MS ''Crown Iris'' is 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 ...

owned by

Mano Maritime Mano Maritime (Hebrew: מנו ספנות, ''Mano Sapanut'') is a shipping company founded by Moshe Mano and is a subsidiary of the Mano Holdings Group. It operates cargo ships, passenger ships and undertakes other maritime services. The company ...

. She was originally ordered by Birka Line as MS ''Birka Queen'' from the

Wärtsilä Marine Wärtsilä Marine ( fi, Wärtsilä Meriteollisuus; sv, Wärtsilä Marinindustri) was a Finnish shipbuilding company. The company was created in 1987 in order to improve shipbuilding productivity by combining the Wärtsilä and Valmet yards un ...

Turku Shipyard in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, but completed by Kvaerner Masa-Yards as MS ''Royal Majesty'' for

Majesty Cruise Line Majesty Cruise Line was a Norwegian cruise line that was founded in 1992 and merged into Norwegian Cruise Line in 1997. Majesty was created by Dolphin Cruise Line as a more upmarket brand. Majesty's first ship, the ''Royal Majesty'', was orig ...

. In 1997 she was sold to Norwegian Cruise Line as the MS ''Norwegian Majesty'' and lengthened by at the

Lloyd Werft Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven GmbH is a dockyard 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 ...

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 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. She was sold to Louis Cruises as the MS ''Louis Majesty'' from 2008 to 2012 when she was chartered to

Thomson Cruises Marella Cruises (formerly Thomson Cruises) is a British cruise line operated by TUI UK, offering cruise holidays around Europe, the Caribbean, and Asia. History The company had initially entered the cruise market in 1973, but due to rising fue ...

as the MS ''Thomson Majesty'' before being returned to Louis Cruises/Celestyal Cruises, as the ''Majesty''. In 2018 the ship sold to

Concept and construction

''Birka Queen'' was ordered by Birka Line for short cruises out of Stockholm as a running mate to . The ship was ordered from

, but the shipyard went bankrupt in 1989. Operations were soon reorganized under the name of Masa-Yards, but the price of the ship was increased in the process, and Birka therefore refused to take delivery. Instead, the build contact was sold to

, who took delivery of the ship on 2 July 1992, renaming her ''Royal Majesty''. Due to her past, the ship has some features uncommon for cruise ships, such as the highest

Finnish-Swedish ice class Finnish-Swedish ice class is an ice class assigned to a vessel operating in first-year ice in the Baltic Sea and calling at Finnish or Swedish ports. Ships are divided into six ice classes based on requirements for hull structural design, engine ...

Service history

Following delivery, ''Royal Majesty'' set on her maiden voyage, a

transatlantic crossing Transatlantic crossings are passages of passengers and cargo across the Atlantic Ocean between Europe or Africa and the Americas. The majority of passenger traffic is across the North Atlantic between Western Europe and North America. Centuries ...

from

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, on 7 July 1992. She was officially christened in New York City on 21 July 1992. She was christened by Liza Minnelli. Following this, she was used on three- and four-night cruises out of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. In 1994 she initiated a new northern hemisphere summer season itinerary with cruises from

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

to St. George's, Bermuda, returning to Florida for the winter season. In September 1995 she participated in an expedition to the sinking site of , spending five days at the site with many survivors from the famous ship on board, while parts of ''Titanic'' were being salvaged. NorwegianMajesty

On 10 June 1995, ''Royal Majesty'' grounded on Rose and Crown Shoal about 10 miles east of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, and about from where the watch officers thought the vessel was. Investigators found that the officers failed to act on visual cues about the vessel's location, over-relying on the automated bridge system. The vessel, with 1,509 persons on board, was en route from St. George's, Bermuda, to Boston, Massachusetts. There were no deaths or injuries as a result of this accident. Damage to the vessel and lost revenue, however, were estimated at about $7 million. Louis Majesty Rhodes

ceased operations at the end of the 1997 summer season, and ''Royal Majesty'' was sold to Norwegian Cruise Line. She was renamed ''Norwegian Majesty'', and in 1999 she received a lengthening at the

shipyard in

. Similar lengthenings had been carried out on NCL's and the previous year. The lengthening of the Norwegian Majesty however was more technically complicated than those of the other ships, as she had not been designed for such an operation. In 2004 the ownership of ''Norwegian Majesty'' 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 Caribb ...

in preparation for potential transfer to the Star Cruises fleet or sale at a later date. She remained in NCL service without other changes. On 23 April 2008 ''Norwegian Majesty'', was sold to the

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

-based

Louis Cruise Lines Celestyal Cruises (formed in 2014) is a succession to Louis Cruises and Louis Cruise Lines. The Cruise line was a subsidiary of Louis plc (Founded in 1935 as the first travel agency in Cyprus) until November 2021 when Searchlight Capital Partners ...

