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Page Four
The Next Incarnation’s
Klosters Cruise Ltd, Nassau sold the MV Sunward II in 1991 to my dear late friend George Potamianos who was part of the one of the oldest Greek shipping companies that goes way back to 1850, out of which came the famed “Epirotiki Steamship Navigation Co, SA.,” of Piraeus, who now owned the Sunward II, but she was renamed the Triton. She received the company’s traditional livery a buff hull and a white superstructure, her funnel was blue with the Epirotiki logo being a Yellow Byzantine Cross.
She looked at her very best as the MTS Triton as her Epirotiki livery
suited her perfectly!
Epirotiki
publicity photograph – from the author’s private collection
Once again her
accommodations were reduced to a maximum of 706 passengers in 353 cabins and
she commenced operating cruises mostly out of
The delightful MTS Triton seen at sea
Left: Here we see the Sirenes Show
Lounge – Right: The Bar in the Monte Carlo Casino
Left: The Swimming Pool aft, with the
“
A typical outside twin bedded cabin that converts to a double-bedded room
This room can also be sold as a three-berth cabin.
See the Triton Cabin Plan – link at bottom of
the page
Between April to
November she operated on one of the most popular of the 7 night cruises, being
the “Golden Fleece”
The other option was to join either the “Aegean Hellenic” 3-day cruise or the “Aegean Classic” 4-day cruise, in other words, when these were combined they would make up the full 7 day “Golden Fleece” cruise, but it suited some cruisers to take a shorter voyage. During the summer months she would be used on other services!
The
1994 edition was sadly the last official Epirotiki Cruise Brochure
Not
because it was the end of the company, but the beginning of a new one!
Epirotiki Lines
had a considerable fleet of ships, such as the MTS Pallas Athena, MTS Triton,
MTS Word Renainasance, MTS Odysseus, MTS Jason, MTS Argonaut, MTS Orpheus, MTS
Neptune, MTV Hermes, MV Apollon, MV Mistral II – The following were ships
in operation just before or after 1974; MTS Apollon II, MTS Atlas, MTS Olympic.
Obviously there has been a massive fleet in the Epirotiki long and proud
history! Mr. George Potamianos being a genius had a long time ago chartered a
fine Portuguese ship to operate a series of cruises, which had been a huge
success! Later her chartered her again and then purchased her outright and
commenced a new company based in
In 1995 Epirotiki
merged its operations with the wonderful Greek Sun Line and together they
created a new company named “Royal Olympic Cruise Lines.” Although,
they decided that at first each would maintain their own brand names and market
as such and retain their own livery and this lasted for sometime. Then in 2001,
the Maltese shipping company “Louis Cruise
Lines,” purchased shares in Royal Olympic Cruise Lines, and part of the
ROCL management passed to the Louis Group, although the founding
families however retained a controlling interest in the business.
In the meantime all ships had received a new livery, dark blue hulls
and a new logo, a circle with the original Epirotiki star in the middle.
MTS Triton featuring
her new livery and funnel logo
Then Royal Olympic announced that they had decided to build two new cruise ships that sail at high speeds of around 33 knots. These special ships were designed for a ‘three continents’ and thus high-speeds were required. In addition these two ships would carry 800 passengers each. Already the company was shedding it older fleet, regardless their popularity as well their reliability and still being SOLAS compliant at the time! Many of their supporters were not pleased and no longer booked with them for their much-loved ships were gone and these hideous new ships were certainly not greatly desired!
The
Olympic Voyager seen completed (left) and Olympic Explorer in building (right)
Are
seen at the Blohm & Voss Shipyards,
An extremely poor design, being the fault of
an even worse management!
The International
Olympic Committee forced Royal Olympic Cruise Lines to change its name to
Royal Olympia Cruise Lines in 2003. In addition the prefix of the two new
“Olympic” ships was also changed to “Olympia Voyager &
Explorer! However, the truth is that ROCL struggled on for just a few for
months, and certainly not because of ships such as the popular MTS Triton, for
she continued to sell well right to the day of the company’s shut down,
but finally this now poorly run company with, and I must say a bunch of - nit
wit’s running it, for Mr. George Potamianos had departed a long tome ago
to start his own successful company in Portugal, but ROCL collapsed in March
2004.
The
Triton seen around 2002, before the end days of ROCL
The two new ships
survived and were sold, but both had ongoing problems. All of the Royal Olympia
ships were either sold to be broken up or purchased at auction by other
companies and the Triton was obtained by the Maltese based Louis Cruises!
MV Coral:
Louis Hellenic Cruises obtained the beautiful MV
Triton at auction late in 2004 and she was renamed Coral. She was given a
comprehensive refit, refreshing her public venues and accommodations and making
a number of changes suitable to the Louis Cruises requirements.
The
Louis Cruises MV Coral after receiving her first refit
She was
placed on the
To
make her even better, she was given a further extensive refit and as well as a
partial rebuild in 2008, which would see her aft decks extended up to her stern
with side windows shielding her decks from the wind. Topside, where Muses used
to be the top housing was extended to just aft of amidships and 30 cabins were
installed. Aft of this there was a deck space with side windows and the bar,
however on top of the new rooftop, about the middle of the housing there was a
new modernistic structure that housed the satellite and navigational equipment.
One deck own where the Casino and the Cinema used to be, this space had become
one large venue named 9 Muses, replacing the original lounge forward topside.
However, it also housed the casino on one side. In addition, her interiors were
vastly upgraded and additional cabins were installed she was also fitted with new generators.
MV Coral Photo Album
Here we see the new and refitted
MV Coral, an attractive small cruise ship indeed!
An excellent view of her
beautiful traditional stern
A superb photographic study of a
fine ship!
This was taken whilst she was
under charter, thus her funnel livery
The MV Coral, still under charter
seen off
She
continued cruising for Louis as well as for charter operators until 2011, but
sadly bookings in general had started to slow down and Louis Cruises decided to
place the MV Coral in lay-up in
Here we see two Louis ships, the
MV Orient Queen and the MV Coral in
As the Coral remain in Piraeus all of 2012 and in early 2013, although she remained beautifully maintained, etc., Louis Cruises announced in May 2013 that the MV Coral would be renamed, as she would recommence for the 2014 cruise season and her new name would be Louis Rhea. The main reason to add “Rhea” was to reflect the company's “Hellenic heritage.”
However, sadly, on
December 12, 2013 I received the news from my good friend Peter Knego, that an
announcement had been made that the Coral, which was to return to service in
2014, that “the MV Coral had been sold to the breakers” this week.
The MV Coral, ex
Triton, Sunward II, Cunard Adventurer departed
Farewell Old friend!
She
is simply too beautiful and in such perfect condition to be broken up, what a
shame!
Page Four: MTS
Triton & MV Coral
MS Cunard Adventurer
MTS Triton
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