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

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) 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 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

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

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

. It operated year-round cruise itineraries to the

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, the

Greek Isles Greece has many islands, with estimates ranging from somewhere around 1,200 to 6,000, depending on the minimum size to take into account. The number of inhabited islands is variously cited as between 166 and 227. The largest Greek island by ...

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and the

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northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other ge ...

and

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

. 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, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

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

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the ...

Fleet

Renaissance class

The company also owned and operated eight Renaissance-class

yacht A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made 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 ...

-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 ) 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 in the Liguria ...

, 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 shipyards in

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

, 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, ea ...

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, 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, ...

Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Loire-Atlantique Departments of France, department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Oc ...

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