.gif)
Pacific Star (ship)
Encyclopedia
The Ocean Dream (formerly Tropicale / Costa Tropicale / Pacific Star) is a cruise ship
, built in 1981. The ship began sailing for Carnival Cruise Lines
as the Tropicale in 1982. The Tropicale was Carnival's first newly built ship. Operating mainly in the Caribbean. She was transferred to the Costa fleet in July 2001 and renamed the Costa Tropicale. The Costa Tropicale was retired in 2005 and entered service for P&O Cruises Australia
as the Pacific Star in December of that year . She was formerly Queensland’s latest cruise liner, she was based in Brisbane
, performing cruises along the Tropical Queensland coast, to various islands in the South Pacific
, New Caledonia
, and to New Zealand
. In March 2008, P&O Cruises Australia
sold the Pacific Star to Pullmantur Cruises
. She has been refurbished and is currently sailing as the Ocean Dream.
by Danish
shipyard
Aalborg Vaerft, and when it launched in 1982, was the first cruise ship custom-built for the company. As the company expanded and acquired larger ships, Carnival decided that Tropicale would be their 'test ship' for new cruises, and as such was the first Carnival ship to be based in San Juan
, New Orleans
, Alaska
, and Tampa
. In 1985 the vessel appeared in an episode of the A-Team called "Judgement Day (part 2)".
In September 1999, the vessel's engine room caught fire en route from Cozumel
to Tampa
. While disabled in the Gulf of Mexico
, the ship was struck by Tropical Storm Harvey. No crew or guests were injured during the two days the Tropicale spent without propulsion. The vessel was slated to replace the collapsed Cape Canaveral Cruises
in 2001, but before Carnival Tropicale could enter service, the vessel was transferred to the fleet of Costa Cruises
, where she was renamed Costa Tropicale.
The vessel underwent refits in Genoa
over the course of 2001 and 2002, redeveloping the vessel and customizing her for a European client base. Costa Tropicale served with the company until 2005, when replacement by larger, more modern cruise ships prompted a transfer to P&O Cruises Australia
, where the vessel again underwent a major refit in Palermo, Italy and was renamed Pacific Star. In 2008 the Pacific Star was sold to Pullmantur Cruises
and renamed Ocean Dream following a refit in Singapore
.
In June 2009, an outbreak of swine flu
occurred about the Ocean Dream during a cruise around Central
and South America
. The ship docked in Margarita
, Venezuela
to allow its Venezuelan passengers to disembark, before heading to Aruba
, where the remaining passengers were able to leave the ship. An earlier report had suggested that the ship had been placed in quarantine
, however, the ship's owners Pullmantur
later denied that this was the case.
Cruise ship
A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way...
, built in 1981. The ship began sailing for Carnival Cruise Lines
Carnival Cruise Lines
Carnival Cruise Lines is a British-American owned cruise line, based in Doral, Florida, a suburb of Miami in the United States. Originally an independent company founded in 1972 by Ted Arison, the company is now one of eleven cruise ship brands owned and operated by Carnival Corporation & plc...
as the Tropicale in 1982. The Tropicale was Carnival's first newly built ship. Operating mainly in the Caribbean. She was transferred to the Costa fleet in July 2001 and renamed the Costa Tropicale. The Costa Tropicale was retired in 2005 and entered service for P&O Cruises Australia
P&O Cruises Australia
P&O Cruises Australia is a British-American owned cruise line with corporate headquarters at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operational headquarters in North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
as the Pacific Star in December of that year . She was formerly Queensland’s latest cruise liner, she was based in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, performing cruises along the Tropical Queensland coast, to various islands in the South Pacific
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
, New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
, and to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. In March 2008, P&O Cruises Australia
P&O Cruises Australia
P&O Cruises Australia is a British-American owned cruise line with corporate headquarters at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operational headquarters in North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
sold the Pacific Star to Pullmantur Cruises
Pullmantur Cruises
Pullmantur Cruises is a cruise line headquartered in Spain. It began operations in the late 1990s as an offshoot of the Madrid-based travel agency Pullmantur. Pullmantur Cruises, through its parent company, was purchased by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. in 2006.- Overview :Pullmantur Cruises is the...
