Marina

Oceania Cruises was formed in 2002 by two well-known cruise-industry names. Joe Watters, a private investor, started his carreer in the cruise-industry in 1977 with Princess Cruises, being their President between 1981 and 1985. After this, he became President of the Royal Viking Like untill 1989 and from 1994 to 2001 he was President and Chief Operating Officer at Crystal Cruises. In 2002 he formed Oceania Cruises out of the remains of Renaissance Cruises, that went bankrupt in 2001 after the attacks in New York and Washington. He formed Oceania together with Frank del Rio, former vice-President of Renaissance Cruises. Del Rio is now CEO of Prestige Cruise Holdings., the mothercompany of Oceania Cruises and its sistercompany Regent Seven Seas Cruises. 

Oceania started sailing with the Insignia in october 2002, which was one of the former R-class ships of Renaissance Cruises. The ship was chartered from Cruiseinvest, who took over the ships of the former Renaissance Cruises fleet. A few monts later, the ship was chartered to the French tour-operator TMR for several months, and came back to Oceania in june 2003. At this time, another of the former Renaissance ships joined the fleet of Oceania, named Insignia. The first Insignia was renamed Regatta and so the fleet of Oceania was now two ships. In november 2005, they were joined by another of the former Renaissance ships, and she recieved the name Nautica. It was also around this time, that there was the announcement that a fourth ship of this class, that was now sailing as Pacific Princess for Princess Cruises would be chartered too and would recieve the name Marina for Oceania Cruises from july 2007 onwards. But this did not happen, as Oceania Cruises was now strong enough to order a pair of newbuilds based on the design of the R-class ships, but then larger. The main financial injection to built these ships came when the majority of stocks of Oceania was bought by Apollo Shipmanagement, that also owned part of Norwegian Cruise Line.

This Oceania-class, as the class was named, would consist out of two ships, with an option on a thirth but this option wasn't materialized. The order was placed at the Fincantieri Yards at Sestri-Ponente, Italy. At the 10th of march 2009, the keel of the first ship was laid and, as a tradition, a US silver dollar coin was welded in the keel, together with a Cuban peso-coin that, of course, was pre-Castro. This is a tradition that will bring the ship good luck, as is said. At the 4th of april 2010 the ship was launched with the name Marina, the name that was originally meant for the fourth ex-Renaissance ship to have said to join the Oceania fleet.  

On february 5th 2011, the ship was named in Miami by her godmother Mary Hart, a TV personality known as presenter of Entertainment Tonight. She is also known for her shapely legs, insured for $1 million each because of her other carreer and that is working as a model for a pantyhose-brand. That aside, the new Marina had the honour to be named by her and set sail into the Caribbean. Her first cruise, however, had started in Barcelona to Miami from the 22nd of january onwards. The ship sailed the Caribbean for some time, before returning to Barcelona for a European season.

The ship has a tonnage of 66.084 and she has a lenght of 238,35 meters, a width of 32 meters and a draft of 7,32 meters. Her 626 staterooms, ranging from a few inside cabins (the ship has 90% cabins with veranda) to three owners suites can accomodate 1252 passengers in double occupancy and these people will be served by 780 crewmembers. It is a diesel-electric powered ship, propelled by two controllable pitych propellers, so no novelties as Azipods or Mermaids. Her normal service speed is around 20 knots. Her interiours are, as with her other former Renaissance fleetmates, very classic looking, with much use of rich woods, Italian marble, leather and granites. She offers her passenger at least nine dine-options, from The Grand Ding Room and several outside terraces, that are charge-free, to four specialized restaurants ranging from the Polo Grill, the line's signature dining option, to French, Asian or Italian cuisine. Furthermore, the ship offeres, besides the normal entertainment spots, the Artist Loft, that is a place where you can learn skills like painting and sculpting, a Grand Staircase as seen on the old liners and Martini's, a gentleman's club style lounge that serves several kinds of, well, Martini's. By the way, the ship has no deck 13, this could bring bad luck and then the coins in her keel would be of no use.

In looks, it can be seen that the ship was based on the design of the R-class ships, although from some angles, especially on the second picture, you see the superstructure looks kinda odd. On top of the bridge, two decks are added, housing the Horizon's lounge and bar, with floor to ceiling windows offering spectacular views. On top, a sports and sun deck are present. Deck 14 is overhanging the sides and balconies so it somehow looks as the ship lost some of its sides. What was nice to see is that the name of the ship is not spelled entirely in capital letters, just like the Costa Marina. What's in a name?

The pictures were shot at IJmuiden, just after Marina had left the locks at the 30th of july 2011.