Millennium View, a company described as an affiliate of a Singapore-based private-equity fund, appears to have given up plans to dock the 24,500-gt cruiseship Oasia (built 1973) in Yangon as a permanently moored floating hotel.
Widespread suggestions in the cruise sector this week indicate that the ship has been sold to cash buyers for onward delivery to Alang.
Ship tracking websites show that the vessel left its lay-up anchorage off Koh Samae San, in the Gulf of Thailand, last weekend, and is now anchored off the nearby Thai port of Sattahip, where the handover and final preparations for the voyage are taking place.
The ship has switched flag from the Bahamas to St Kitts & Nevis, while its name has been slightly amended to the Oasis.
Millennium View bought the ship as Saga Ruby in January 2014 for a reported $14.5m. The company announced that it would refurbish it and dock it in Yangon to provide much-needed hotel room capacity in the Myanmese capital, which was then emerging onto the tourist trail after years of isolation as a result of international sanctions.
Docking denied
Although the ship was extensively refurbished for its new role, Millennium View was unable to secure docking space. The ship was sent to Thailand to await further developments. TradeWinds understands that it was kept in warm lay-up with a full maintenance crew on board.
The sale for recycling brings to an end the career of a vessel that was built by British shipbuilder Swan Hunter as the Vistafjord for Norwegian America Line (NAL). Not only was it the last large cruiseship built in Britain, it was also the last cruiseship built for the historic Norwegian shipping company.
Cunard bought NAL’s cruise operations in the mid-1980s but apart from a switch of flag to the Bahamas, the ship maintained its Norwegian identity and crew. That changed in 1999 when it became the Caronia under the British flag.
Saga Cruises bought the ship off Cunard in 2004 and operated it for a decade until high-operating costs and an increasing number of mechanical problems forced the company to announce reluctantly that it was withdrawing it from service.
The ship operated in the luxury segment of the cruise market for all three owners, and its popularity with passengers was such that very few took Saga up on its offer of a full refund and repatriation when the air-conditioning broke down at the beginning of its sold-out final cruise for the company.
