Below, one of Star Cruises little sisters, the MegaStar Aires, makes her way past Sentosa island for her journey to Tanjung Belungkor in Malaysia. With a gross tonnage of 3,341 the MegaStar Aires and her twin, the MegaStar Taurus are the smallest cruise ships in the Star Cruises fleet.

History

Built in 1991 at the now defunct Flender Werft shipyard located in Lübeck, Germany, the Aires was originally built as the Lady Diana for Navtol Shipping of Greece. Navtol was unable to secure funding and she along with her sister were sold to New Frontier Cruises, who took the pair and renamed the Lady Diana to Aurora I. In 1994, the sisters were sold to Star Cruises.

Originally designed for the high end luxury market, the ships were outdated before their time. With no balcony cabins, the ships lack one of the features that are a necessity in the luxury market.

Vital Statistics

Current Status & Future

The MegaStar Aires visits Singapore twice a week. She is only available for private charter and does not operate a regularly scheduled passenger service. Her sister, the MegaStar Taurus is currently laid up and is rumored to be for sale.

Star Cruises is facing 3 bold challenges that it must address; the on-going economic downturn, the highly anticipated opening of Singapore’s two massive Integrated Resorts and Casinos and the rapid influx of big cruise brands (Costa, Princess & Royal Caribbean) into Star’s traditional cruise markets. With the A(H1N1) influenza virus gaining momentum, Star Cruises could find itself in a very difficult situation entering 2010. Unfortunately, it appears that the little sisters may end up becoming a casualty as Star Cruises looks for efficiencies in order to survive the next decade.