MV ''Boudicca'' (also known as Royal Viking Sky, Sunward, Birka Queen, Golden Princess, SuperStar Capricorn, Hyundai Keumgang, SuperStar Capricorn and Grand Latino) was a ''Royal Viking Star''-class

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 last served as accommodation vessel at Pendik, near Tuzla Shipyard. She was built in 1973 by

Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. The core products of Wärtsilä include technol ...

Helsinki Shipyard Helsinki Shipyard Oy is a Finnish shipbuilding company based at Hietalahti shipyard in Helsinki, Finland. The company was established in 2019 to continue the shipbuilding activities of Arctech Helsinki Shipyard in Finland. History Helsinki S ...

, Finland as Royal Viking Sky for Nordenfjeldske Dampskibsselskap, Trondheim, which placed the ship in

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 ...

service. In May 2021 the ship was beached in

Aliağa Aliağa is a town and a district of Izmir Province in the Aegean Region of Turkey. The town is situated at about north of Izmir. Aliağa has a large port, mainly for oil and bulk cargo. Its economic activity is based on tourism, shipbreaking, ...

for scrapping.

Concept and construction

''Royal Viking Sky'' was ordered by Nordenfjeldske Dampskibsselskap, Trondheim from the

Hietalahti shipyard Hietalahti shipyard (also known as Helsinki New Shipyard, fi, Helsingin uusi telakka) is a shipyard in Hietalahti, in downtown Helsinki, Finland. Since 2019, it has been operated by a company named Helsinki Shipyard. History The shipyard, ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, Finland. She was one of three near-identical ships ordered by different companies for

service. Her sister ships were ''

Royal Viking Star MS ''Black Watch'' was a ''Royal Viking Star''-class cruise ship. She was built by Wärtsilä Hietalahti shipyard, Helsinki Shipyard, Finland for Royal Viking Line as ''Royal Viking Star'', entering service in 1972 as the lines first ship. She ...

'', owned by Bergenske Dampskibsselskap, Bergen, and '' Royal Viking Sea'', owned by A. F. Klaveness & Co, Oslo. The ''Royal Viking Sky'' was launched from drydock on 25 May 1972 and delivered to her owners on 5 June 1973.

Service history

Kreuzfahrtschiff ROYAL VIKING SKY (norweg

Following delivery to Royal Viking, ''Royal Viking Sky'' was used for luxury cruises around the world. In 1982 she was lengthened from to at the

A.G. Weser Aktien-Gesellschaft „Weser" (abbreviated A.G. „Weser”) was one of the major Germany, German shipbuilding companies, located at the Weser River in Bremen. Founded in 1872 it was finally closed in 1983. All together, A.G. „Weser" built abo ...

shipyard 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 ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. In 1984 Kloster Cruise acquired the entirety of Royal Viking Line. Subsequently, in 1991 ''Royal Viking Sky'' was transferred to the fleet of

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 ...

(also owned by Kloster) under the name ''Sunward''. In 1992 ''Sunward'' was sold to Birka Cruise, who renamed the ship ''Birka Queen'' for

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

cruising. Her career with Birka only lasted for the 1992

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 season, and in late 1992 was chartered back to NCL, reverting to the name ''Sunward''. In 1993 the ship was chartered to

Princess Cruises Princess Cruises is an American cruise line owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. The company is incorporated in Bermuda and its headquarters are in Santa Clarita, California, Santa Clarita, California. As of 2021, it is the List of cruise lines# ...

, becoming ''Golden Princess''. Following the delivery of newer tonnage to Princess Cruises, the company terminated the charter of ''Golden Princess''. Subsequently, Birka Cruises sold the ship to

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 Caribb ...

, who renamed her ''SuperStar Capricorn''. Juneau Princess 1996 109

Boudicca departing Tallinn 7th September 2013

In 1998 ''SuperStar Capricorn'' was chartered by Star Cruises to

Hyundai Merchant Marine HMM Co., Ltd. (), formerly known as Hyundai Merchant Marine, is a South Korean container transportation and shipping company. Overview HMM moves the largest portion of South Korea's exports, becoming the number one Korean national container car ...

, who renamed the ship ''Hyundai Keumgang'' for cruises from South Korea to North Korea. Hyundai's cruise operations failed in 2001, and ''Hyundai Keumgang'' was returned to Star Cruises and resumed service under the name ''SuperStar Capricorn''. In 2004 the ship was sold to

Iberocruceros Ibero Cruises ( es, Ibero Cruceros) was a British-American and Spanish owned cruise line based in Madrid, Spain. The cruise line was aimed at the Spanish and Portuguese speaking markets. Iberocruceros operated voyages from Europe, the Mediterr ...

, who renamed her ''Grand Latino'' for

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 ...

cruising out of Spain. In 2005 the ship was sold to

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines is a UK-based, Norwegian-owned cruise shipping line with four cruise ships. The company is owned by Bonheur and Ganger Rolf and is headquartered in Ipswich, Suffolk, in the United Kingdom. The company is part of the F ...

and renamed ''Boudicca''. Following changing of her main engines at the

Blohm + Voss Blohm+Voss (B+V), also written historically as Blohm & Voss, Blohm und Voß etc., is a German shipbuilding and engineering company. Founded in Hamburg in 1877 to specialise in steel-hulled ships, its most famous product was the World War II battle ...

shipyard in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, Germany, the ship entered service with Fred. Olsen in February 2006. Cruise ship Boudicca 2018-07-01 (1)

In March 2010, the ship was relocated to its new base in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, where it has replaced , which was also owned by Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines. On 25 January 2015, the ship carrying more than 1,000 people was left without power off

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

after an engine room fire. The fire at 04:00 BST left the ship "listing" and "in pitch black", said Dave Tonkin, whose father was on board. Fred Olsen, the company which owned the ship, said it was fully stable and had five engines running again. In March 2018, ''Boudicca'' underwent significant renovation at the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. In October 2019, ''Boudicca'' became the first passenger ship to dock at new facilities at

Walvis Bay Walvis Bay ( en, lit. Whale Bay; af, Walvisbaai; ger, Walfischbucht or Walfischbai) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The c ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

after a decade of re-development. Two

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

s from the Namibian Port Authority celebrated the occasion by firing water cannons and officials handed out gifts to visiting passengers. On 21 August 2020, Fred. Olsen announced that the ''Black Watch'' and her sister ship ''Boudicca'' were sold as accommodation ships at

Tuzla, Istanbul Tuzla is a municipality of the province in Istanbul, Turkey on the Asian side of the city next to the municipality of Pendik. Tuzla is on a headland on the coast of Marmara Sea, at the eastern limit of the city. The mayor is Şadi Yazıcı ( AK ...

for shipyard workers. In April 2021, her new owner resold her for scrap. On 17 May 2021 the ship was beached in

for scrapping. She started to be dismantled on 10 July 2021.

References

External links

* * https://www.shipvideos.net/ships/royal_viking_sky {{DEFAULTSORT:Boudicca Fred. Olsen & Co. 1972 ships Cruise ships Ships built in Helsinki