. She has been refurbished and is currently sailing as the Ocean Dream.
History
The vessel was constructed for Carnival Cruise LinesCarnival Cruise Lines
Carnival Cruise Lines is a British-American owned cruise line, based in Doral, Florida, a suburb of Miami in the United States. Originally an independent company founded in 1972 by Ted Arison, the company is now one of eleven cruise ship brands owned and operated by Carnival Corporation & plc...
by Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
shipyard
Shipyard
Shipyards and dockyards are places which repair and build ships. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial...
Aalborg Vaerft, and when it launched in 1982, was the first cruise ship custom-built for the company. As the company expanded and acquired larger ships, Carnival decided that Tropicale would be their 'test ship' for new cruises, and as such was the first Carnival ship to be based in San Juan
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
, New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
, Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, and Tampa
Tampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
. In 1985 the vessel appeared in an episode of the A-Team called "Judgement Day (part 2)".
In September 1999, the vessel's engine room caught fire en route from Cozumel
Cozumel
Cozumel is an island in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, opposite Playa del Carmen, and close to the Yucatan Channel. Cozumel is one of the ten municipalities of the state of Quintana Roo...
to Tampa
Tâmpa
Tâmpa may refer to several villages in Romania:* Tâmpa, a village in Băcia Commune, Hunedoara County* Tâmpa, a village in Miercurea Nirajului, Mureş County* Tâmpa, a mountain in Braşov city...
. While disabled in the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
, the ship was struck by Tropical Storm Harvey. No crew or guests were injured during the two days the Tropicale spent without propulsion. The vessel was slated to replace the collapsed Cape Canaveral Cruises
Cape Canaveral
Cape Canaveral, from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a headland in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic coast. Known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana River.It is part of a region known as the...
in 2001, but before Carnival Tropicale could enter service, the vessel was transferred to the fleet of Costa Cruises
Costa Cruises
Costa Cruises is a British-American owned Italian cruise line, based in Genoa, Italy.Founded in 1924, the company originally operated cargo ships, until the introduction of passenger services in 1947, with regular services between Italy and South America...
, where she was renamed Costa Tropicale.
The vessel underwent refits in Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
over the course of 2001 and 2002, redeveloping the vessel and customizing her for a European client base. Costa Tropicale served with the company until 2005, when replacement by larger, more modern cruise ships prompted a transfer to P&O Cruises Australia
P&O Cruises Australia
P&O Cruises Australia is a British-American owned cruise line with corporate headquarters at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operational headquarters in North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
, where the vessel again underwent a major refit in Palermo, Italy and was renamed Pacific Star. In 2008 the Pacific Star was sold to Pullmantur Cruises
Pullmantur Cruises
Pullmantur Cruises is a cruise line headquartered in Spain. It began operations in the late 1990s as an offshoot of the Madrid-based travel agency Pullmantur. Pullmantur Cruises, through its parent company, was purchased by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. in 2006.- Overview :Pullmantur Cruises is the...
and renamed Ocean Dream following a refit in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
.
In June 2009, an outbreak of swine flu
Swine flu
Swine influenza, also called pig influenza, swine flu, hog flu and pig flu, is an infection by any one of several types of swine influenza virus. Swine influenza virus or S-OIV is any strain of the influenza family of viruses that is endemic in pigs...
occurred about the Ocean Dream during a cruise around Central
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. The ship docked in Margarita
Isla Margarita
Margarita Island is the largest island of the state of Nueva Esparta in Venezuela, situated in the Caribbean Sea, off the northeastern coast of the country. The state also contains two other smaller islands: Coche and Cubagua. The capital city of Nueva Esparta is La Asunción, located in a river...
, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
to allow its Venezuelan passengers to disembark, before heading to Aruba
Aruba
Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...
, where the remaining passengers were able to leave the ship. An earlier report had suggested that the ship had been placed in quarantine
Quarantine
Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....
, however, the ship's owners Pullmantur
Pullmantur Cruises
Pullmantur Cruises is a cruise line headquartered in Spain. It began operations in the late 1990s as an offshoot of the Madrid-based travel agency Pullmantur. Pullmantur Cruises, through its parent company, was purchased by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. in 2006.- Overview :Pullmantur Cruises is the...
later denied that this was the case.