MS ''Kydon Palace'' is a Greek Ro-Pax high speed

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

, built in 2001 at the

Sestri Ponente Sestri Ponente is an industrial suburb of Genoa in northwest Italy. It is part of the Medio Ponente ''municipio'' of Genoa. Geography It is situated on the Ligurian Sea four miles to the west of the city, between Pegli and Cornigliano. Its po ...

shipyards by

Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

as ''Festos Palace'' for Minoan Lines' overnight services between

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

and

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

. Initially she ran to

Heraklion Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...

. In 2020 she was transferred to the Piraeus–

Chania Chania (, , ), also sometimes romanization of Greek, romanized as Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno ...

route and renamed ''Kydon Palace'' She is a sister ship of ''Knossos Palace''. She can reach speeds up to . The ship's facilities include restaurants, bars and cabins.

Design and construction

''Festos Palace'' was designed as a

Ro-pax Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, Trailer (vehicle), trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their ...

night ferry for service between Piraeus and Heraklion, Crete, though also used for daytime voyages. Together with her sister ship ''Knossos Palace'', she is very similar to the ''Janas'' class, built by Fincantieri for

Tirrenia Tirrenia is a frazione (parish) of Pisa, Tuscany, Italy with a population of 3,112 inhabitants. Immersed in the pine forest of the "Litorale Pisano" and in the coast of Ligurian Sea (even if the name of the village refers to Tyrrhenian Sea, in Ita ...

at the same time. As built, the ferry measured . Her original dimensions were long overall and

between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the ster ...

, with a beam, a depth, and a draught of . The vessel had an original capacity for 1,000 cars, with a usable lane length of and could carry 760 berthed and 1,240 deck passengers. She is powered by four

Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish corporation, Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the Marine propulsion, marine and energy markets. The core ...

16V46C

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s, together rated at , giving the ship a service speed of . In total, the ship has eight decks. The Deck 5 is called "Androgeo" and features the reception. The Deck 6 is called "Atlantis", where it has an ''

à la carte In restaurants, ''à la carte'' (; ; ) is the practice of ordering individual dishes from a menu in a restaurant, as opposed to ''table d'hôte'', where a set menu is offered. It is an early 19th century loan from French meaning "according to ...

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

called "Yakinthos", with a capacity of 241 people, as well as a self-service restaurant called "Dionysos", with a capacity of 300 people. The difference between the two restaurants is that in one the passengers serve themselves, while in the other they order their meal. On the same deck there is a lounge called "Niovi", an

Internet café An Internet café, also known as a cybercafé, is a Coffeehouse, café (or a convenience store or a fully dedicated Internet access business) that provides the use of computers with high bandwidth Internet access on the payment of a fee. Usage ...

, outdoor decks and a shop called "Erofili". In the bow there is a large lounge, the "King Radamanthys". There is also the VIP Lounge - Lux Cabins, with a capacity of 98 people. The Deck 7 is called "Zakros" and has cabins as well as airline-type seats. The Deck 8 is called "Zephyros" and has VIP airline-type seats, swimming pools, a sun deck and a pool bar, which are open during the summer months. There is also the round deck "Asterion" and the disco "Selini"; the ship's bridge is on the same deck.

In service

In 2020, she was transferred from the Piraeus-Heraklion line to Piraeus-Chania and renamed ''Kydon Palace'' after Kydon of Crete, the mythical founder of

Kydonia Kydonia ( or ), also known as Cydonia (, ''Kydōnía'') was an ancient city located at the site of present-day Chania near the west end of the island of Crete in Greece. The city is known from archaeological remains dating back to the Minoan e ...

, an ancient city of Crete in present-day Chania. She was inaugurated on 22 February 2020, by the Deputy Regional Governor of Chania, N. Kalogeris. A second inauguration ceremony took place on July 25 of the same year, in the presence of the Greek Minister of Shipping and Island Policy, Giannis Plakiotakis and the president of the Grimaldi Group, Emanuel Grimaldi.

References

External links

HSF Kydon Palace at minoan.gr

Info at Fincantieri.com
Ships of Minoan Lines Ships built in Genoa 2000 ships Ships built by Fincantieri {{Ferry-stub