MS is a cruise ship owned and operated by

Nippon Yusen Kaisha Nippon Yūsen Kabushiki Kaisha (Japan Mail Shipping Line), also known as NYK Line, is a Japanese shipping company and is a member of the Mitsubishi '' keiretsu''. The company headquarters are located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It operates a ...

. She was originally built by the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries shipyard in Nagasaki, Japan, as ''Crystal Harmony'' for Crystal Cruises. In 2006, ''Crystal Harmony'' was transferred from the fleet of Crystal Cruises to that of Crystal's parent company, Nippon Yusen Kaisha, and entered service under her current name. , she was the largest cruise ship in Japan.

Service history

1990–2006: ''Crystal Harmony''

Crystal Harmony arriving in Wellington Harbor, 27 February 2005 (cropped)

During ''Crystal Harmony''s maiden voyage in the South American and Caribbean waters, the ship caught on fire due to a fuel leak in an auxiliary engine room some from

Cristóbal Cristóbal or Cristobal, the Spanish version of Christopher, is a masculine given name and a surname which may refer to: Given name *Cristóbal Balenciaga (1895–1972), Spanish fashion designer *Cristóbal Cobo (born 1976), Chilean academic *Cri ...

. ''Crystal Harmony'' drifted without power for sixteen hours but after repairs made it to port under her own steam and disembarked her passengers in Panama. She sailed to the island of

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...

, escorted by a tugboat, for repairs.

2006 onwards: ''Asuka II''

After fifteen years of service, ''Crystal Harmony'' was retired from the Crystal fleet in 2005. She was transferred to the parent company

to replace the ''Asuka''. She then underwent renovation and re-entered service as ''Asuka II''. She caught fire again on June 16 2020 while at dock in Yokohama.

2021 COVID-19 case

On 30 April 2021, the ship was en route from the Port of Yokohama and was scheduled to stop at

Aomori is the capital city of Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 278,964 in 136,457 households, and a population density of 340 people per square kilometer spread over the city's total area of ...

and Hokkaido prefectures when one case of COVID-19 was detected on board. The passenger was reportedly stable and in isolation in a cabin. The ship returned to Yokohama were the rest of passengers and crew were disembarked.

References

External links

Marine traffic

asukacruise.co.jp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asuka II 1989 ships Cruise ships Ships built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries COVID-19 pandemic in Japan Cruise ships involved in the COVID-19 pandemic