s ports. They are en route to and from travel hotspots in Africa, Europe, the Far East, the Mediterranean, South America and more. However the MSC SINFONIA – a cruise ship in the local cruise calendar – marked a highlight in the 2015/16 cruise calendar when she arrived in her homeport of Durban in the early hours of Thursday, November 19. This was her first South African call this season.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. announced a definitive agreement with Princess Cruises, Ltd. to purchase Ocean Princess for its newly acquired Oceania Cruises brand. The 684-passenger ship, to be named Siren, joins Oceania Cruises' trio of recently refurbished sister ships Insignia, Regatta and Nautica. Upon delivery in March 2016, Sirena will immediately undergo a 35-day, $40 million refurbishment in Marseille, France to elevate the ship to the Oceania Cruises' standard of elegance.

The 600-passenger dinner cruise vessel; M/V Horizon was delivered to Pegasus Yacht Cruises of New York by Blount Industries on March 5. Measuring 161 ft. (49 m), Horizon boasts a welded steel, single chine hull with three enclosed dining decks, with all superstructure above the second deck is 100 percent aluminum construction. New Jersey-based Robinson Interiors designed Horizon with old world ambience in mind — its dining room features varnished cherry wood paneling and trim. The vessel is powered by two owner-supplied Detroit Diesel 16V-92 engines, soft mounted for silent operation with Lo-Rez vibration mounts and couplings. Electric engine controls by Mathers provide throttle and gear control, while a Murphy alarm panel monitors the propulsion engines.

Cheaper tickets for Caribbean cruises filled the decks but hit the finances of P&O Princess Cruises Plc last year when profits fell 11 percent. Most of the damage was reported in the fourth quarter, when operating profits fell more than 70 percent to $15.9 million due to high fuel prices, choppy exchange rates and the suspension of cruise calls to ports in Israel because of Middle East violence. And with prices of cruises booked so far through next autumn still lower than last year, trading conditions at the company -- which cast off from British shipping giant P&O last year -- are likely to remain tough in 2001. "We are already fully booked in the first quarter. But when you look further forward, there is still a competitive price situation in the U.S.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Vessel Sanitation Program has responded to an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness aboard the Princess Cruises’ Ocean Princess with recommendations for aggressive sanitation measures. These measures are currently being implemented by the owners of the vessel in order to halt the spread of disease. CDC is also coordinating with the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services and Health Canada. On May 26, Princess Cruises notified CDC of an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness aboard the Ocean Princess. The ship was en route from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Seward, Alaska. Of the 2,053 passengers on board, at least 40 became ill with gastrointestinal symptoms. In addition, 12 of the 852 crew members also became ill.

With a strong history of building some of the greatest liners to sail the seas, with names such as Rex, Saturnia, Vulcania, Leonardo da Vinci and Grand Princess to its credit, Fincantieri continues its tradition to this day as a leading ship builder, particularly in the cruise ship segment. Fincantieri — which is comprised of seven shipyards and two centers for ship design, with the one in Trieste being the largest in Europe — has developed a long tradition in designing and building ships, with more than 200 years of history marked by the construction of more than 7,000 ships. While the entirety of the Fincantieri system is geared toward generating technically superior products, it can be said, simply, that the Italians build beautiful cruise ships.