''Black Prince'' was a cruise ship, owned and operated by Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines. She was built in 1966 by the Lübecker Flender-Werke in Lübeck, West Germany for Fred. Olsen Lines for combined

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

/cruise ship operations. From 1970 until 1983 she sailed the

northern hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...

summer seasons on ferry service for

Det Bergenske Dampskibsselskab The Bergen Steamship Company ( no, Bergenske Dampskibsselskab) (BDS), was founded in 1851 by Michael Krohn to operate a shipping service between the Norwegian ports of Bergen, Stavanger, and Kristiansand and the German port of Hamburg with the pa ...

as ''Venus'', while returning to cruise service with Fred. Olsen for the winter seasons. In 1983 the summer ferry service was taken over by DFDS, and in 1985 it passed to

Norway Line Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and th ...

. In 1986 Fred. Olsen bought the ship outright and she was converted to a full-time cruise ship, retaining the name ''Black Prince''. ''Black Prince'' was retired from the Fred. Olsen fleet on 16 October 2009. Although her withdrawal was reportedly due to the new

SOLAS 2010 The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) is an international maritime treaty that sets minimum safety standards in the construction, equipment and operation of merchant ships. The International Maritime Organization ...

regulations, she was sold to SAVECA for further cruise service in Venezuelan waters under the name ''Ola Esmeralda''. SAVECA planned to use the ship for cruises between islands within Venezuelan waters, also as a floating hotel. She was scrapped at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in October 2013.

References

External links

Fed. Olsen Cruise Lines official website for ''Black Prince''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Prince Cruise ships of Norway Cruiseferries Ships built in Lübeck 1966 ships