Renaissance Cruises was a cruise ship operating company that was founded in 1989 and owned by Fearnley & Eger Rederi in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, Norway. It was purchased by Edward Rudner (founder of Alamo Car Rental) as the company faltered during the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

. It operated year-round cruise itineraries to the

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, the

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and the South Pacific,

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and

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. The company ceased operations on 25 September 2001, having accommodated up to 220,000 guests in 2000. While the company had been in poor financial health for quite some time, the economic decline resulting from the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

in 2001 is credited with the demise of this cruise line. It was headquartered in

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Fleet

Renaissance class

The company also owned and operated eight Renaissance-class

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

-like ships between 1989 and 1992. The first four of them were built in Cantieri Navale Ferrari-Signani shipyards in

La Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest city ...

, Italy, from 1989 to 1991. They were long, and in size, and they carried 100 passengers in 50 cabins, with 72 crew. The other four were built in Nuovi Cantieri Apuania shipyards in

Carrara Carrara ( , ; , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some Boxing the compass, west-northwest o ...

, Italy, in the same period. They were long and in size, and they carried 114 passengers in 57 cabins with 72 crew. The small, intimately sized vessels used

Roman numeral Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...

designations as part of their names: ''Renaissance I'' through ''Renaissance VIII''. These are the current names, former names and registries of the Renaissance-class ships; ''Renaissance I'', ''Renaissance III'', ''Renaissance IV'', and ''Renaissance VIII'' were all chartered and sold in 1998 so the line could concentrate on the larger, newer R class. Before the line folded for the R class, ''Renaissance V'', ''Renaissance VI'', and ''Renaissance VII'' were sold to other interests. ''Renaissance II'' was renamed ''Neptune II'' In 1998 for operations in Singapore before EasyCruise was formed. Current operators of these vessels include Noble-Caledonia, Silversea, and Antarctica XXI.

Renaissance class I

Built at Cantieri Navale Ferrari-Signani shipyard (1989–1991):

Renaissance class II

Built at Nuovi Cantieri Apuania shipyard (1991–1992):

R class

The pride of the fleet were the line's eight brand new 684-passenger R-class ships named , , , , , , and . The ships in this class were all built between 1998 and 2001. They were all built at the shipyard of

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 ...

Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean ...

France and were designed, internally and externally, by British Designer John McNeece. Following the bankruptcy of Renaissance Cruises, all of the vessels were chartered or sold to other cruise lines and continue to operate to this day.

References

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External links

Renaissance Cruises
(Archive) Defunct cruise lines Defunct shipping companies Hospitality companies established in 1989 Hospitality companies disestablished in 2001