Saturday, June 20, 2009

ARION in Venice

The Portuguese-flag cruise ship ARION berthed in Venice in September 2001 while doing Eastern Mediterranean cruises.
ARION is an old friend I was used to see calling in Lisbon in the 1970s in her near-original form as ISTRA, then cruising on charter by German interests with her sister DALMACIJA. Two small beautiful passenger ships very similar to an older twice as large pair also popular in Lisbon in the early 1970s, the Lloyd Brasileiro ANNA NERY and ROSA DA FONSECA.
After a spell as the Ukranian and Panamian ASTRA, the former ISTRA was purchased by a company associated to Classic International Cruises in 1999 and rebuilt in Lisbon as the ARION. She is still with CIC as their smaller ship in a 5-cruise ships fleet. All classics...
During her Lisbon refit, the original lifeboats were replaced by newer ones purchased in Greece from the Latsis yacht ALEXANDER ex-REGINA MARIS. The lifeboats were transported to Lisbon from Piraeus on board the FUNCHAL in August 1999.
Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia

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