- Palm Beach Princess
MS "Palm Beach Princess" is a
cruise ship owned byCruise Holdings and operated byPalm Beach Cruises oncasino cruises out ofPalm Beach, Florida . She was built in 1964 byWärtsilä Helsinki New Shipyard ,Helsinki ,Finland forFinland Steamship Company as MS "Ilmatar". From 1970 until 1974 and again from 1978 to 1980 she was marketed as a part ofSilja Line fleet. In 1973 she was lengthened atHDW Hamburg ,Germany by convert|20.04|m|ftin|abbr=on. Between 1975—1976 she was chartered toFinnlines . In 1979 she was converted to acruise ship .In 1980 the "Ilmatar" was sold to
Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab , without a change of name. In 1974 she was sold toGrundstad Maritime Overseas and renamed MS "Viking Princess" for cruising withCrown Cruise Line . In 1997 she received her current name.On
28 November 1968 the "Ilmatar" collided with theSiljavarustamo ferry MS|Botnia in theÅland archipelago, resulting in the death of six people on board the "Botnia".Malmberg (2007). pp. 102-103]Concept and construction
In the early 1960s the
Finland Steamship Company decided to construct a 5,171gross register ton ship for the Finland—Sweden service the company operated in collaboration withSteamship Company Bore ,Rederi AB Svea andSiljavarustamo , a joint subsidiary of the three companies. For the first time in Finland SS Co's history, the new ship was fitted withdiesel engine s and included side-loadable car deck for 50 cars. Her service speed was planned at convert|16.50|kn|km/h|abbr=on, and she was to carry 1000 passengers, 332 of them in two classes with berths and the rest as classless deck passengers.The construction of the new vessel was awarded to
Wärtsilä 'sHelsinki New Shipyard , and she was the largest ship built by the shipyard at the time. On29 October 1963 the ship was launched and christened "Ilmatar" (spiritess of the air, a character from the Finnish national epicKalevala ) bySylvi Kekkonen , the wife ofUrho Kekkonen who was thePresident of Finland at the time. She was delivered on15 June 1964 .The "Ilmatar" was found to be too small from the start, and in 1973 she was docked at
HDW Hamburg ,Germany , where she was lengthened by convert|20.04|m|ftin|abbr=on, increasing her passenger capacity to 1210, passenger berths to 450 and car capacity to 75. In 1978—1979 she was rebuilt for cruise service at the shipyard that had built her, with cabins rebuilt and acasino ,swimming pool ,gym and cinema were added.ervice history
1964—1980
Following delivery, the "Ilmatar" was used on traffic from
Helsinki orTurku toSkeppsbron inStockholm . In July of the same year she lost her rudder nearMariehamn .On
28 November 1968 the "Ilmatar" was en-route from Stockholm to Turku in heavy fog with 177 passengers on board. She was scheduled to pass MS|Botnia ofSiljavarustamo nearLångnäs , Åland around 2 AM. Both ships were in radar and radio contact with each other and their captains agreed on where and when the ships would pass each other. Despite the precautions the ships collided at 2:12 am, after the "Botnia" had accidentally drifted to the wrong side of the shipway. Due to the heavy fog, visual contact was not established until five seconds before the collision. The "Ilmatar"'s bow hit the "Botnia" 's starboard side in a 40° angle, tearing a 40-meter gash on the "Botnia" and destroying eight cabins. One crew member and two passengers of the "Botnia" were killed instantly, while seven passengers were seriously injured and three of them died later on. The "Ilmatar" 's bow was entirely destroyed but no people on board here were seriously injured. She was able to continue to Turku under her own power, and re-entered service after repairs on 8 December 1968 . The crew of the "Ilmatar" were found innocent of causing the accident.In 1970 Finland SS Co, Bore and Svea restructured their joint operations, creating a new marketing company
