For the company sometimes referred to as "Orient Line", see Orient Steam Navigation Company

Orient Steam Navigation Company

The Orient Steam Navigation Company, also known as the Orient Line, was a British shipping company with roots going back to the late 18th century...

Orient Lines was a cruise line

Cruise line

A cruise line is a company that operates cruise ships. Cruise lines have a dual character; they are partly in the transportation business, and partly in the leisure entertainment business, a duality that carries down into the ships themselves, which have both a crew headed by the ship's captain,...

 specialising in exotic destinations that was in operation 1993—2008. The brand was founded in 1993 by Gerry Herrod, who had previously owned Ocean Cruise Lines. Orient Lines was sold to Norwegian Cruise Line

Norwegian Cruise Line

Norwegian Cruise Line is a company operating cruise ships, headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida. It began operations in 1966 under the name Norwegian Caribbean Line. The company is best known for its Freestyle Cruising concept, which means that there are no set times or...

 in 1998, and ceased operations in March 2008.

The brand was sold to new owners in June 2008, and was planned to restart operations in April 2009. However, due to the economic downturn in 2008 the re-launch of the Orient Lines brand has been delayed indefinitely.

History

The history of Orient Lines began in 1991 when Shipping & General Ltd, owned by Gerry Herrod, acquired the cruise ship Alexandr Pushkin from Far Eastern Shipping Company. Herrod had previously operated Ocean Cruise Lines, but had sold that venture in 1990 to Paquet Lines. During the next two and a half years the Alexandr Pushkin was almost entirely rebuilt and emerged in 1993 as the Marco Polo

MS Marco Polo

MS Marco Polo is a cruise ship owned by Global Maritime, under charter to UK-based Cruise & Maritime Voyages, having been previously operated by Transocean Tours, Germany. She was built in 1965 by Mathias-Thesen Werft, East Germany as MS Alexandr Pushkin for the Soviet Union's Baltic Shipping Company...

 for the new Orient Lines brand, embarking on a varied program with cruises all around the world.

In 1998 Norwegian Cruise Line

Norwegian Cruise Line

Norwegian Cruise Line is a company operating cruise ships, headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida. It began operations in 1966 under the name Norwegian Caribbean Line. The company is best known for its Freestyle Cruising concept, which means that there are no set times or...

 acquired the successful brand. In 1999 NCL itself was acquired by Star Cruises

Star Cruises

Star Cruises , a member of Genting Hong Kong, is the sixth largest cruise line in the world behind companies such as Carnival Corporation and Royal Caribbean Cruises...

. Following this NCL's Norwegian Crown joined the Orient Lines fleet in May 2000 under the name Crown Odyssey. In March 2001 Star Cruises announced that their SuperStar Aries would be joining the Orient Lines fleet in mid-2002 as the Ocean Voyager. This plan was shelved however, and in 2003 Orient Lines reverted to operating with just one ship when the Crown Odyssey returned to the NCL fleet.

On 4 June 2007 NCL announced that the Marco Polo had been sold to the Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

-based Global Maritime, with a delivery date on 31 March 2008. This meant the end of the Orient Line brand, as no ship was brought in to replace the Marco Polo. Global Maritime in turn chartered the Marco Polo to the Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

-based Transocean Tours

Transocean Tours

Transocean Tours is a Germany-based cruise line that operates three ocean-going cruise ships on the German and British markets, as well as five river cruise ships on the German market...

.

On 27 June 2008 Star Cruises sold the Orient Line brand to Origin Cruise Group, owned by Wayne Heller. The new owners stated they would be restarting operations with several second-hand ships with a capacity of 600 to 800 passengers. The first ship acquired by the "new" Orient Lines was , which was purchased from Sovcomflot on 20 August 2008. The Maxim Gorkiy was due to enter service with Orient Lines in April 2009 as SS Marco Polo II. On 19 November 2008 Wayne Heller stated that due to the economic crisis of 2008 the relaunch of the Orient Lines brand has been delayed indefinitely. The Maxim Gorkiy never was refitted and renamed Marco Polo II. The ship was sold for scrap in January 2009, and has since been demolished. No further announcements have been made regarding the future of the Orient Lines.

Ships

Ship	Built	In service for Orient Lines	Gross Register Tonnage Gross Register Tonnage Gross register tonnage a ship's total internal volume expressed in "register tons", one of which equals to a volume of . It is calculated from the total permanently enclosed capacity of the vessel. The ship's net register tonnage is obtained by reducing the volume of non-revenue-earning spaces i.e...	Status as of 2009
	1965	1993—2008		Since 2008 sailing for Transocean Tours Transocean Tours Transocean Tours is a Germany-based cruise line that operates three ocean-going cruise ships on the German and British markets, as well as five river cruise ships on the German market...
Crown Odyssey	1988	2000—2003		Since 2008 sailing as Balmoral for Fred. Olsen Cruise Line
Marco Polo II SS Maxim Gorkiy SS Maxim Gorkiy was a cruise ship that was, until 30 November 2008, owned by Sovcomflot, Russia, under long-term charter to Phoenix Reisen, Germany. She was built in 1969 by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, Hamburg, West Germany for the German Atlantic Line as SS Hamburg. In 1973 she was renamed SS...  Never Officially Named	1969	Never entered service		Scrapped in Alang, India

External links

• Orient Lines official website (the web site is out of date)