Pullmantur Cruises - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Pullmantur Cruises is 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,...

headquartered in Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. It began operations in the late 1990s as an offshoot of the Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

-based travel agency

Travel agency

A travel agency is a retail business that sells travel related products and services to customers on behalf of suppliers such as airlines, car rentals, cruise lines, hotels, railways, sightseeing tours and package holidays that combine several products...

Pullmantur. Pullmantur Cruises, through its parent company, was purchased by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. is a Norwegian / American company based in Miami, Florida. It is the world's second-largest cruise line operator, after Carnival Corporation & PLC. As of March 2009, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd...

in 2006.

Overview

Pullmantur Cruises is the largest Spain

Spain

-based cruise line

Cruise line

. The company mainly markets to Spanish passengers, although cruises on Pullmantur ships are also sold by some travel operators outside the Spanish-speaking world. Most of the company's ships operate an "all-inclusive" product, where some extras, such as brand alcoholic beverages, are included in the cruise price.

Most Pullmantur ships do not operate cruises for the company during the northern hemisphere

Northern Hemisphere

The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...

winter season. Instead, they are either laid up or under charter to other cruise lines, such as the Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

-based Viagens CVC.

History

Pullmantur began cruise operations in the 1990s by initially selling cruises onboard in the Southern Caribbean from Premier Cruises

Premier Cruises

Premier Cruises was a cruise line holding company formed in the early 1990s that focused on the family cruise market as well as on developing cruise operations in new geographic markets...

and later also onboard Premier Cruises flagship the SS Rembrandt in the Mediterranean. After Premier Cruises changed their business plan in 1997 and decided to cancel their contracts with operators such as Pullmantur and their following collapse in 2000, Pullmantur acquired their SS Big Red Boat 1 and started their own cruise line, Pullmantur Cruises. The Big Red Boat 1 was reverted to her original name , and begun cruising around the Mediterranean from Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

in May 2005. The Oceanic became hugely successful, and already in 2002 Pullmantur acquired a second ship, MS Pacific

Pacific (ship)

MS Pacific is a cruise ship owned and operated by the Brazil-based Viagens CVC. She was built in 1971 by Nordseewerke, Emden, West Germany as Sea Venture for Flagship Cruises. She operated cruises between the USA and Bermuda, which had been settled by the survivors of the original Sea Venture...

(formerly Princess Cruises

Princess Cruises

Princess Cruises is a British-American owned cruise line, based in Santa Clarita, California in the United States. Previously a subsidiary of P&O Princess Cruises PLC, the company is now one of ten cruise ship brands operated by Carnival Corporation & PLC and accounts for approximately 19% share...

' famous MS Pacific Princess that starred in The Love Boat
The Love Boat
The Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24,1977, until May 24,1986.The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain...

TV series), and chartered the former Renaissance Cruises

Renaissance Cruises

Renaissance Cruises, originally founded in 1989 owned by Fearnley & Eger Rederi in Oslo - Norway, was a cruise line operator that operated year-round cruise itineraries to the Mediterranean, the Greek Isles, Tahiti and the South Pacific, Northern Europe and Scandinavia. The company ceased...

ship from Cruiseinvest. The R Five was marketed under the name Blue Dream. Two more ships followed in 2003. Pullmantur acquired MS Superstar Aries from 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...

and renamed her , while the R Five's sister ship was chartered under the marketing name Blue Star.

In 2004 the R Five was chartered by her owners to Oceania Cruises

Oceania Cruises

Oceania Cruises is a Miami, Florida, United States-based shipping company that operates four luxury cruise ships on world-wide itenaries. It is currently the world’s largest upscale cruise line, offering good-quality food and itineraries at a cheap price when compared to other upscale cruise lines...

. In 2005 Pullmantur purchased the R Six, confusingly renaming her . A third R-class ship followed in 2006 when Pullmantur bought the Delphin Renaissance and renamed her . Later the same year the Pullmantur fleet grew to six ships when the Pacific Sky was purchased from 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...

and renamed . A few months after the purchase of the Sky Wonder the entire Pullmantur company was sold to Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

Following the acquisition by Royal Caribbean several transfers were carried out between the Pullmantur fleet and those of other Royal Caribbean brands. In 2007 the Blue Dream and Blue Moon were transferred to Azamara Cruises

Azamara Cruises

Azamara Club Cruises is an up-market cruise line owned by the Norwegian-American company, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., as one of their subsidiaries. The line currently operates two ships, Azamara Journey and Azamara Quest...

, while and Celebrity Cruises

Celebrity Cruises

Celebrity Cruises is a cruise line founded in 1988 by the Greek Chandris Group. In 1997, Celebrity Cruises Ltd. merged with Royal Caribbean International to become Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., which operates Celebrity, Royal Caribbean International, Azamara Club Cruises, Pullmantur Cruises and CDF...

's joined the Pullmantur fleet in their place (the Oceanic II only spent the 2007 summer season sailing for Pullmantur).
In 2008 Pullmantur received Empress of the Seas from the fleet of Royal Caribbean International

Royal Caribbean International

Royal Caribbean International is a Norwegian and American cruise line brand based in Miami, Florida and owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.. With 42 ships in service under 5 different brands and one more under construction, it controls a 25.6% share of the world cruise market...

, and renamed her .

More changes are due to follow in 2008. The Pacific and Holiday Dream leave the Pullmantur fleet in April/May for Quail Cruises and CDF Croisières de France

CDF Croisières de France

CDF Croisières de France is a France-based, Norwegian-American-owned cruise line which caters to the French cruise market, with French as the only language used onboard their ships. CDF will offer cruises on the Mediterranean and the Caribbean....

, respectively. The former P&O Cruises Australia ship Pacific Star is due to enter service as in May. A further new ship is set to join the Pullmantur fleet in late 2008, when RCI's will be transferred to Pullmantur as the Sovereign. In April 2008 Lloyd's List

Lloyd's List

Lloyd's List is one of the world's oldest continuously-running journals, having provided weekly shipping news in London as early as 1734. Now published daily, a recent issue was numbered 59,200...

reported that Pullmantur were also in the process of purchasing MS Pride of Aloha
Pride of Aloha
Norwegian Sky is a Sky class cruise ship owned and operated by Norwegian Cruise Line. She was originally ordered by Costa Cruises as Costa Olympia from the Bremer Vulkan shipyard in Germany, but she was completed in 1999 by the Lloyd Werft shipyard in Bremerhaven, Germany for the Norwegian Cruise...

from 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...

's subsidiary NCL America. The deal fell through however, and the Pride of Aloha returned to the "normal" Norwegian Cruise Line fleet instead. In March 2009 the Oceanic was sold to Peace Boat

Peace Boat

is a global non-government organization headquartered in Japan established for the purpose of raising awareness and building connections internationally among groups that work for peace, human rights, environmental protection and sustainable development. "Peace Boat" may also refer to one of the...

and the Sky Wonder was renamed Atlantic Star in April 2009.. In mid April 2009 Island Star was transferred from Island Cruises to Pullmantur Cruises.

Logo and livery

Between 2001 and 2008 Pullmantur ships ran in a variety of liveries. All ships had Pullmantur's logo depicting arrows across a globe on their funnels and the company name and logo on their hulls, but the colours of the funnels and hulls varied from one ship to another. , , and were painted with a white hull and blue funnel, , and with a black hull and white funnel, with a white hull and white funnel, and with a white hull and blue funnel with red stripes.

As of 2008 the company is in the process of adapting a new logo, a white circle with a red letter ñ

Ñ is a letter of the modern Latin alphabet, formed by an N with a diacritical tilde. It is used in the Spanish alphabet, Galician alphabet, Asturian alphabet, Basque alphabet, Aragonese old alphabet , Filipino alphabet, Chamorro alphabet and the Guarani alphabet, where it represents...

on it. Coinciding with this the ships are painted in a new livery with a red funnel and a white hull, with the word "Pullmantur" written on the hull towards the rear in small letters.

As of 2010 all their ships have the logo: a white circle with a red letter ñ

and are painted in a new livery with a red funnel and a white hull, with the word "Pullmantur" written on the hull towards the rear in small letters. However, the MV Pacific Dream does not have the white circle with a red letter ñ

but it does have everything else.

