MS ''Star Pisces'' was a

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours know ...

owned by

Star Cruises Star Cruises was a cruise line headquartered in Hong Kong and operating in the Asia-Pacific market. The company was owned by Genting Hong Kong. It was the eighteenth largest cruise line in the world after Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbe ...

and did short cruises from

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

. She was originally built as the

cruiseferry A cruiseferry is a ship that combines the features of a cruise ship and a Ro-Pax ferry. Many passengers travel with the ships for the cruise experience, staying only a few hours at the destination port or not leaving the ship at all, while ot ...

MS ''Kalypso'' in 1990 at

Masa-Yards STX Finland Oy, formerly Aker Yards Oy, was a Finnish shipbuilding company operating three shipyards in Finland, in Turku, Helsinki and Rauma, employing some 2,500 people. It was part of STX Europe, a group of international shipbuilding companie ...

Turku New Shipyard,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

for Rederi AB Slite for use in

Viking Line Viking Line Abp is a Finnish shipping company that operates a fleet of ferries and cruiseferries between Finland, the Åland Islands, Sweden and Estonia. Viking Line shares are quoted on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. Viking Line is operated ...

traffic. The ship was designed by Per Dockson. ''Star Pisces'' had a sister ship, ''Pearl Seaways''.

History

Viking Line

The late 1980s were a time of hectic new building in

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and fr ...

ferry services. Between 1985 and 1991 no less than 11 new ships debuted for competing companies Viking Line and

Silja Line Silja Line is a Swedish-Finnish cruiseferry brand operated by the Estonian ferry company Tallink, AS Tallink Grupp, for car, cargo and passenger traffic between Finland and Sweden. The former company Silja Oy—today Tallink Silja osakeyhtiö, O ...

. During construction of the ''Kalypso'' in 1989 the shipbuilding company

Wärtsilä Marine Wärtsilä Marine ( fi, Wärtsilä Meriteollisuus; sv, Wärtsilä Marinindustri) was a Finnish shipbuilding company. The company was created in 1987 in order to improve shipbuilding productivity by combining the Wärtsilä and Valmet yards und ...

was declared bankrupt. A new company, Masa-Yards, was established to continue operating Wärtsilä's shipyards in Turku and

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. As a result of the bankruptcy the ''Kalypso''s final price was much greater than originally agreed. When delivered on April 30, 1990, the ''Kalypso'' entered traffic on the route connecting Turku to

Mariehamn Mariehamn ( , ; fi, Maarianhamina ; la, Portus Mariae) is the capital of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty. Mariehamn is the seat of the Government and Parliament of Åland, and 40% of the population of Åland live in t ...

and Stockholm, where she sailed without mishap for the next three years. 1993 was to be the year when Slite would take delivery of another newbuild, the largest ferry in the world, M/S ''Europa''. However, the

Swedish krona The krona (; plural: ''kronor''; sign: kr; code: SEK) is the official currency of the Kingdom of Sweden. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it ...

was devaluated shortly before Slite were supposed to take delivery of the new ship. The ''Europa'' ended up in rival Silja Line's fleet in March 1993, and in April Rederi AB Slite was declared bankrupt. As a result of Slite's bankruptcy, ''Kalypso'' and her sister were sold at an auction in August 1993. Bids were made by

SF Line SF may refer to: Locations * San Francisco, California, United States * Sidi Fredj, Algeria * South Florida, an urban region in the United States * Suomi Finland, former vehicular country code for Finland In arts and entertainment Genre ...

(the remaining Viking Line operator),

P&O Ferries P&O Ferries is a British shipping company that operates ferries from United Kingdom to Ireland, and to Continental Europe (France, Belgium and the Netherlands). The company was created in 2002 through mergers and acquisitions within P&O. It ...

and

DFDS DFDS is a Danish international shipping and logistics company. It is the busiest shipping company of its kind in Northern Europe and one of the busiest in Europe. The company's name is an abbreviation of Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab (literal ...

, but the final buyer emerged from

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

where the newly established

bought both ships. The ''Kalypso'', the last ship ever delivered to Rederi AB Slite, stayed in Viking Line's traffic until January 1994.

Star Cruises

After the end of her service for Viking Line, the ''Kalypso'' sailed to

Naantali Naantali (; sv, Nådendal) is a town in southwestern Finland, and, as a resort town during the summer, an important tourist centre of the country. The municipality has a population of (), and is located in the region of Southwest Finland, west ...

, Finland where she was docked and renamed MS ''Star Pisces''. Later in the same month she sailed to

Finnyards STX Finland Oy, formerly Aker Yards Oy, was a Finnish shipbuilding company operating three shipyards in Finland, in Turku, Helsinki and Rauma, employing some 2,500 people. It was part of STX Europe, a group of international shipbuilding companie ...

, Rauma, Finland, where she was rebuilt as a cruise ship. In April 1994 the ship began operating cruises from

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. Originally the ship sported a dark blue hull with a narrow red band on top, which was later changed into all-white, matching the livery of other Star Cruises' ships. She was later moved to making day and night cruises from

. In May 2009 the ship suspended her sailings from Hong Kong and was laid up initially at Hong Kong, later moved to

Port Klang Port Klang ( ms, Pelabuhan Klang) is a town and the main gateway by sea into Malaysia. Known during colonial times as Port Swettenham ( ms, Pelabuhan Swettenham) but renamed Port Klang in July 1972, it is the largest port in the country. It is l ...

for further lay up. In February 2010, she was reactivated for cruising out of

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Ma ...

. She finished her deployment in Penang by the end of December 2010 and was refurbished in Singapore in January 2011. ''Star Pisces'' also received hull art, being the first ship to feature hull art in the Star Cruises fleet. She returned to Hong Kong to offer daily high sea cruises in late February 2011. ''Star Pisces'' entered drydock for major renovation in February 2013. In April 2022, it was announced that ''Star Pisces'' along with ''SuperStar Aquarius'' and ''SuperStar Gemini'' were all sold for scrap, following the collapse of Star Cruises' parent company, Genting Hong Kong. The ''Star Pisces'' was sold to a scrapyard in Alang, India. She was beached in 12 July 2022 under the name ''Pisc''.

References

External links

M/S Kalypso on Fakta om Fartyg

Star Pisces on Star Cruises
{{Viking Line ships Ships built in Turku Ships of Star Cruises 1989 ships Articles containing video clips