. Louis Cruise Lines had reportedly outbid

International Shipping Partners FleetPro Passenger Ship Management was founded in 2012 as a merger of two existing passenger ship management companies and is based in Switzerland. It combined International Shipping Partners (ISP), a passenger ship management services company head ...

with their offer of $162 million. The deal was completed on 29 July 2008, but ''Norwegian Majesty'' was chartered back to Norwegian Cruise Line until October 2009. Thomson Majesty and Arcadia in Venice

On 24 June 2009, Louis revealed that ''Norwegian Majesty'' would be renamed ''Louis Majesty''. On 3 March 2010, three

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 hit ''Louis Majesty'', killing two passengers, and injuring a number of others, while on a 12-day cruise around the Mediterranean. The waves, which were reportedly in excess of high, collided with the side of the vessel, smashing several windows in the saloon area. Water was taken on in the saloon area, which then drained down the decks below. The ship returned to port at

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

to receive repairs. ''Louis Majesty'' was chartered to Thomson Cruises from May 2012 and renamed ''Thomson Majesty''. It sailed from Corfu in the summer and the Canary Islands in the winter. On 10 February 2013, while the ship was docked in

Santa Cruz de la Palma Santa Cruz de la Palma (Spanish for ''Holy Cross of La Palma'') is a city and a municipality on the east coast of the island of La Palma in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife of the Canary Islands. Santa Cruz de la Palma is the second-large ...

in the Canary Islands, five crew members were killed and three others injured during a safety drill when the lifeboat they were in fell into the sea, trapping the occupants. Julian Bray, Marine Analyst in the UK, writing in the Cduck media news blog, confirms that crew were taking part in a training exercise to load, launch, and recover lifeboats, complete a regular risk/ safety programme and to ensure crew members have had recent practical training. Malta's Maritime Safety Investigation Unit subsequently issued a safety alert following the discovery of significant corrosion on the inner strands of the fall wire involved. The wire rope had parted approximately where it rested over the topmost sheave, when the davit was in its stowed position. The fore and aft davit's fall wires had been replaced on 22 August 2010 and the next scheduled replacement was due in August 2014. In Her Later Career With Thomson Cruises, She Was Given A Refit Adding Several Balcony Cabins To The Ship. In November 2017 she joined "Celestyal Cruises" and renamed simply as "Majesty".

Service as ''Crown Iris''

In late 2018, ''Majesty'' was sold to the Israeli cruise line

and renamed ''Crown Iris''. In early 2019, the ship was refurbished and lengthened in a stretch and total rebuild operation, extending her length to 216 meters. On 7 May 2019, the ship docked for the first time in

Haifa port The Port of Haifa ( he, נמל חיפה) is the largest of Israel's three major international seaports, the others being the Port of Ashdod, and the Port of Eilat. It has a natural deep-water harbor, which operates all year long, and serves both pa ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, and On 11 April the ''Crown Iris'' launching ceremony was held.

Areas of operation

As ''Norwegian Majesty'' she was based in various US ports and cruised to the Caribbean. As ''Louis Majesty'' she was based in

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saron ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

and undertook cruises around the Greek Isles. As ''Thomson Majesty'' she was based in Corfu, Greece and sailed in the Mediterranean from June–October, and during the winter sailed to the Canary Islands & Morocco. As ''Crown Iris'' she is based in Haifa, Israel and cruise along the coasts of the

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 Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

, the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

and to various destinations in Europe.

Gallery

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crown Iris, MS Passenger ships of Norway Ships of Norwegian Cruise Line Ships of Celestyal Cruises Ships built in Turku 1991 ships Rogue wave incidents Maritime incidents in 2010 Maritime incidents in 2013