Does Age Matter – What Are The Oldest Ships Still Sailing With Each Cruise Line?

The average life expectancy of a human in the UK is 80 years of age, whilst most cruise ships have an official lifespan of 30 years. With all the hype of new ships being built and launched, in fact a record of 24 new cruise ships will make their debut in 2019. I thought it will be interesting to take a look at the forgotten cruise ships that are still going strong and sailing the ocean waves.

There is still cruise ships such as the QE2 and Queen Mary that are moored up in Dubai and Los Angeles respectively and serve as a hotel and museum as a tourist attraction. So below is a selection of the oldest active cruise ships still in service with the major cruise lines.

Cruise & Maritime’s Astoria is the world’s oldest ocean-going passenger vessel still active. Her maiden voyage was over 70 years ago in September 1948 and was originally named Stockholm under SAL (Swedish American Line). During her seven decades of service she has passed through several owners and sailed under the names Völkerfreundschaft, Volker, Fridtjof Nansen, Italia I, Italia Prima, Valtur Prima, Caribe, Athena, and Azores before beginning service as Astoria in March 2016. At 15,614 gross tonnes and with a maximum total of 556 passengers she is a small and intimate ship compared to the mega-ships that are about today.

Carnival – Carnival Fantasy entered service in 1990 and is now the oldest cruise ship in the fleet. At over 70,000 gross tonnes she can hold a maximum of 2,675 passengers.

Celebrity Cruises – Celebrity Millennium is now the oldest ship in the Celebrity fleet which entered service in 2000, due to the likes of the Century and the Galaxy moving on to Marella Cruises. Celebrity Millennium has a gross tonnage of 91,000 tonnes and can hold up to a capacity of 2,137 passengers.

Costa Cruises – Costa NeoRomantica is over 25 years old now, entering service in 1993 and can hold up to 1,800 passengers with a gross tonnage of 56,769.

Fred Olsen – Although Black Watch joined Fred Olsen in 1986, it first entered service in 1972 for Royal Viking Line under the name Royal Viking Star. At 28,613 gross tonnes she can hold up to 820 passengers.

Holland American Line – MS Maasdam named after the Maas river in the Netherlands, she entered service in 1993 and can hold 1.258 passengers with a gross tonnage of 55,575.

Marella Cruises. Over the last few years Marella (former TUI and Thomson) have being replacing their older vessels with vessels from Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cruises. Marella Celebration is now the oldest ship in their fleet, it first entered service in 1984 under the name the Noordam for Holland American Line. Thomson then acquired the vessel and renamed her the Celebration, she has a gross tonnage of nearly 34,000 and can hold a maximum of 1,350 passengers.

MSC Cruises – MSC Cruises is the fourth largest cruise company in the world and are expanding all the time with a whopping 13 new ships to enter service or planned between now and 2026. MSC Armonia is now the oldest ship in the fleet and was launched in 2001 with a gross tonnage of 65,542 and a maximum of capacity 2,679 passengers.

Norwegian Cruise Line – Norwegian Spirit is the oldest vessel in the NCL fleet, she launched for Star Cruises in 1998 and was acquired in 2004 by NCL. Norwegian Spirit can hold up to 1,996 passengers and has a gross tonnage of 75,400.

P&O Cruises – Oriana who is due to leave this month (August 2019) first entered service in 1995 and has a gross tonnage of 69,153 and can hold a maximum of 1,928 passengers. The new owner of Oriana is a joint venture company between China Travel Service (CTS) and China Ocean Shipping Group Company (Cosco). The vessel will start operating ex-China cruises around middle September 2019.

Princess Cruises – Sun Princess is the oldest vessel in the Princess fleet, the sun-class cruise ship maiden voyage was in 1995 and at the time was one of the biggest ships in the world. Sun Princess can hold 2,010 passengers and has gross tonnage of 77,441.

Royal Caribbean – Empress of the Seas is not only the oldest ship in the fleet it is the smallest. It’s maiden voyage was back in 1990 with Royal Caribbean, it was the sold to Pullmantur back in 2008 and bought back to the fleet in 2016. At 48,563 gross tonnes and a maximum capacity of 1,840 passengers she is certainly different to the mega oasis class ships within the Royal Caribbean fleet.

Was you surprised? Have you sailed on any of the above ships? How do you feel these ships compare to the new ones of today?

Please share your thoughts…..