M.F. KAZAKHSTAN

Black Sea Shipping Company (BLASCO)

Soviet Union, Ukraine

 

Photo taken in Istanbul in 1986.

 

Built: 1976 by Oy Wartsila AB, Turku Shipyard, Finland as a cruise/car ferry.

Technical:  

Overall length: 156.2 m

Beam: 22.0 m

Draft: 5.9 m

Gross Tonnage: 16631 tons

Passengers: 650

Power: 2 Pielstick-Wartsila diesels, 18000 HP

Service Speed: 20.0 knots

Operating Routes: Worldwide cruising, including the Far East, America's and the Mediterranean. After she was sold by BLASCO, she has been doing mini/daily cruises from Florida, mostly operating as a party/gambling boat.

Sister Ships: M.F. Belorussiya, M.F. Kareliya, M.F. Gruziya, M.F. Azerbaydzhan.

Former Names: None

Later Names: M.S. Ukraina (Dec, 1994), M.S. Royal Seas (Sept, 1996), M.S. Ukraina (Jan, 1997), M.S. Island Adventure (1998), M.S. Romantic I (2002, never realized!)

Owners:
- 1976-1994: Black Sea Shipping Company, Odessa, Ukraine.
- 1994-1998: Black Sea Shipping Company UK, under Liberian flag, chartered to Royal Seas Cruise Lines under the name of MS Royal Seas between 1995 to 1996.
- 1998-: Owned by Marvest Shipholding (a subsidiary of the Black Sea Shipping Company), chartered to Sea Escape Entertainement Inc..
A possible transfer to Romantic Cruise Line never realized, although CruiseShares (or Exa International, their parent company) claimed ownership.

History and Current Status: Between 1976 and 1994, she operated under the Black Sea Shipping Company (BLASCO) of the Soviet Union and then Ukraine. She got converted into a cruise vessel in 1984, at Lloyd-Werft, Bremerhaven, Germany. She got transferred to BLASCO UK in 1994 and operated under the Liberian flag with a new name, MS Ukraina, mostly in Florida based cruises. During her charter to Royal Seas Cruise Lines, Tampa, Florida (1995-1996), she operated in the Caribbean as a party/casino boat on Tampa based mini cruises. During this period, reports show that her name changed frequently between MS Ukraina and MS Royal Seas, depending on the base port of the cruise. In 1998 (and similarly to her sister MF Azerbaydzhan), she got rebuilt, rechristened MS Island Adventure, chartered by the Florida based party/gambling boat operator, Sea Escape, and started making daily party cruises from Port Everglades, Florida, carrying as much as 1100 people on each trip. In February 2001, Sea Escape filed a letter of intent to purchase her for a total of $25M. As of November 2003, she is still operating under the Sea Escape management. There were rumors that later in 2002, she was going to be purchased by the Romantic Cruise Line (a part of Cruise Shares group) and she would start serving in the Cruise Share project after being refurbished, under the name of MS Romantic I. This project never materialized, although CruiseShares claimed ownership of the vessel with no solid grounds, mainly to sabotage the charter deal between Marvest Shipholding (BLASCO) and SeaEscape.

In 2003, when she started to fail sanitation requirements, Marvest refurbished and updated her facilities in Freeport, Bahamas. During her absence, SeaEscape replaced her with her sister M.S. Enchanted Capri, ex. M.F. Azerbaydzhan. M.S. Kazakhstan is now back and operating under charter to SeaEscape as of November 2003.

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

Notes: Due to her worldwide cruising schedule, I only remember seeing MS Kazakhstan three times until 1991. Luckily, I had a camera on one of these rare occassions and was able to take a photo of her docked at Istanbul, although from far. The picture above was zoomed in from the original, that included 2 other ships. It is sad to see that she is being used (and most unexpectedly) as a daily party/casino boat out of Florida. Although it is a consolation to see that she is still taking on to the seas, she would be much better in the hands of a regular cruise company.

Links:

- Micke Asklander's MS Kazakhstan page.
- Aleksi Lindstrom's MS Kazakhstan page, a Delphin Seereisen booklet cover.
- MS Ukraina from Shipphotos.co.uk..
- Cruise2.com's MS Island Adventure page.

Line Drawings: From the book "Soviet Bloc Merchant Ships" by Bruno Bock and Klaus Bock, 1981.

Other Pictures:

The following photographs are provided by Mr. Jimmy Gisclair, who spent a vacation on M.F. Kazakhstan in the Caribbean during January 1979. Here is a short report from him.

Postcards from My Collection: