How Many Old Cruise Ships will Survive?

For fans of classic cruise vessels, nothing quite gets the pulse racing like Queen Elizabeth 2. As the world’s most famous ocean liner, she was always admired for her sleek silhouette, her powerful grace, and her war-time contributions.

Unfortunately, Cunard had to retire the liner in November 2008 because of stringent guidelines set forth by SOLAS which take effect on October 1, 2010. Now in Dubai, the QE2 will be sliced, diced, and gutted before being reopened as a luxury floating hotel, docked on the manmade, tree-shaped Palm Jumeirah island.

Second chance scenarios such as the QE2’s seem to be rare. Many of the owners of ships built before 1980 (when different safety rules applied) have some tough choices ahead. Replacing all the combustible materials is incredibly expensive. Most of these classic ships are loaded with fine woods, and unfortunately, this makes the scrap yard the favored option for most of them.

Below is a list of many of the classic ships that seem doomed for the scrap yard:

• Regal Empress, an ocean liner of polished wood and burnished brass that enjoyed some 50 years in the business, retired in March 2009. For Regal, there was no buyer and the ship was quietly sold for scrap and made its final journey to the notorious breaking beaches of Alang, India.

• The same fate has been met by the venerable Maxim Gorkiy, built in 1973. The ship was sold to Orient Lines and was scheduled to launch as the Marco Polo II in spring 2009. Unfortunately, Orient Lines closed before the first cruise and the ship was sold for scrap.

• Meanwhile, like the QE2, it appears as if Fred Olsen’s Black Prince will be spared. While the line has chosen to retire the vessel later this year, rather than spend the money to make the ship SOLAS compliant, it has found a buyer, Servicios Acuaticos de Venezuela CA (SAVECA). Initial plans are for the vessel to be used as a cruise ship in Venezuelan waters.

• The Saga Rose (Saga Holidays) is set to retire in December 2009. Built as Norwegian America Line’s Sagafjord in 1965, this classic ocean liner currently has no buyer. Currently, there is some speculation regarding transforming the ship into a floating hotel at ExCel Conference Centre in London, but it has not been confirmed yet.

• The fate of the sailing yacht Sea Cloud, built in 1931 for cereal heiress Marjorie Meriweather Post and rebuilt to operate cruises in 1979, is also in question. A spokesman for Sea Cloud Cruises said the line is optimistic that the ship will continue to sail beyond October 1, 2010. With the help of regulators, Sea Cloud Cruises is currently looking into what needs to be done to make the ship SOLAS 2010 compliant. In a show of confidence, the line’s Web site is still selling cruises on Sea Cloud beyond October 1, 2010.

There are many more lesser-known ships, particularly in European markets, that may no longer be seaworthy come October 1, 2010. Examples (with original names in parentheses) include Ausonia, Dalmacjia, Grand Victoria (World Renaissance), Kristina Regina (Bore), Le Diamant (Song of Flower), Oceanic II (Kungsholm), Royal Star (San Giorgio), Serenade (Jean Mermoz), The Emerald (Santa Rosa) and The Topaz (Empress of Britain).

While huge new ship builds, from MSC, Celebrity, Costa, P&O, and the German line AIDA, are set to debut in Europe in 2010, Robin Farley with UBS reports that “based on our analysis, we believe there are at least 14 ships, or 5,600 berths, that are likely to be removed from the total 148,300-berth European market during 2010, reducing the market growth rate by roughly 4 percent.”

As we continue to come across stories involving the beautiful, classic cruise ships, we will continue to report on them here in the blog. SOLAS 2010 is quickly approaching and ship owners will be making decisions on these ships shortly.