Lord Sterling cannot stay away from ships

[timespliters]

Lord Sterling who recently purchased Swan Hellenic has acquired the use of Minerva, originally with Swan Hellenic. Cruises will start from May 2008.

Minerva was originally built in 1989 as a Soviet research vessel, the Okean. The deal to purchase her fell through and she was purchased by Swan Hellenic (at the time a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation PLC) in 1996, and the ship was renamed Minerva. She is 436 feet long, has a beam of 65.6 feet and measures 12,500 gross tons. She sailed with Swan Hellenic until her lease ran out in 2003. Then she briefly sailed with Saga Cruises as the Saga Pearl before being chartered to Abercrombie & Kent as the Explorer II.


cruisenews

[Duchess]

Ah, that explains why I was surprised that most of the balconies had gone. I sailed on Minerva II a couple of years ago and nearly all the cabins had them. There seem to be 10 or 12 now, which is why I didn't book with them this time.