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MV Gemini

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MS Gemini in Stavanger
Gemini in Stavanger, 2011
History
Name
  • 1992-1993: Crown Jewel
  • 1993-1995: Cunard Crown Jewel
  • 1995-2009: Superstar Gemini
  • 2009-2009: Vision Star
  • 2009-2016: Gemini
  • 2016-2017: Celestyal Nefeli
  • 2017-present: Gemini
Owner
Operator
Port of registry
RouteEastern Mediterranean
BuilderUnion Naval de Levante, Valencia
Yard number197
Launched30 May 1991
Completed20 July 1992
In service20 July 1992
Identification
StatusIn service
General characteristics
TypeMotor Vessel
Tonnage19,093 GT
Length163.81 m (537 ft 5 in)
Beam22.5 m (73 ft 10 in)
Draught5.40 m (17 ft 9 in)
Installed power4 x Wärtsilä 8R32 diesel engines
Propulsion
Speed19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Capacity1,074 passengers

MV Gemini is a cruise ship operated by Miray Cruises since 2019. She was built in 1992 by Unión Naval de Levante [es], Valencia, Spain for Crown Cruise Line as Crown Jewel. She has also sailed under the name Cunard Crown Jewel. She also operated as SuperStar Gemini for Star Cruises from 1995 to 2008.

History

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Crown Jewel was built in 1992 for Crown Cruise Line, a subsidiary of EffJohn, which was itself the merger of Finland Steamship Company and Johnson Line.[1] The vessel is the largest cruise ship built in Spain.[2] Crown Cruise Line used the ship for cruises from the United States to Canada, Bermuda and the Caribbean. In 1993, the Cunard Line signed a deal to handle marketing, sales and reservations for Crown Cruise Line, and the vessel was renamed Cunard Crown Jewel.[3][4] In 1995 the ship was sold to Star Cruises, renamed SuperStar Gemini, and placed on cruise traffic from Singapore.[4][5] In February 1997 the ship suffered an engine room fire.[5]

Superstar Gemini

In September 2007 Star Cruises reported that SuperStar Gemini had been sold and left the company fleet in December 2008.[6] Reportedly the buyer was Jewel Owner Ltd., a Bahamas-based company in the Danish Clipper Group, which would charter the ship to a new operator in 2009.[7] In 2008, Clipper announced that it would rename the ship Vision Star and lease the ship to the Spanish cruise ship operator, Vision Cruises. In March 2009, Vision Cruises ceased operations. In early 2009, Mediterranean Classic Cruises (formerly Monarch Classic Cruises) was booking cruises in the Aegean Sea aboard Vision Star. However, these cruises were cancelled due to the non-availability of Vision Star from Vision Cruises. Instead, SuperStar Gemini was renamed Gemini, and had a Spanish operator, Quail Travel Group.

Gemini with Happy Cruises, Stavanger 2011

After the bankruptcy of Quail in 2011, Gemini was laid up in Tilbury Docks, Essex, awaiting sale or charter.[8]

Cruises to 2015

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Gemini with Petrofac, Scalloway 2015

SuperStar Gemini was based in Singapore and she cruised to various destinations year round in the South China Sea, Gulf of Thailand, and Straits of Malacca. Superstar Gemini embarked on a three-month voyage around the Pacific including a full circumnavigation of the Australian continent and visited various cities e.g. Melbourne, Sydney, Perth (Fremantle), Brisbane, Komodo and Bali between November 2007 and February 2008.

For her final 2008 season for Star Cruises after returning from her Australian deployment, the ship was sailing a combination of Straits of Malacca seven-day cruises and six 21-day roundtrips from Singapore via Koh Samui, Laem Chebang, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hong Kong, Halong Bay, Nha Trang, Kota Kinabalu, and Kuching, then returning to Singapore.

SuperStar Gemini's last voyage for Star Cruises departed Singapore for a seven-day cruise to the Straits of Malacca on 28 December 2008, returning to the Singapore Cruise Centre on 4 January 2009. On the same day she sailed for Port Klang, and was subsequently refitted and delivered to new owners.

MV Gemini had a Spanish operator, Quail Travel Group (trading as "Happy Cruises"), and from November 2010 was sailing in the Caribbean, based in Havana, and including stops in Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Paradise Island. From May to October 2011 Gemini was scheduled to cruise in the Mediterranean, with stops in, amongst others, Venice, Athens and Istanbul. Due to Happy Cruises ceasing operations on 24 September 2011, she had to terminate her cruise at Valencia, Spain.[9]

Clipper Ship Management, who followed as owner of Gemini and Ocean Pearl, issued a statement saying that both ships would be available for sale or charter.[10] Following a strike by her crew at Gibraltar, on 25 October 2011 Gemini was again berthed in Tilbury Docks.[11][12][13] During the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Gemini was used as temporary accommodation to house G4S games security staff, berthed Albert Dock.[citation needed]

Gemini was chartered to Petrofac, which was building an £800 million gas plant for French company Total to accommodate around 400 workers. She arrived at Scalloway, Shetland, in the second week of July 2014, and berthed at Dales Voe until 15 November 2015. Later that month, the ship left Scalloway for Besiktas, south of Istanbul, for drydocking, maintenance and an extensive refit, prior to returning to cruising, as Celestyal Nefeli, in spring 2016. The ship was chartered to Celestyal Cruises, then of Cyprus.[14]

Cruises since 2015

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Gemini was based in the Eastern Mediterranean from mid-2016. In 2017, she was chartered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to host emergency response crews responding to Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.[15] In 2018 the charter with FEMA ended and Gemini returned to Europe. From June to September 2018 the vessel was in service with the Turkish tour agency Etstur, sailing from Çeşme to Turkish and Greek ports.[16] In 2019 the cruise ship was chartered by Blue World Voyages[17] and the following year laid up at Piraeus, Greece.[citation needed]

In 2021, the ship was chartered for several years by Miray Cruises, an offshoot of a Turkish travel company, for operation in the Aegean Sea and Sea of Marmara. That programme was interrupted in February 2023 by the catastrophic earthquake in Turkey and Syria, when she was deployed to provide accommodation for the homeless from the Hatay Province, accommodating mostly the elderly, sick or pregnant, and families with small children.[18] In March 2023, it was announced that Gemini would commence a three-year "live aboard" round-the-world cruise in November, operated by Life at Sea Cruises, a subsidiary of Miray.[19][20] However, in June, Life at Sea Cruises said that Gemini had been replaced for this cruise by another ship, Lara, reported to be AIDAaura.[21][22] In November that ship was sold to Celestyal Cruises, and Miray was still trying to source a ship suitable for its subsidiary start up.[23]

Gemini with Miray Cruises, Rhodes 2023

References

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  1. ^ Simplon Postcards: Star Cruises / SuperStar Gemini, retrieved 29. 9. 2007
  2. ^ Ward, Douglas: Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships 2006, page 604. Berlitz Publishing 2006. ISBN 981-246-739-4
  3. ^ Lakeside Publishing Co. (1993). Cruise Travel. Lakeside Publishing Co. p. 28.
  4. ^ a b Miller, William H. Jr: Pictorial Encyclopedia of Ocean Liners, 1860–1994, page 112. Dover Publications, New York, 1995. ISBN 0-486-28137-X
  5. ^ a b "M/S Crown Jewel" (in Swedish). Faktaomfartyg. Archived from the original on 18 January 2024.
  6. ^ "Star Cruises sells SuperStar Gemini". Cruise Business Online. Chestertown, MD: Cruise Business Review. 29 September 2007. Archived from the original on 31 October 2007. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  7. ^ "Aihe: Star Cruises myy SuperStar Geminin". Maritimforum (in Finnish). Finland. Archived from the original on 9 August 2011. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  8. ^ "ISP – Fleet Information". International Shipping Partners. Archived from the original on 12 November 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2013.
  9. ^ Dake, Shawn (25 September 2011). "(Un) Happy Cruises Ceases Operations". Maritime Matters. Martin Cox. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  10. ^ "ISP Issues Statement on Happy Cruises". 28 September 2011. Archived from the original on 5 April 2012.
  11. ^ "Gemini as of October 4, 2011". shipspotting.com. 4 October 2011. Currently at Gibraltar, the operators are bankrupt, and crew members on strike as they have not been paid their wages for a couple of months.
  12. ^ "Gemini – Last Position Received". marinetraffic.com. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  13. ^ "MS Gemini berthed at Port of Tilbury, UK". Google Maps. 2011. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012.
  14. ^ "CELESTYAL NEFELI For 2016". Maritime Matters. 14 September 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  15. ^ "Gemini Also on FEMA Charter for $10.6 Million". Cruise Industry News. 12 January 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  16. ^ "Etstur to Offer Summer Season Aboard Gemini". Cruise Industry News. 7 February 2018. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  17. ^ "Blue World Voyages". Archived from the original on 18 July 2018. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  18. ^ Engelbrecht, Cora; Kirac, Nimet; Ponomarev, Sergey (1 March 2023). "'A Strange Dream': A Cruise Ship Is a Floating Shelter for Displaced Turks". The New York Times.
  19. ^ Payne, Holly (7 March 2023). "Gemini's three-year world cruise on the verge of selling out Article-Gemini's three-year world cruise on the verge of selling out". Seatrade Cruise News. Colchester. Archived from the original on 2 April 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  20. ^ Brockes, Emma (30 March 2023). "A three-year cruise sounds like a costly, sweaty nightmare. But then you start doing the maths …". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  21. ^ "Miray Upgrades Ship for Three Year World Cruise". Cruise Industry News. New York. 29 June 2023. Archived from the original on 24 August 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  22. ^ Kalosh, Anne (29 June 2023). "Miray Cruises is the reported buyer of AIDAaura". Seatrade Cruise News. Colchester. Archived from the original on 30 June 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  23. ^ "Life at Sea Three Year World Cruise Facing Investor Withdrawal". Cruise Industry News. New York. 21 November 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
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