''Celestyal Journey'' is a cruise ship completed in 1994 and initially sailed for

Holland America Line Holland America Line N.V. (HAL) is an American cruise line operating as a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Founded in 1873 in Rotterdam, Netherlands as the Netherlands-America Steamship Company (NASM), the company operated regular trans ...

as ''Ryndam''. After nine years she was transferred within the Carnival group to

P&O Cruises Australia P&O Cruises Australia was a British-American owned cruise line with operational headquarters as part of Carnival Australia, based in Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia. Originally a sister company of P&O Cruises in the United Kingdom, it wa ...

and renamed ''Pacific Aria''. Plans that she would sail for Cruise & Maritime Voyages as ''Ida Pfeiffer'' from 2021 were abandoned, and P&O sold her instead in 2020 to

Seajets Seajets is a Greek/ Cypriot ferry company founded in 1989 by Marios Iliopoulos and his father Panagiotis. Seajets operates a fleet of passenger, freight ferry and cruiseferry services in the Aegean Sea. Seajets is one of Greece's leading ferry co ...

, who laid her up as ''Aegean Goddess''. In 2023 she was resold to

Celestyal Cruises Celestyal Cruises (formed in 2014) is a succession to Louis Cruises and Louis Cruise Lines. The Cruise line was a subsidiary of Louis plc (founded in 1935 as the first travel agency in Cyprus) until November 2021 when Searchlight Capital Partners ...

and renamed ''Celestyal Journey''. In December 2023, the Celestyal Journey was chartered by German-based cruise line, Phoenix Reisen. The ship was then used for the first section of the company's world voyage (ending in Cape Town), which was originally intended for

MS Amera MS ''Amera'' (formerly ''Royal Viking Sun'', ''Seabourn Sun'' and ''Prinsendam'') is a cruise ship operated by Phoenix Reisen. She was launched in 1988 as ''Royal Viking Sun'' for Royal Viking Line, and began operating for Cunard Line under t ...

, one of Phoenix Reisen's other ships, who was held up at the shipyard.

Construction and career

MS ''Ryndam''

''Ryndam'' was built as Holland America Line's third , otherwise known as S-class, cruise ship. She was ordered in November 1989 alongside two

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

s of her class, and was designated hull number 5883. Her

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...

was laid 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 ...

in 1993. From 1993 to 1994, the ship was completed and underwent

sea trials A sea trial or trial trip is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a " shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on o ...

. In 1994, ''Ryndam'' was christened by Madeleine Arison, and made her maiden voyage. In 2006, ''Ryndam'' underwent dry dock renovations at Grand Bahama Shipyard in

Freeport Freeport, a variant of free port, may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Freeport, name of several space stations in the video game ''Freelancer'' (2003) * Freeport, a fictional town in the video game ''SiN'' (1998) * ''Freeport: The Cit ...

Grand Bahama Grand Bahama is the northernmost of the islands of the Bahamas. It is the third largest island in the Bahamas island chain of approximately 700 islands and 2,400 cays. The island is roughly in area and approximately long west to east and at it ...

. From January through March 2007, the cruise ship suffered three outbreaks of

norovirus Norovirus, also known as Norwalk virus and sometimes referred to as the winter vomiting disease, is the most common cause of gastroenteritis. Infection is characterized by non-bloody diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach pain. Fever or headaches may ...

and was forced to return to

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, California. 355 passengers and 47 crew became sick on the three voyages. After the third outbreak, the vessel underwent a three-day disinfectant servicing before returning to cruise operations. In February 2008, ''Ryndam'' returned to San Diego from a ten-day tour with 113 passengers and 8 crew sicken from norovirus. In November 2010, an intoxicated passenger released ''Ryndam''s stern

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ', which itself comes from the Greek (). Anch ...

while the ship was in

international waters The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed region ...

en route to

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, though no damage to the ship was reported. In 2010, ''Ryndam'' again underwent dry dock renovations at Grand Bahama Shipyard. In April 2015, two passengers on board ''Ryndam'' were found deceased in their stateroom in what appeared to be a murder-suicide. According to Holland America Line, "The cabin was immediately secured and the authorities, including the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

, were notified." The formal cause of the deaths remained unclear. ''Ryndam'' had to terminate a sailing early due to another outbreak of

in July 2015. She was sailing a 14-day itinerary, which featured ports of call in Iceland and Norway. She underwent a deep clean in the

Port of Harwich Harwich International Port is a North Sea seaport in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports. It lies on the south bank of the River Stour upstream from the town of Harwich, opposite the Port of Felixstowe. The port was formerly known as ...

immediately afterwards, before returning to service.

''Pacific Aria''

Holland America Line had announced in May 2014 that ''Ryndam'' would be transferred to

after her 2015 season. She subsequently sailed to Singapore for dry docking at Sembcorp Marine Admiralty Yard, commencing 31 October. By 12 November extensive interior and exterior changes to the ship had been completed, and she emerged as ''Pacific Aria''. In an attempt to garner global social media recognition for the introduction of two new

flagships A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

, P&O Cruises Australia broadcast the ships' christening ceremony on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

and through their godmothers' social media accounts. ''Pacific Aria'' and her sister, ''Pacific Eden'', were renamed in

Port Jackson Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...

, Sydney, on 25 November, with

Jessica Mauboy Jessica Hilda Mauboy (; born 4 August 1989) is an Australian singer. Born and raised in Darwin, Northern Territory, she rose to fame in 2006 on the Australian Idol (season 4), fourth season of ''Australian Idol'', where she was runner-up and s ...

as godmother for ''Pacific Aria''. ''Pacific Aria'' was laid up 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

''Ida Pfeiffer'' and ''Aegean Goddess''

It had already been announced, in November 2019, that the ship had been sold to Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) with delivery on 2 May 2021 in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, and would be renamed ''

Ida Pfeiffer Ida Laura Pfeiffer (14 October 1797, Vienna – 27 October 1858, Vienna), née Reyer, a famous early female Austrian professional traveler who became an explorer, ethnographer, and travel writer; her bestselling journals were translated into seve ...

'', in honour of the famous Austrian explorer. This would be followed by an extensive renovation, including an increase in berths, as preparation for service with CMV's

TransOcean Tours Transocean Tours was a German cruise line that operated ocean-going cruise ships in the German and United Kingdom, British markets and river cruise, river cruise ships in Germany. The company was formed in 1954 and first began operating cruises i ...

brand. However, on 20 July 2020, CMV was placed in administration and subsequently stopped trading. In 2020 ''Pacific Aria'' was sold to Seajets, and renamed ''Aegean Goddess''. On 12 May 2022 a Greek crewmember was found dead on the ship, laid up at

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 ...

''Celestyal Journey''

In 2023 the ship was sold to

and renamed ''Celestyal Journey''. The ship has undergone an extensive $21 million refurbishment and technical overhaul and is currently in service in the Mediterranean.

References

External links

* {{List of ships built by Fincantieri Ships of Seajets Ships of the Holland America Line Ships of P&O Cruises Australia Ships built by Fincantieri Ships built in Monfalcone Maritime incidents in 1994 Maritime incidents in 2007 Maritime incidents in 2010 1993 ships