Fleet

Ship	Built	Entered service for Pullmantur	Capacity	Gross tonnage Gross tonnage Gross tonnage is a unitless index related to a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage...	Flag	Notes
	1990	2008	2020		Malta	Formerly Empress of the Seas for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
	1982	2008	1412		Malta	Formerly Pacific Star 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... .
	1992	2007	1774		Malta	Formerly Zenith for Celebrity Cruises Celebrity Cruises Celebrity Cruises is a cruise line founded in 1988 by the Greek Chandris Group. In 1997, Celebrity Cruises Ltd. merged with Royal Caribbean International to become Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., which operates Celebrity, Royal Caribbean International, Azamara Club Cruises, Pullmantur Cruises and CDF...
MS Sovereign MS Sovereign of the Seas MS Sovereign is one of three large cruise ships of the Sovereign class formerly operated by Royal Caribbean International. At the time of her maiden voyage on January 16, 1988, she was the largest cruise ship in the world at 73,192 gross tons...	1988	2008	2852		Malta	Transferred from Royal Caribbean International Royal Caribbean International Royal Caribbean International is a Norwegian and American cruise line brand based in Miami, Florida and owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.. With 42 ships in service under 5 different brands and one more under construction, it controls a 25.6% share of the world cruise market... in November 2008.
	1990	2009	1875		Malta	Former MV Island Star of Island Cruises Island Cruises Island Cruises was the brand name of a cruise line operated by Sunshine Cruises Limited, founded as a joint venture between Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and First Choice Travel PLC. First Choice were later acquired by TUI Travel PLC... . Transfer to CDF Croisières de France CDF Croisières de France CDF Croisières de France is a France-based, Norwegian-American-owned cruise line which caters to the French cruise market, with French as the only language used onboard their ships. CDF will offer cruises on the Mediterranean and the Caribbean.... in 2012.

Former fleet

Ship	Built	In service for Pullmantur	Capacity	Tonnage¹	Status as of 2011
	1961	1990s—2000	734		Scrapped in China China Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture... , 2004
	2000	2002—2004	702		Since 2004 MS Nautica with Oceania Cruises Oceania Cruises Oceania Cruises is a Miami, Florida, United States-based shipping company that operates four luxury cruise ships on world-wide itenaries. It is currently the world’s largest upscale cruise line, offering good-quality food and itineraries at a cheap price when compared to other upscale cruise lines...
	2000	2003—2005 2005—2007	702		Since 2007 MS Azamara Journey Azamara Journey Azamara Journey is an owned and operated by Azamara Cruises, a sub-brand of Celebrity Cruises. Gross register tonnage is 30,277, with a capacity of 694 passengers , plus 390 crew members. She was built in 2000 for Renaissance Cruises as R Six... with Azamara Cruises Azamara Cruises Azamara Club Cruises is an up-market cruise line owned by the Norwegian-American company, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., as one of their subsidiaries. The line currently operates two ships, Azamara Journey and Azamara Quest...
	1965	2001—2009	1800		Since 2009 sailing for Peace Boat Peace Boat is a global non-government organization headquartered in Japan established for the purpose of raising awareness and building connections internationally among groups that work for peace, human rights, environmental protection and sustainable development. "Peace Boat" may also refer to one of the... .
	1981	2004—2008	1158		Since May 2008 MS Bleu de France with CDF Croisières de France CDF Croisières de France CDF Croisières de France is a France-based, Norwegian-American-owned cruise line which caters to the French cruise market, with French as the only language used onboard their ships. CDF will offer cruises on the Mediterranean and the Caribbean.... Sold to Saga cruises, enter in service in 2012.
	1972	2005—2008	626		Since April 2008 sailing for Quail Cruises Lain Up as 2011.
	2000	2006—2007	702		Since 2007 MS Azamara Quest Azamara Quest Azamara Quest is an that entered service for Azamara Cruises on October 24, 2007. She was built in 2000 for Renaissance Cruises as R Seven. Following the collapse of Renaissance Cruises in 2001 she was laid up for two years, until chartered to the Germany-based Delphin Seereisen as Delphin... with Azamara Cruises Azamara Cruises Azamara Club Cruises is an up-market cruise line owned by the Norwegian-American company, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., as one of their subsidiaries. The line currently operates two ships, Azamara Journey and Azamara Quest...
	1966	2007	782		Since 2008 MS Mona Lisa for Lord Nelson Seereisen, after her career with Lord Nelson Seereisen she is now a house ship in Oman
SS Atlantic Star	1984	2006—2008 & 2009	1550		Formerly Sky Wonder. With out travels for Pullmantur. Maybe in process to be sold. Sold to an unknown buyer and will become Mona Lisa II.
¹May be specified in gross tonnage Gross tonnage Gross tonnage is a unitless index related to a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage... (GT) or gross register tons (GRT).

External links

Official web site

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