Silja Line . [Malmberg (2007). p. 106] As a result the "Ilmatar" came to be marketed as a Silja Line vessel and logos of the new company were painted on her sides. In 1973 she was lengthened atHDW Hamburg . Following the lengthening she was mainly used in Finland Steamship Company cruise traffic, and only occasionally for Silja Line service. In 1974—1975 she was used in Finland SS Co's Helsinki—Copenhagen —Travemünde service. In 1975 the company withdrew from the joint Finland—Germany service withFinnlines . As a result the "Ilmatar" was chartered to Finnlines from25 May 1975 until6 July 1976 and used on the Helsinki—Copenhagen—Travemünde service. In 1976 Finland Steamship Company changed their name to Effoa. Following the end of charter to Finnlines, the "Ilmatar" was used by Effoa on cruise traffic on theBaltic Sea ,Norwegian Fjords and theMediterranean .From the beginning of 1978 the marketing of the "Ilmatar"
's cruises was taken over by Silja Line, and Silja Cruise logos were painted on her superstructure. Her cruises were successful, and during the winter 1978—1979 she was rebuilt as a genuine cruise ship by Wärtsilä. Restrictions placed on cruise traffic by the Soviet Union , the long maritime strike of 1980 and following increased crew costs resulted in the decision to stop cruise service in June 1980. [cite web |url=http://www.valkeatlaivat.net/historia/80-valkeat_kaunottaret_saapuvat.htm |title=Valkeat kaunottaret saapuvat |accessdate=2008-03-01 |last=Koski |first=Sami |language=in Finnish |work=Valkeat Laivat ] The "Ilmatar" returned briefly to Helsinki—Stockholm service for Silja Line, until she was sold toVesteraalens Dampskibsselskab on27 October 1980 for $6.5 million.1980—1984
Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab re-registered the "Ilmatar" in the Norwegian International Shipregister, but kept her original name and initially even Effoa funnel colours, although these were later changed to those of Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab. The ship was used for cruising around
Europe until27 November 1982 , when she was laid up atToulon ,France .1984—1997
After being laid up for over a year, the "Ilmatar" was sold to
Grunstad Maritime Overseas , renamed "Viking Princess" and re-flagged toPanama . Initially the "Viking Princess" was used for cruising fromSan Diego, California toMexico inCrown Cruise Line colours from April 1984 until 1985, when she was moved to cruising from West Palm Beach to theCaribbean . Following the bankruptcy of her owners, the "Viking Princess" was laid up in October 1995.1997—present
In November 1997 the "Viking Princess" was sold to
Deerbroke Invest , renamed "Palm Beach Princess" and used for casino cruising out of West Palm Beach in the colours ofPalm Beach Casino Line . Her ownership changed several times during the following years, but she continued cruising on the same route in the same colours. [cite web |url=http://www.pbcasino.com/ |title=Palm Beach Princess |accessdate=2008-03-01 |last= |first= |language= |publisher=Palm Beach Casino Line ]Design
Exterior design
The "Ilmatar" was originally built with a yacht-like external appearance, with a sleek raked bow and a rounded stern. In keeping with the ferry design of the day she did not have a traditional funnel, but two slim exhaust pipes at near the back of the superstructure. The bridge was located on a separate deck on top of the superstructure, almost amidship. A half-arch shaped dummy "funnel" was attached to the back of the bridge structure, and the Finland Steamship Company colours were painted there.
The 1973 lengthening altered the ship's external appearance. The convert|20.04|m|ftin|abbr=on extension meant she lost her yacht-like looks and now appeared more like a liner. In addition to the lengthening, new spaces were built behind the bridge, which meant the removal of her original stylified dummy funnel. A new, large but low dummy funnel was built on the top and behind the added top deck structure. Her rear sun deck was also slightly extended.
When the "Ilmatar" became the "Viking Princess", the dummy funnel was heightened to almost twice its original height. At some point during her career as "Viking Princess" the ship's rear sun deck was radically extended with the addition of a two-level overhanging structure.
References
External links
* [http://www.pbcasino.com/ Company website]
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