History |
||||
RETURN TO THE HOMEPAGE
S/S REINA DEL MAR 1956 |
||||
The
S/S Reina del Mar was the last passenger ship built for the Pacific
Steam Navigation Company's South American service. She served on their
route from Liverpool to the Caribbean
and South America, via the Panama Canal. However the South American
service was discontinued in 1964 and she was chartered to the Travel
Savings Association as a cruise ship and in 1975 transferred to
Union-Castle Line and spent many years as a very popular and successful
cruise ship.
Design and Construction (1955 – 1956): She was built by Harland
& Wolff Ltd in Pacific Steam Navigation era (1956 – 1964): The Reina del Mar commenced
her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Travel Savings Association (TSA) era
(1964): On 5th March 1964 she
completed her final South American voyage and was chartered to the
South
African Max Wilson's Travel Savings Association for cruising and
transatlantic
summer sailings. The shareholders of TSA became Canadian Pacific,
Union-Castle
and Royal Mail Lines. During 1964 she was refurbished for her new role
and
equipped with a cinema and extra lido decks as it was also the
intention to use
the ship as a hotel at its ports of call. She
reappeared in June 1964 with the black TSA logo on a yellow funnel.
Under Union-Castle management the ship commenced her first sailing to Union-Castle Line era (1964 – 1975): In the October 1964 Union-Castle
became the sole owner of TSA but not the ship. However, in the November
she was converted into a one class ship with 1026
berths, although capacity was restricted to 998, and was repainted in
full
Union-Castle colours. She operated winter cruises from In 1969 she was
transferred within the Furness Withy
Group to Royal Mail Lines. By this time Royal Mail Lines had
become the
registered owner of all PSNC ships but the Reina
In 1973 she was acquired by
Union-Castle before the charter expired and traded for a further two
years
before being broken up at
|
||||
(c) Cruise Ship History Collection 2018 including www.thecunarders.co.uk A Edward Elliott