The Orient Queen is one of the recent casualties in the world of cruising. Not -as usual these days- because of companies disposing of inefficient tonnage because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but because she fell victim to the extremely heavy explosion in the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020.
Better known as Vistamar, construction started in 1988 at the Spanish yard Union de Levante. She was ordered by Mar Lines (subsidiary of Hoteles Marinos), a company which had mostly been running freighters in the Mediterranean up till then, this was their first venture in passenger shipping. As far as hotel operations aspects were concerned, she was built according to the specifications of Jahn Reisen, a German tour operator who was to be her first charterer.
Vistamar would change owners a couple of times, in 2001 she changed hands and was sold to a firm located in the Canary Islands (Tenerife), Vistamar Canarias, and shortly thereafter to Servicios Maritimos Litoral, based in Drachten, The Netherlands. Five years later in 2006 she was acquired by an Italian catering firm from Venice, Ligabue.
At the time, Vistamar was not maintained very well. That same year 2006 she was detained in the port of London because of inoperable lifeboats and in 2010 she was detained again, this time in Belfast, Ireland whilst on a 12 day cruise around the UK. Fire doors were missing or broken, there were problems with her life rafts and her PA-system was not working all over the ship. Problems were solved and she resumed cruising. She was also briefly owned by AML Shipmanagement, Cyprus during this period.
In 2003 Vistamar hit underwater rocks near the port of Ibiza and she had to return because her hull was damaged. Three cruises had to be cancelled because of lengthy repairs needed.
Because of fear of possible pirate attacks in 2008, Vistamar called at the port of Aden and had all her passengers disembark. As compensation, they were offered three days of complimentary excursions.
Although being a small ship measuring just 7,478 GRT, with a length of 121 metres and a passenger capacity of 260, she was a popular ship because of her intimacy and was mainly chartered to German operators. Her German clientele mainly consisted of travellers over 50. Since 1990 already she had been marketed by Plantours, which is still active today with their Hamburg, chartered form HAPAG Lloyd (she was their former C. Columbus). In the following period, she was mainly operated by Plantours, but also briefly by other German cruise operators like Seetours.
Her cruises took her mainly to the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and the Baltic, but she also visited remote regions like the Arctic, Antarctic and sailed upstream of the river Amazon as far as Manaus. Also, she was the first cruise ship ever to sail the Amazon river to Iquitos, Peru, a journey of 4400km. In fact, she was the only cruise ship sailing to these remote destinations for a very modest fare. In 2012 not needed by Plantours anymore and with her charter ended, she joined Plein Cap Croiseires, a French company for just 10 cruises.
She was subsequently sold to Lebanese shipowner Abou Merhi, who operated her as Orient Queen II. Their former Orient Queen (ex-Starward of NCL) was sold to Louis Cruises, Cyprus where she kept her name hence Abou Merhi had to name their newest acquisition Orient Queen II. Abou Merhi Cruises had tried entering the cruise business in 2005, but after an unsuccessful season based in Dubai followed by political unrest in the Middle East making it impssible to operate out of Beirut they were forced to sell her. With Orient Queen II ex-Vistamar they tried again.
In 2016 she was renamed Med Queen for a planned charter to Alteza Cruises, itineraries were planned from Ushaia to Antarctica and along the east coast of South America. However the deal did not materialize and she returned to her former name Orient Queen (Louis Cruises had renamed their Orient Queen to Louis Aura so this name was now available again).
She has been listed being for sale since 2018 on several sites on the internet, but it seems there was was no interest in the ageing little ship. Abou Merhi Cruises operated her out of Beirut on cruises in the Eastern Mediterranean, mainly to the Greek isles. She was drydocked for a month for a thorough overhaul in 2018.
She now had capacity for 300 guests in 154 cabins, situated on decks 3 to 7, mainly double occupancy cabins, inside and ocean view. Her most luxuriously appointed accommodation being Junior Suites located on deck 6 and 7 and Balcony Suite, Queen Suite and Royal Suite with outdoor jacuzzi all situated on deck 7.
Her facilities: deck 5 central lobby and excursions desk as well as her main restaurant Mermaid. Deck 6: swimming pool with Lido area and Horizon Pool Bar aft, the AMC Boutique shop and Stars main show lounge, deck 7 Queen’s Casino. Finally on deck 8 the spa, gym and infirmary and her night club Reflection, her most impressive public room on board with a ceiling of glass mirror like panels situated at the base of the funnel, giving the ship her distinctive profile (see photo above).
Orient Queen like every cruise ship in the world had her 2020 cruise season cut short because of the COVID-19 pandemic. She had just returned from a 3-week cruise to her homeport of Beirut when disaster struck at 6 PM on August 4, 2020. Nearby, just 500 metres from where Orient Queen was docked, a warehouse where almost 3000 tons of ammonium nitrate had been stored since 2014 exploded. It had been impounded from the Moldavan-flagged small freighter Rhosus which had made a detour to Beirut to pick up some cargo in 2013 but once in port was not allowed to sail by the port authorities as she had many technical deficiencies.
Her Russian owner whose company was in financial trouble at the time, did not have the means to solve the problems and she stayed in Beirut with a skeleton crew which left the ship after not having been paid wages for a long time. The now abandoned ship is still in Beirut, she has capsized and sank in 2018 because of a hole in her hull in the breakwaters of the port of Beirut. The authorities were warned frequently that these extremely dangerous chemical substance had been stored in risky place, a random warehouse near the port. It seems that one of the adjacent warehouses caught fire, and it spread to the building where the ammonium nitrate was kept with the horrible explosion of August 4 as a consequence.
The shockwave was devastating, 200 people died, 7,000 were injured and another 300,000 were made homeless in an instant. Orient Queen was badly hit, 1 crewmember was killed on the spot, another missing being nearby in the port and 7 injured. The interior of the ship was devastated, its public spaces and cabins completely destroyed. She seems to have been lifted clear out of the water and smashed against the quayside, damaging her hull. Abou Merhi Cruises’ offices, located near the port were also heavily damaged and they have immediately started legal procedures against the local authorities. Orient Queen quickly developed a list, and the following morning she had capsized and was now laying on her side, her mast and funnel resting on the quayside. A sad end for this much loved little cruise ship… she will most likely be scrapped on the spot.
