MS ''Windward'' was a

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 tours known as "s ...

that was built in 1993 by the

Chantiers de l'Atlantique Chantiers de l'Atlantique is a shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France. It is one of the world's largest shipyards, constructing a wide range of commercial, naval, and passenger ships. It is located near Nantes, at the mouth of the Loire river and ...

shipyard in St. Nazaire, France for

Kloster Cruise Kloster is the German and Scandinavian word for monastery. It may also refer to: Places * Kloster, Styria * Kloster, Denmark * Kloster, Sweden * Klošter, settlement in Slovenia People * Asbjørn Kloster (1823–1876), Norwegian social reform ...

(

Norwegian Cruise Line Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), also known in short as Norwegian, is an American cruise line founded in 1966, incorporated in Bermuda and headquartered in Miami. It is the fourth-largest cruise line in the world by passengers, controlling about 8.6 ...

) as ''Windward''. In 1998 she was lengthened at

Lloyd Werft Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven GmbH is a dockyard in Bremerhaven. It was founded in 1863 by the shipping company Norddeutscher Lloyd, first mainly used as a repair workshop for the company’s own merchant fleet. This new yard was established in ...

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 ...

, Germany and renamed ''Norwegian Wind''. In 2007 she was transferred to the fleet of Star Cruises as ''SuperStar Aquarius''. The ship remained in passenger service for the cruise line until the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

shutdown in 2020. The ship was sold for scrap as ''Arius'' in 2022 following the liquidation of the cruise line's parent company after filing for bankruptcy, which also led to the demise of Star Cruises.

History

Entering service in 1993 as ''Windward'', she was the second of two sister vessels built by

for

for use under their

brand. In 1998 she was lengthened by insertion of a midsection and was renamed as ''Norwegian Wind''. This work was completed by

shipyard in

, Germany. One of her early cruises was a private charter for Prudential Assurance of the UK. In January 1995 a 5-day cruise of the Caribbean was undertaken for the top 350 salespeople in the UK Direct Sales Force and their partners. For the booking the cruise liner had additional wording placed below her name on hull and funnel – 'Salute to the Stars' (The Prudential Sales force competition). NCLWindSkagway

In 2004 ownership of ''Norwegian Wind'' was transferred to NCL's parent company

Star Cruises Star Cruises was a cruise line headquartered in Hong Kong and operating in the Asia-Pacific market. The company was owned by Genting Hong Kong. It was the eighteenth largest cruise line in the world after Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbea ...

, in anticipation of transference of the ship to the Star Cruises' fleet. The transfer took place in April 2007, when the ship was renamed ''SuperStar Aquarius''. After refitting and refurbishment of the public areas to cater to the Asia-Pacific market, as well as a new livery to match the rest of the Star Cruises fleet, the vessel was initially based at the Ocean Terminal, Hong Kong. Subsequently, she was based at various ports in the region. The ship continued to sail for the cruise line until early 2020 when the

halted the cruise line industry, and in April was, with ''SuperStar Gemini'', leased to the Singapore Government to provide accommodation for foreign workers who had recovered from COVID-19. In January 2022,

Genting Hong Kong Genting Hong Kong Limited ( zh, 雲頂香港有限公司) was a holding company that operated cruise and resort businesses. It was headquartered in (海洋中心), Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (). It was p ...

, the parent company of Star Cruises filed for bankruptcy caused by the shutdown. As part of the liquidation, ''Superstar Aquarius'' was reported to have been sold for scrap along with sister ship , as well as . In June the ship was laid up with ''SuperStar Gemini'' at

Hambantota Hambantota ( si, හම්බන්තොට, ta, அம்பாந்தோட்டை) is the main town in Hambantota District, Southern Province, Sri LankaThe prominent Malays (මැලේ) most part of the population is to be partly des ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, until both ships departed for Alang shipbreaking yard, India, where they were beached on 26 November 2022.

References

External links

Star Cruises

SuperStar Aquarius
{{Norwegian Cruise Line Ships of Norwegian Cruise Line Ships of Star Cruises Ships built in France 1992 ships Ships built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique