MS ''Amera'' (formerly ''Seabourn Sun'', ''Royal Viking Sun'' and ''Prinsendam'') is a cruise ship operated by
Phoenix Reisen
Phoenix Reisen is a Germany-based travel agency that also operates a fleet of cruise ships. The company first entered the cruise business in 1988 by chartering the Soviet Union-owned cruise ship .
History
Phoenix Reisen first begun operating crui ...
. She was launched in 1988 as ''Royal Viking Sun'' for
Royal Viking Line
The Royal Viking Line was an upmarket cruise line that operated from 1972 until 1998. The company was the brain child of Warren Titus and had its headquarters at One Embarcadero Center in San Francisco.
History The First Ships
Each of the lin ...
, and began operating for
Cunard Line
Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Berm ...
under the same name in 1994. She was renamed ''Seabourn Sun'' when
Seabourn Cruise Line
Seabourn Cruise Line is a cruise line headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is owned by Carnival Corporation & plc.
History
Seabourn Cruise Line was founded in 1986 under the name "Signet Cruise Lines" by the Norwegian private investor and ...
acquired the ship in 1999. In 2002, Seabourn transferred the ship to
Holland America Line
Holland America Line is an American-owned cruise line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States.
Holland America Line was founded in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and from 1873 to 1989, it operated ...
, which was renamed as ''Prinsendam''. In 2018, ''Prinsendam'' was sold to Phoenix Reisen, debuting in 2019.
History
1988–1999: ''Royal Viking Sun''
Royal Viking Line
She was launched in 1988 as ''Royal Viking Sun'' for Royal Viking Line. Christened by godparents
James Stewart
James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality h ...
and
Gloria Stewart
Gloria Frances Stuart (born Gloria Stewart; July 4, 1910 September 26, 2010) was an American actress, visual artist, and activist. She was known for her roles in Pre-Code films, and garnered renewed fame late in life for her portrayal of Rose ...
,and she was the largest ship in the fleet at the time she entered service.
Cunard Line
![Le paquebot de croisière Royal Viking Sun (recropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Le_paquebot_de_croisi%C3%A8re_Royal_Viking_Sun_%28recropped%29.jpg)
In 1994, Cunard Line purchased ''Royal Viking Sun'' and the ''Royal Viking'' brand when Royal Viking Line ceased operations. Cunard continued to operate her under the same name and initially retained the vessel's original livery. Later, Cunard repainted her funnel in their colours but retained the Royal Viking logo.
1999–2002: ''Seabourn Sun''
In 1999,
Carnival Corporation
Carnival is a Catholic Church, Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgy, liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (o ...
merged Cunard and Seabourn and moved ''Royal Viking Sun'' to Seabourn.
After an extensive refit, she was renamed ''Seabourn Sun''.
Her last cruise for Seabourn was a circumnavigation of South America in 2002.
2002–2019: ''Prinsendam''
![Prinsendam departing Tallinn 24 August 2013](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Prinsendam_departing_Tallinn_24_August_2013.JPG)
In 2002, ''Seabourn Sun'' was transferred to sister brand Holland America Line, after Seabourn chose to focus on its fleet's smaller vessels. Renamed ''Prinsendam'', she underwent a refit before beginning operations.
On 1 February 2007, ''Prinsendam'' was hit by two
rogue wave
Rogue waves (also known as freak waves, monster waves, episodic waves, killer waves, extreme waves, and abnormal waves) are unusually large, unpredictable, and suddenly appearing surface waves that can be extremely dangerous to ships, even to lar ...
s near
Cape Horn
Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramírez ...
; 40 injuries were reported, with some requiring hospitalisation.
On 22 March 2012, ''Prinsendam'' was en route to
Portimao when she received a distress call from the Portuguese fishing boat ''Dario'', which was sinking with eight people aboard. When the ship arrived, ''Dario''s crew was entering a life raft. The Portuguese Coast Guard directed ''Prinsendam'' to pick up the fishermen and stand by for a helicopter to take the eight men to shore.
During her career with Holland America, she had undertaken cruises to
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
, and was able to transit the
Kiel Canal
The Kiel Canal (german: Nord-Ostsee-Kanal, literally "North- oEast alticSea canal", formerly known as the ) is a long freshwater canal in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The canal was finished in 1895, but later widened, and links the N ...
due to her low height above the waterline.
2019–present: ''Amera''
In July 2018, Holland America announced that ''Prinsendam'' had been sold to Phoenix Reisen.
However, she was chartered back to Holland America to continue operating her scheduled voyages until 1 July 2019.
On 2 July 2019, ''Prinsendam'' began her six-week renovation at
Blohm+Voss Blohm is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Hans Blohm C.M. (born 1927), photographer and author
*Hermann Blohm (1848–1930), German businessman and co-founder of German company Blohm+Voss
*Linn Blohm (born 1992), Swedish handbal ...
in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, and left on 12 August 2019 for
Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany.
It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Riv ...
. She was rechristened ''Amera'' in Bremerhaven on 16 August 2019 by Petra Kaiser, a veteran Phoenix Reisen employee, before sailing to
Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
for her maiden voyage to
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, ,
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
, and the Norwegian fjords, where she cruised for her inaugural season.
She operated
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
cruises beginning in October 2019.
References
External links
Royal Viking Sun Video Clips*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amera
Ships of the Holland America Line
Rogue wave incidents
Ships built in Turku
1988 ships
Maritime incidents in 2007