MS ''Europa Palace'' is a fast

ropax Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...

ferry owned by Grimaldi Lines and operated by Minoan Grimaldi Lines. The ship previously named ''Cruise Olbia'' and did the

Civitavecchia Civitavecchia (; meaning "ancient town") is a city and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Rome in the central Italian region of Lazio. A sea port on the Tyrrhenian Sea, it is located west-north-west of Rome. The harbour is formed by two pier ...

Olbia Olbia (, ; sc, Terranoa; sdn, Tarranoa) is a city and commune of 60,346 inhabitants (May 2018) in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northeastern Sardinia, Italy, in the historical region of Gallura. Called ''Olbia'' in the Roman age ...

route. Built in 2001 as ''Superfast VI'' by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) in

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...

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 ...

for

Attica Group Attica Holdings S.A. is an operator of international ferry services in Europe. The Group's operations include its subsidiaries Superfast Ferries, which began in 1995 with the launch of its first ships, Superfast I & Superfast II, and Blue Star Fer ...

's subsidiary

Superfast Ferries Superfast Ferries is a Greece-based ferry company founded in 1993 by Pericles Panagopulos and Alexander Panagopulos. Superfast Ferries is a member of Attica Group and operates 3 car-passenger ferries, offering daily connections between Anc ...

, she was sold to the Genting Group in 2013, Renamed ''Bimini Superfast'' for the Bimini-Miami route. In 2016 she was sold to her current owners.

Concept and construction

''Superfast VI'' was built at HDW in Kiel for

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...

services, along with her sister ship '' Superfast V''. She was the second ship in the third pair of ropax ferries built for Superfast Ferries from various ship yards in Northern Europe. She was ordered in July 1998, alongside sister ship and another pair for Baltic sea services, Superfast VII and VIII She was launched from dry dock on 11 March 2000 and was due to be delivered at the end of July 2000, but after many months of delays due to technical problems, she was delivered to Superfast Ferries on 6 February 2001. After many months of delays due to technical problems, Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) was forced to pay hefty penalties due to the late delivery.

Service history

2001-2013: ''Superfast VI''

''Superfast VI'' entered service on 2 March 2001 on Superfast Ferries Patras—

Igoumenitsa Igoumenitsa ( el, Ηγουμενίτσα, ) is a coastal city in northwestern Greece. It is the capital of the regional unit of Thesprotia. Igoumenitsa is the chief port of Thesprotia and Epirus, and one of the largest passenger ports of Greece, ...

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic ...

route. In March 2013 ''Superfast VI'' was sold to

Genting Group The Genting Group is a company headquartered in the Wisma Genting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It comprises the holding company Genting Berhad (), its listed subsidiaries Genting Malaysia Berhad (), Genting Plantations Berhad (), Genting Singapore ...

, she was handed over to her new owners on 6 April 2013.

2013-2016: ''Bimini Superfast''

After

took over their new ship, she was renamed ''Bimini Superfast''. She departed Patras and sailed to Málaga in Spain for remodeling. After a few weeks she departed Málaga and sailed to USA for final fitting out works to be completed. ''Bimini Superfast'' was due to begin service with the Bimini cruise from Miami on 6 June 2013 but the

US Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and maritime law enforcement, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

did not give approval for the ship to sail in US waters. This was due to deficiencies with the crew and the ship, even though it had been sailing in Europe for many years with no compliance issues. After several weeks of work, the US Coast Guard gave ''Bimini Superfast'' final clearance to sail. On 20 June 2013 she finally made her first crossing from

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

Bimini Bimini is the westernmost district of the Bahamas and comprises a chain of islands located about due east of Miami. Bimini is the closest point in the Bahamas to the mainland United States and approximately west-northwest of Nassau. The popula ...

. Bimini Superfast operated 2 and 3 night cruises from Miami. They depart Miami at 7PM, spend 2 or 3 nights at Bimini and returns to Miami at 1PM on the third or fourth day. Passengers are required to have passports if staying on the Island but this is not required if lodging on the ship. The 50 mile trip to Bimini Island takes about 3 hours. With the completion of the pier in Bimini Bay as of 18 September 2014 passengers are no longer tendered by ferry from the ship to the island. Passengers disembark directly on the island from the cruise ship, saving about 60 minutes of ferry time each way. Once in Bimini, passengers disembark to visit

Resorts World Bimini Resorts World Bimini Bahamas is a Caribbean beachfront resort and casino located on North Bimini Island. Opened in 2013, the resort is operated by the Malaysia-based Genting Group. Their corporate office for the southeast USA is located in do ...

Bay Resort and Casino via a free tram. Part of the business plan of Genting for the ''Bimini Superfast'' was to carry out evening gambling and party cruises to nowhere, but due to visa issues with the hotel staff being foreign nationals, the US government has ruled that they can no longer offer these cruises, as the passengers never set foot in another country. As a consequence ''Bimini Superfast'' completed her last cruise to nowhere on 28 November 2013. However the Bimini Superfast ceased operating on 10 January 2016 after only 3 years of operation. Genting announced in January 2016 of its plans to cease the service from Florida to Bimini, it was sold to Grimaldi Lines of Italy.

2016-2021: ''Cruise Olbia''

In January Grimaldi Lines announced the purchase of the Bimini Superfast, to be placed on Livorno-

route, replacing the Zeus Palace, which will be placed on the

route.

2021-onwards: ''Europa Palace''

In February 2021 Grimaldi Lines announced that MS Cruise Olympia and MS Cruise Europa will be transferred to

Grimaldi Group The Grimaldi Group is a private shipping company owned by the Grimaldi family (Emanuele Grimaldand based in Naples, Italy. Grimaldi operates a large fleet of ro-ro, ro-ro/multipurpose, con-ro multipurpose, PCTC (Pure Car and Truck Carrier), ro ...

and will make

route. The former ''Cruise Olbia'' will be replace the first Cruise in the Adriatic route under the name ''Europa Palace'' and will be operate by Grimaldi Minoan Lines. The ship left her route for Naples where its name will change to ''Europa Palace''.

References

External links

Superfast VI at marinetraffic.com

Bimini superfast aerial video as it departs from the Port of Miami
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cruise Olbia Ferries of Florida Ships built in Kiel 2000 ships 05 Bimini