MV ''Sun Viking'', was one of the three original
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 k ...
s ordered by
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
Royal Caribbean International (RCI), formerly Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL), is a cruise line founded in 1968 in Norway and organized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group since 1997.
Based in Miami, Florida, it is the la ...
as part of their early fleet. The ship was first put into service in 1972. She was scrapped at
Gadani Ship Breaking Yard
Gadani ship-breaking yard is the world's third largest ship breaking yard located across a long beachfront at Gadani, Pakistan. The yard consists of 132 ship-breaking plots."Record 107 ships dismantled at Gaddani" by Parvaiz Ishfaq Rana, ''Dawn'' ...
, Pakistan in February 2022.
Along with her sister ships,
''Song of Norway'' and ''
Nordic Prince'', the class comprised the first purpose-built ships intended for
Caribbean
The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
-based cruise travel. ''Sun Viking'' cruised the Mexican Riviera on a 7-day itinerary out of
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
and the Caribbean out of
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...
in the early 1990s. The ship was retired in the late 1990s by Royal Caribbean, but continued in service with other cruise lines.
[Beneath Crown and Anchor, a History of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines First 25 Years. axtone Ghram/ref>
In 1998 ''Sun Viking'' was sold to ]Star Cruises
StarCruises is a cruise line owned by the Malaysian company Resorts World Cruises.
Previously it operated in the Asia-Pacific market and was owned by Genting Hong Kong. It was the 18th largest cruise line in the world after Carnival Corpora ...
and renamed ''SuperStar Sagittarius''. She was later renamed ''Hyundai Pongnae'' in 2003, sailing for Hyundai Merchant Marine
HMM Company Limited (), formerly known as Hyundai Merchant Marine (), is a South Korean Intermodal freight transport, container transportation and shipping company.
Overview
HMM moves the largest portion of South Korea's exports, becoming the nu ...
, before becoming ''Omar III'' with Asia Cruises.gambling ship
A gambling ship is the term for a ship stationed offshore in or transiting to international waters to evade local anti-gambling laws that is dedicated to games of chance. This applies both to ships which are permanently moored somewhere outside ...
in Hong Kong, she moved to Penang
Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...
, Malaysia in late 2019 to continue her career. In 2021, the ship was finally retired and was scrapped at Gadani Ship Breaking Yard
Gadani ship-breaking yard is the world's third largest ship breaking yard located across a long beachfront at Gadani, Pakistan. The yard consists of 132 ship-breaking plots."Record 107 ships dismantled at Gaddani" by Parvaiz Ishfaq Rana, ''Dawn'' ...
, Pakistan in February 2022 as ''Dragon.''
Media
In 1985, ''Sun Viking'' appeared in the opening sequences of episode 6 of ''The Day the Universe Changed
''The Day the Universe Changed: A Personal View by James Burke'' is a British documentary television series written and presented by science historian James Burke, originally broadcast on BBC1 from 19 March until 21 May 1985 by the BBC. The seri ...
'' and
In 2018, ''Oriental Dragon'' featured in the movie ''L Storm
''L Storm'' is a 2018 Hong Kong action thriller film directed by David Lam, and starring Louis Koo and Julian Cheung, alongside Kevin Cheng, Stephy Tang, Patrick Tam, Michael Tse and Adam Pak in his debut film role.
The third installment i ...
''.
External links
photographs from shipspotting.com
References
Ships built in Helsinki
1971 ships
Ships of Royal Caribbean International
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