DAPHNE em Alang

O navio de passageiros DAPHNE ex-PRINCESS DAPHNE já está fundeado próximo de Alang, a aguardar uma ultima inspecção antes da atribuição de um local para encalhar a fim de ser desmantelado. Chegou a Alang ao amanhecer de 2 de Junho depois de uma última viagem sem regresso, desde Creta, onde estivera imobilizado desde Outubro de 2012 na sequência do colapso da companhia Classic International Cruises. 

Os mapas com a localização do DAPHNE são reproduzidos do "AIS MARINE TRAFFIC".

Alang é o principal cemitério de navios da actualidade e fica localizado próximo de Damão e Diu, que com Goa e alguns pequenos enclaves constituíam o Estado Português da India, tomado pela força em Dezembro de 1961. 

Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. 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 

PRINCESS DAPHNE leaving Malaga

The PRINCESS DAPHNE sailing from Malaga on 15 September 2010 cruising in the Mediterranean on charter to Hansa Cruises of Germany.
Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. 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 

A close look into PRINCESS DAPHNE

On 15 September 2010 I did some nice photographs of PRINCESS DAPHNE berthed in Malaga, Spain. DAPHNE and her sister DANAE are a perfect blend of classic British hull design of mid 20th century and scandinavian of passenger ship design of the 1970s. 

They have the last surviving cruiser sterns and when rebuilt in Greece they became upmarket luxury cruise ships, looking for the same kind of passenger cruising on the Royal Viking Line sisters...

Berthed at Malaga cruising for the German market all looked fine for the old girl recently reunited to her sister DANAE. She did run out of luck in 2012, and now DAPHNE is dooing her final crossing of the Suez Canal. Like in the old times of Port Line...

Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. 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

DAPHNE a caminho da sucata

O navio de cruzeiros PRINCESS DAPHNE, último navio de passageiros ligado ao ramo lisboeta da Família Potamianos, largou ontem, dia 17 de Maio de 2014, de Souda Bay, na ilha de Creta, com destino a Port Said e a sucata no subcontinente indiano. 

O navio estava imobilizado em Creta desde Outubro de 2012, quando a frota da Classic International Cruises foi arrestada em diversos portos do Mediterraneo.

O navio mudou de bandeira, de Portugal para Kitts e Nevis e voltou a chamar-se DAPNHE propositadamente para esta derradeira viagem sem regresso. Foi construido em Newcastle em 1955 para a companhia Port Line com o nome PORT SYDNEY e reconstruído na Grécia em 1973-75. Integrou a frota da Classic International Cruises em 2008, tendo sido o último navio comprado por Georgios Potamianos, que faleceu em Maio de 2012. A sua empresa e os seus últimos cinco navios não sobreviveram por muitomais  tempo, como acontece tantas vezes com armadores gregos: a geração seguinte não consegue dar continuidade à obra do fundador, e a Classic International Cruises não teve destino diferente. Fotografia do DAPHNE tirada de bordo do ATHENA em Tanger a 14 de Setembro de 2010, quando os dois navios navegaram em cruzeiros fazendo escalas consecutivas nos mesmos portos durante diversos dias.

O  Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. 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

PRINCESS DAPHNE on her way to the beach...

PRINCESS DAPHNE, the final cruise ship under control of the Lisbon branch of the Potamianos Family, sailed yesterday, 17 May 2014, from Souda Bay, in the island of Crete, bound for Port Said and the beaches of Alang, the India final destination for so many ships. 

For this final "cruise" she was renamed DAPHNE and now sails under the Kitts and Nevis flag. As PRINCESS DAPHNE this classic beautiful ship had been laying at Souda Bay since October 2012 when four Classic International Cruises ships still operating at the time, were arrested in the Mediterranean.

PRINCESS DAPHNE was the last cruise ship purchased by the late Georgios Petros Potamianos, founder of Lisbon-based Classic International Cruises, an organization developed following the purchase of the FUNCHALin August 1985 from Portuguese state owned company CTM - Companhia Portuguesa de Transportes Marítimos.

Georgios Potamianos operated six classic passenger liners and cruise ships from Lisbon, the largest being the VASCO DA GAMA. Over the years he was able to become a successful independent operator of classic older passenger ship tonnage. However Mr. Potamianos passed away in May 2012 and like so many other Greek shipping concerns his heritage did not survive for long. 

Early in 2013 Georgios Potamianos sons reached an agreement with a Lisbon bank and retained ownership of the PRINCESS DAPHNE, while the bank sold the other remaining ships to Portuscale Cruises. Unfortunately they were unable to return this ship to commercial cruise service despite some efforts, and so DAPHNE has just been sold for scrap.

PRINCESS DAPHNE was built in 1955 in Newcastle for Port Line as PORT SYDNEY. She was sold in 1972 to J. C. Karras and rebuilt as a luxury cruise ship, returning to service in 1975.

Photos of the PRINCESS DAPHNE taken in Tangiers on 14 September 2010 by Luís Miguel Correia from fleetmate ATHENA. Bth ships were cruising in tandem for several days...

Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. 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

DAPHNE back in 1975

The then brand-new Greek cruise ship DAPHNE in her first season in 1975 after rebuilding as an up market luxury cruise liner. She was the former Port Line cargo passenger liner PORT SYDNEY, built in 1955 in Newcastle as one of the best looking ships of her type, and used on the Europe & UK to New Zealand and Australia regular service until sold to the Greek oner John Karras in 1972 ith her sister PORT MELBOURNE, also rebuilt as the DANAE.

They were introduced in 1975 and 1977 as cruise ships at a time when passenger shipping and cruising was on a lower web, and most people considered the days of the large passenger ships were over. I remember taking photographs of DAPHNE and DANAE in Lisbon on their first calls and they really were handsome ships with a balanced profile and nice livery. Many years later, both ships joined the fleet of the Lisbon based Classic International Cruises and renamed PRINCESS DAPHNE and PRINCESS DAPHNE. Unfortunately now the future of both sisters is on a crossroad, with DAPHNE in Crete and DANAE in Marseilles under arrest...

Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. 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

OCEAN MONARCH in Lisbon 25 January 2008

Classic International Cruises newest aquisition, the cruise ship OCEAN MONARCH arrived Lisbon on 25 January 2008 from Piraeus. She will now be refited in Lisbon before a summer season under charter to German interests, after which she will be further refited and renamed PRINCESS DAPHNE.

With this new ship the fleet operated from Lisbon by Classic International Cruises numbers five ships. OCEAN MONARCH purchase also means she is again reunited with her sister ship PRINCESS DANAE, the former DANAE, that was pruchased in 1996 by the present owners.

The OCEAN MONARCH is scheduled to enter the dry dock nº. 1 of NavalRocha shipyard, in Lisbon, where the Classic International Cruises fleet is refited and docked regularly.

The three photographs were taken on the arrival of the OCEAN MONARCH. She sailed from Piraeus with a crew of 55 and the funnel repainted white.

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