Victory I

''Victory I'' is a small cruise ship, carrying about 200 passengers. Launched in 2001, she has been operated by four different owners, and was formerly known as ''Ocean Voyager'', ''Saint Laurent'', ''Sea Voyager'' and ''Cape May Light''. The ship was built in the United States and entered service in 2001.

Design and description

The ship measures and . The ship is long overall and between perpendiculars. The cruise ship has a beam of and draught of .

The ship is powered by a two-shaft diesel engine that gives the ship a maximum speed of . Characterized by her owners as a "luxury" vessel, she has a capacity of 210 passengers that are bunked in 105 double staterooms, and are said to have available all the amenities offered on larger vessels.

Construction and career

The vessel was laid down in August 1999 by Atlantic Marine at their Jacksonville, Florida, shipyard. The ship was constructed under the yard number 4242 and was launched in June 2000. ''Cape May Light'' was completed on April 9, 2001. Initially named ''Cape May Light'', in 2010 she was renamed ''Sea Voyager'' and registered in the United States. In 2011, her registry was changed to Nassau, Bahamas and later that year and in 2015 her named was changed to ''Saint Laurent''.

As ''Saint Laurent'' she was owned by the Clipper Group AS, of Copenhagen, Denmark, and operated by the Haimark Line. On June 18, 2015, on the first season she toured the Great Lakes, ''Saint Laurent'' collided with the Eisenhower Lock, a canal lock in the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The vessel has a capacity for 210 passengers, and, on the day of the collision, she was carrying 192 passengers, 81 crew, and a local pilot. Twenty-two members of the ship's complement, nineteen passengers and three crew members were slightly injured, and were evacuated. After the collision the vessel took on water, so the lock was completely drained. The collision caused the seaway to be out of commission for 42 hours, and delayed 13 other vessels. Nine hours after the seaway was reopened another vessel, , ran aground.

The ship was acquired in 2016 as the first vessel of a new line known as Victory Cruise Lines. She underwent a refit, repurposing four of her double cabins, reducing her passenger capacity to 202 from 210. Her sister ship, formerly ''Cape Cod Light'' was acquired in 2017, similarly refit, and recommissioned as ''Victory II''. Both vessels and the Victory Cruise Lines brand were acquired by the American Queen Steamboat Company and ''Victory I'' underwent a refit at Gulf Island in Houma, Louisiana in 2019, where the vessel's stern was enclosed. During the COVID-19 pandemic ''Victory I'' was pulled from service due to the cruising ban. ''Victory I'' was laid up at Port Royal, South Carolina.

As part of a rebranding by the American Queen Steamboat Company, (which itself rebranded to American Queen Voyages) on December 7, 2021, ''Victory I'' was renamed ''Ocean Voyager''. She underwent a small refit at Port Royal. ''Ocean Voyager'' returned to service on January 4, 2022, adding cruises around the Yucatán Peninsula and returning to Great Lakes service in May, making her first stop in Chicago on June 8. On June 20, 2023, American Queen Voyages announced that they would no longer offer cruises on the Great Lakes, and would be selling the ''Ocean Voyager'' and ''Ocean Navigator''.

After American Queen Voyages went bankrupt in 2024, the former chief executive officer of the company acquired ''Ocean Voyager'' and ''Ocean Navigator'' at the company's bankruptcy auction. The two vessels were then made part of the fleet of the recreated Victory Cruise Lines and ''Ocean Voyager'' returned to the ''Victory I'' name. Victory Cruise Lines resumed cruise service on the Great Lakes in late April 2025.

See also

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References

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Cruise ships of the United States
2000 ships