Merchant Ships

Navarchos

Posted: November 11th, 2015, 4:48 pm

Posts: 251
Joined: April 23rd, 2011, 10:03 pm
Location: Piraeus / Greece

Greetings to all of you fellas!!!
This is my last ship. I worked there for 4,5 months!... A magnificent lady of 47 years old, still standing but with an uncertain future.

Louis Aura is a 16,000-ton cruise ship built in 1968 at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremerhaven, West Germany. The ship has twelve decks, eight of which are accessible to passengers. As currently configured she can accommodate 876 passengers in 349 cabins, of which 336 are staterooms and 56 are suites. She is currently operating cruises in the eastern Mediterranean.
From 1968 until 1995, the Louis Aura was operated by Norwegian Cruise Lines as the Starward, and was their first purpose-built ship along with her near identical sister, the Skyward. The M/S Starward was featured in the 1975 movie Peeper starring Natalie Wood and Michael Caine. After 1995, she was operated as the Bolero by Greek line Festival Cruises until the company's collapse in 2004 when she was purchased for $9.5 million by Abou Merhi Lines and received a $10–$15 million renovation.
In November 2005 the ship was repositioned in Dubai to begin what was an unsuccessful Persian Gulf cruise program, providing the first luxury cruise line service between Dubai and Gulf Cooperation Council countries. The ship was then positioned in Beirut and scheduled to begin a 2006 cruise season in the Mediterranean Sea. In November 2006, she was supposed to begin service from Port Canaveral, Florida, operated by Paradise Caribbean Cruise Line.
In July 2006, the Louis Aura was used to help evacuate United States citizens from Lebanon because of the ongoing conflict with Israel. The Louis Aura was escorted by the USS Gonzalez (DDG-66), a U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer, and the USS Barry (DDG-52). It took the evacuees to the port of Larnaca in Cyprus.
In August 2006, the Louis Aura was sold to Louis Cruise Lines of Cyprus and operated cruises under the name of Orient Queen.
In 2012 and 2013 the Louis Aura, named as Orient Quen, has sailed to the Greek Isles from Limassol, Cyprus and Piraeus, Greece. Under the flag of Malta, the ship was owned and operated by the cyprus-based company Louis Cruises.
For the summer season of 2014, the ship executed 3/4/5/6 & 7 day cruises to the Greek isles departing from Limassol, Cyprus.
On Spring 2015 she sailed to the North for cruises at Baltic Ports, North Sea, UK, Ireland, Norway and Svalbard Islands then she came back at Mediteranean for the summer Season Cruises and finally she was laid up at Piraeus on 09/11/2015. (wikipedia)

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