Kydon Palace is a Greek Ro-Pax high speed

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 ...

, built in 2001 at the

Sestri Ponente Sestri Ponente is an industrial suburb of Genoa in northwest Italy. It is part of the Medio Ponente ''municipio'' of Genoa. Geography It is situated on the Ligurian Sea four miles to the west of the city, between Pegli and Cornigliano. Its pop ...

shipyards by

Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

as the Festos Palace and owned by

Minoan Lines Minoan Lines is one of the largest passenger ferry companies in Europe, and one of the dominant passenger ferry companies in Greece, sailing between Piraeus and Crete and in the Adriatic Sea, between Patras and various Italian ports. The company ...

. She is a sister ship of '' MS Knossos Palace (2000) ''. She was named by Kydon the mythical founder of the ancient

Kydonia Kydonia or Cydonia (; grc, Κυδωνία; lat, Cydonia) was an ancient city-state on the northwest coast of the island of Crete. It is at the site of the modern-day Greek city of Chania. In legend Cydonia was founded by King Cydon (), a son ...

, an ancient city of Crete in present-day Chania. She can reach speeds up to 30 knots. The ship's facilities include restaurants, bars and cabins.

Characteristics

The vessel is a night ferry designed for services between Piraeus and Heraklion, Crete, but she can also be used for daytime trips. She is powered by four, 150L

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 ...

16V46C diesel engines. Both her and her sistership are very similar to JANAS class, built by their shipyard for Tirrenia during the same time. In total, the ship has eight decks. The Deck 5 is called "Androgeo" and features the reception. The Deck 6 is called "Atlantis", where it has an ''

à la carte In restaurants, ''à la carte'' (; )) is the practice of ordering individual dishes from a menu in a restaurant, as opposed to ''table d'hôte'', where a set menu is offered. It is an early 19th century loan from French meaning "according t ...

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

called "Yakinthos", with a capacity of 241 people, as well as a self-service restaurant called "Dionysos", with a capacity of 300 people. The difference between the two restaurants is that in one the passengers serve themselves, while in the other they order their meal. On the same deck there is a lounge called "Niovi", an

Internet café An Internet café, also known as a cybercafé, is a café (or a convenience store or a fully dedicated Internet access business) that provides the use of computers with high bandwidth Internet access on the payment of a fee. Usage is generally ...

, outdoor decks and a shop called "Erofili". In the bow there is a large lounge, the "King Radamanthys". There is also the VIP Lounge - Lux Cabins, with a capacity of 98 people. The Deck 7 is called "Zakros" and has cabins as well as airline-type seats. The Deck 8 is called "Zephyros" and has VIP airline-type seats, swimming pools, a sun deck and a pool bar, which are open during the summer months. There is also the round deck "Asterion" and the disco "Selini". On the same deck there is also the bridge (cockpit) of the ship.

Transfer on the Piraeus-Chania line and renaming

In 2020, she was transferred from the Piraeus-Heraklion line to Piraeus-Chania and gained her current name. She was inaugurated on February 22, 2020, by the Deputy Regional Governor of Chania, N. Kalogeris. A second inauguration ceremony took place on July 25 of the same year, in the presence of the Greek Minister of Shipping and Island Policy,

Giannis Plakiotakis Giannis Plakiotakis ( el, Γιάννης Πλακιωτάκης; born 10 July 1968) is a Greek politician who served as the acting President of New Democracy following the resignation of Vangelis Meimarakis. He has been a Member of the Hellenic Pa ...

and the president of the Grimaldi Group,

Emanuel Grimaldi Emanuel may refer to: * Emanuel (name), a given name and surname (see there for a list of people with this name) * Emanuel School, Australia, Sydney, Australia * Emanuel School, Battersea, London, England * Emanuel (band), a five-piece rock band fr ...

References

External links

HSF Kydon Palace at minoan.gr

Info at Fincantieri.com
Ferries of Greece Ships built in Genoa 2001 ships Ships built by Fincantieri {{Ferry-stub