M.S. WORLD RENAISSANCE

Epirotiki Lines

Piraeus, Greece.

 

Photo taken in Istanbul, Turkey. 1987.

 

Built:

1966. Chantiers de L'Atlantique, St. Nazaire, France. Refurbished in 1996 and 1998.

Technical:

Overall length: 150.02 m
Beam: 21.06 m
Draft: 6.20 m
Gross Tonnage: 11724 tons
Passengers: 599
Power: 2 6 cylinder Burmeister and Wain diesels, totaling 10068 kW.
Service Speed: 18.5 knots

Operating Routes:

She operated on the Marseille-Haifa route during her first years under Compagnie Navigation de Paquet, as well as on cruises around the world. Under charter to Neckermann Cruises, she sailed on Miami based cruises to Bahamas, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica in the 70's. She was also one of the first ships to offer regular cruises to Alaska and the Amazon basin. Under Epirotiki and Costa colors, she was used in worldwide cruising. As M.S. Awani Dream, she was used in Indonesia based cruises in Asia. Under the colors of Royal Olympic Cruises, she was also used as a floating university under charter to a student organization.

Sister (or similar) Ships:

None.

Former Names:

- M.S. Renaissance (1966, Croisieres Paquet, France).
- M.S. Homeric Renaissance (1977, Epirotiki Lines, Greece)

Later Names:

- M.S. Awani Dream (1995, Awani Modern Group)
- M.S. World Renaissance (1998, Royal Olympic Cruises, Greece).

Owners:

- 1966-October, 1977: Compagnie de Navigation Paquet, Marseille, France.
- 1977-July, 1995: Epirotiki Lines, Piraeus, Greece.
- July, 1995- March, 1998: Awani Modern Group, Djakarta, Indonesia.
- March, 1998 - Present : Royal Olympic Cruises, Piraeus, Greece.

History and Current Status:

She started her life as the M.S. Renaissance of the Compagnie Navigation de Paquet (Croiseres Paquet), , Marseille, France. She was the last liner built for the company, which also owned M.S. Jean Mermoz. Paquet was assimilated by Costa Armatori in the mid 90's. In 1977, she was purchased by the rising Piraeus based Greek company, the Epirotiki Lines, to sail as their M.S. World Renaissance (her original name of M.S. Homeric Renaissance was short lived). She sailed the world's seas on cruises under the colors of Epirotiki and also under a long term charter to Costa, succesfully until 1995, when the company started experiencing financial difficulties. In the summer of 1995, an Indonesian company called the Awani Modern Group purchased her to be used on cruises out of Djakarta. In 1998, the Awani Modern Group ceased operations and after a short 3 year service in the Far East, she returned home and was purchased for $14M USD by the Royal Olympic Cruises, which is a merger of the 2 well-known Greek companies, the Sun Line and the Epirotiki Lines, which joined forces to help them to get through the financial difficulties that both companies experienced during the mid 90's (In 1999, Epirotiki-Sun Line partnership ceased and Epirotiki reteamed with Louis Cruise Lines of Cyprus. Besides its interests in Royal Olympic and Louis, Epirotiki stil organizes daily or short cruises out of Greece in the Aegean with small passenger vessels M.S. Hermes, M.S. Jason and a bunch of other smaller ships). M.S. World Renaissance is still in service under the colors of the Royal Olympic as of December 2002, although there are reports that she started showing her age and her interiors need upgrading to current market standards. She is for sale for $15M USD as shown at Marine Transportation Consultants.

(email all info about her to ata.bilgili@dartmouth.edu)

Notes:

M.S. World Renaissance was a vessel that I was familiar with from the pages of Costa Line brochures in the early 80's. She was under charter to Costa at the time and had the typical "Linea C" emblem on her unusual funnel. She either did not visit Istanbul frequently or I was not aware when she did, I do not remember which one, but I somehow was indifferent to her. Then in the second half of the eighties, she started calling at Istanbul very frequently, dressed up in Epirotiki colors. She was much better looking in this livery than her full white one under Costa, which made her look bulkier than she actually was. With her sharply pointed bow and her forward sloping wheelhouse made her look like she was going to break the world record in speed. I especially liked the way "World" was written on her bow. I always though that little detail added class to her already beautiful looks. As a ship built at the end of the sixties, she was exceptionally good looking and could easily pass for a vessel built later in the 70's and even in the first half of the 80's. I call this the French "savoir faire" (know how), as proved by many other French built vessels, like M.F. Truva or M.S. Ayvazovskiy!... Hopefully, she will survive at least the first 10 years of the 2000's.

Links:

- M.S. World Renaissance from the Ferry Gallery site.
- M.S. World Renaissance by Aleksi Lindstrom.
- M.S. World Renaissance from Stephanie Diez's site.
- M.S. World Renaissance under Royal Olympic colors from Simplon postcards.
- M.S. World Renaissance under Costa colors from Simplon postcards.
- M.S. World Renaissance from the Royal Olympic Website.

Line Drawings:

Other Pictures:

Postcards from My Collection: