The third oldest passenger ship still in active service is the Princess Danae. She was built in 1955 as the Port Melbourne for Port Line a subsidiary of the venerable Cunard Line. Danae and her near twin sister, Princess Daphne are operated by Classic International Cruises.
History
Built at the venerable Harland and Wolff in Ireland for Port Line, a subsidiary of Cunard, she was designed as a refrigerated cargo ship and equipped with accommodation for only 12 passengers. Her funnel sported the infamous Cunard red with black while her superstructure was white with a grey hull.
The ship operated between Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom via the Panama Canal. After 17 years of loyal service to Port Line, in 1972 she was sold, along with her sister Port Sydney, to Greek shipping magnet John C. Karras. Renamed Therisos Express, the plan was for her to be converted to a car ferry. With the cruise ship industry gaining rapid momentum, designs were drawn up for the sisters to be converted to cruise ships instead.
The second phase of her life took shape at the end of a 4 year conversion process undertaken in Greece. Gutted from top to bottom, only the sides of her hull and engines remained. Her transformation was completed at the end of 1976 and she emerged as the elegant, streamlined Danae. Donning a large K, her distinctive new funnel was designed with a smoke deflector similar to those first seen on the Michelangelo and Raffaello of Italian Line.
Karras Cruises was ultimately unsuccessful and the Danae was chartered to Costa in 1979. The ship proved very popular and stayed in the Costa fleet for 11 years. In 1990, the ship was transferred to Prestige Cruises which was a joint venture between Sovcomflot and Costa. During a refit in 1992, a severe fire erupted on the Danae and she was declared a total loss.
Resurrected from the dead, the third phase of life began when she was rebuilt once again by the Greeks. During the reconstruction process, her name changed to Guess, Starlight Express and finally she re-entered service in 1994 as Baltica.
Arrested in the mid-90s, Baltica was sold to Arcalia Shipping in 1996 and took her current name, Princess Danae. Arcalia is better known today as Classic International Cruises, a line that specializes in the use of older passenger ships.
Princess Danae is nearly identical to her sister Princess Daphne however, there are some small differences. Overall, the Danae is slightly larger than her sister due to her having 47 additional cabins. Some of these cabins can be seen on Danae as a superstructure outcrop built on the fore castle in front of the bridge. 18 additional cabins have been added in this area on her Venus Deck (Promenade Deck on Daphne).
Statistics
| Name(s): | Princes Danae (ex-Baltica, ex-Starlight Express, ex-Anar, ex-Danae, ex-Therisos Express, ex-Port Melbourne) |
| IMO: | 5282483 | | | | |
| Call Sign: | CQTK | | | | |
| Builder: | Harland & Wolff, Belfast (Ireland) |
| Yard Number: | 1483 | | | | |
| Delivery: | 7-Jul-1955 | Cruise ship since Jan 08, 1977 |
| Gross Tonnage: | 16,531 | | | | |
| Length: | 162.3 | m | 532.5 | ft | | |
| Beam: | 21.3 | m | 69.9 | ft | | |
| Draft: | 7.7 | m | 25.2 | ft | | |
| Passengers: | 570 | lower | 288 | cabins | 707 | max |
| Passenger to Space Ratio: | 23.38 | | | | | |
| Crew: | 225 | Crew to Passenger Max | 1:3.1 |
| Engines: | Harland & Wolff 2 x 6 cylinder diesels producing a total of 9,709 kW (13,020 hp) |
| Propulsion: | 2 x propellers | | |
| Thrusters: | 1 x bow thruster | | |
| Speed: | Cruising | 16 kts | Max | 17 kts | | |
| Owner: | Waybell Cruises Inc. (Portugal) |
Current history
Classic operates a fleet of 5 ships and focuses on 4 different market segments across 3 languages. They offer cruises targeted at British, Australian, French and Portuguese passengers. Their ships operate on a rotation between Asia, Caribbean, Mediterranean and Northern Europe. The 5 ships currently in their fleet are: Athena (1948), Princess Daphne (March 1955), Princess Danae (July 1955), Funchal (1961) and Arion (1966).
Future and our prediction:
Sadly, each year the list of ships built prior to 1970 continues to get shorter. We love Classic International and their focus on older passenger ships. These old ships don’t have rock climbing walls, skating rinks, water slides or gaudy neon lit atriums but they are truly floating works of art. Truly the statement, “they don’t build em like that anymore,” has never been more apropos. It is truly an experience to sail on one of these legends upon the seas. While we would love to see Princess Danae and her fleet mates at Classic International continue sailing for further decades, economic realities, environmental regulations and advanced safety requirements will eventually overtake them.
By 2020, we predict less than half of the pre-1970 passenger ships active today, will still exist. It will continue to be very tough for lines operating older ships to justify their high operating and maintenance costs while the economies of scale related to ever larger monolithic, mass market, ginormous cruise ships continue to propagate to all parts of the world. Classic International, Louis and Fred Olsen will need to innovate or die. This is not a future we like but it is already in the making. Louis
Get out there and immerse and indulge yourself with the experience of classic ship while you still can!