The Captain's Cabin

Ventura & Columbus sailing from Guernsey 20th July 2019

Due to Oriana being late sailing from Southampton while the propulsion was repaired, Captain Sarah Breton informed us we'd be heading straight to Guernsey and stay overnight instead of the sea day. As a result, we passed Ventura and Columbus outbound. Columbus was the previous Arcadia for P&O alongside Oriana.

Columbus departing from Cobh Cruise Terminal on Wednesday September 11 - 2019.

Columbus departing from Cobh Cruise Terminal on Wednesday, September 11 - 2019.

Columbus current cruise is 12 days, round-trip Grand British Isles Discovery. The itinerary started on 03 Sep, 2019 and ends on 15 Sep, 2019.

Specifications of CMV Columbus
Year built 1989 / Age : 30
Flag state United Kingdom
Builder Chantiers de l’Atlantique (Saint-Nazaire, STX France)
Building cost USD 210 million
Owner Global Maritime Group Inc
Operator CMV (Cruise and Maritime Voyages)
Speed 22 kn / 41 kph / 25 mph
Length (LOA) 245 m / 804 ft
Beam (width) 32 m / 105 ft
Gross Tonnage 63786 gt
Passengers 1546 - 1855
Crew 700
Passengers-to-space ratio 34
Decks 12
Cabins 773
Decks with cabins 7
Last Refurbishment 2017
Former names Pacific Pearl, Ocean Village 1, Arcadia, Star Princess, Sitmar Fair Majesty
Christened by Angela Rippon

CMV Columbus cruise ship was launched in 1988 as FairMajesty. As Pacific Pearl, the vessel was the smallest and oldest in the P and O Australia's fleet. The ship was previously operated as part of Princess Cruises fleet under the name Star Princess (1989-1997). Pacific Pearl was last drydock refurbished in 2015 and transferred to CMV-Cruise Maritime Voyages in May 2017 as MV Columbus.
History - construction and ownership

The 63,786-ton, 1,817-passenger cruise ship for P&O Australia debuted in December 2010. The vessel was re-designed specifically for the Australian budget cruising market. It continued a number of innovations represented by the sisterships Pacific Dawn and Pacific Jewel (Karnika since 2019) but also introduced few, like the swim-up bar. All cabins are with new LCD screen flat TVs, with a few TV channels and 2 film channels. Bedding was upgraded. Other amenities include a handheld hair dryer, fridge and safe.
After its launch and christening in 1989, the FairMajesty’s shipowner Sitmar was acquired by the P&O company and the ship was renamed Star Princess. In 2003, the shipowner Carnival Corporation created the Ocean Village Holidays brand and the ship became “Ocean Village”.

During the 2003 refit (done by Lloyd Werft, Bremerhaven Germany) before the transfer from P&O UK, the ship was upgraded with a larger casino, a buffet restaurant, a steel arch over Lido Deck 12, for acrobatic shows), crew cabins were transformed into passenger staterooms.
The Ocean Village 1 ship operated Caribbean cruises from Barbados and Mediterranean cruises from Palma de Mallorca, with Transatlantic repositioning crossings.
The second member in the fleet was named Ocean Village 2 (Pacific Jewel / MS Karnika).

In March 2016 was announced that Pacific Pearl was sold and would be farewelled to CMV in 2017. A commercial arrangement was reached to transfer the vessel, as part of the ongoing fleet expansion and renewal program of the CMV company.

The 1987-built Pacific Pearl left P&O in April 2017, after completing 294 cruises for the line. The older ship had to make room for P&O's newest additions, Pacific Aria and Pacific Eden, as well as Pacific Explorer (former Dawn Princess), which joined the P&O AU fleet in 2017. After the launch in December 2010, Pacific Pearl became New Zealand's first super-liner. The inaugural itinerary was an 8-night cruise to the South Pacific from Auckland.

In March 2016 was announced that Cruise and Maritime Voyages would raise its fleet's UK capacity by 25% (to 95,000 passengers in 2017) with the addition of Pacific Pearl as Columbus. The former Ocean Village cruise ship was launched in 1989 and since then was operated by Princess Cruises. The ship started its CMV service with year-round itineraries leaving from Tilbury UK (maiden voyage June 9, 2017) under the new name MV Columbus. The redesigned 1,400-passenger Columbus ship has 150 single cabins. It became CMV fleet's flagship, joining the mates 550-passenger Astoria, 600-passenger Astor, 800-passenger Marco Polo, and 1,300-passenger Magellan. The adult-only Columbus offered 2 promo cruises in August 2017 for all age groups.
Cruise itinerary program

CMV Columbus itinerary program is based on UK cruises leaving roundtrip from Tilbury-London. Among the visited destinations and cruises are short breaks to Europe, British Isles, Madeira and Canary Islands, Iberia (Atlantic ports of Spain and Portugal, with Gibraltar UK). Also roundtrip from UK (London) Columbus offers cruises to the Caribbean and South American ports, also visiting Havana Cuba. Columbus cruises also include roundtrip itineraries from Amsterdam Holland.

Source of info .................