Regatta

Regatta leaving the port of Amsterdam at the 24th of june, 2005.

As the second ship of a class of eight for the company Renaissance Cruises, R Two entered service in november of 1998. She had been built at the Chantiers de L'atlantique yards at Saint-Nazaire, France under yardnumber I31. The ship measured 30.277 tons, has a lenght of 181 meters, a width of 25,50 meters and a draft of 6 meters. Her normal service speed is 20 knots and for Renaissance Cruises she flew the flag of Liberia, her homeport being Monrovia. She can sail with a total number of 824 passengers, although another number that is given, 684, is used for the lower berths only. There also are 373 crewmembers aboard. The ship offers nine passengersdecks.

Renaissance Cruises was declared bankrupt at the 25th of september 2001, after their finances had been bad for a longer time. The september 11th attacks in America and the beginning of the war against terror was the final blow to the company and all ships of the line were laid-up and transferred to a company that was founded by the builders, Cruise Invest. By chartering out or selling the ships, the builders could get some of the money back that theywere now unable to recieve from the defunct cruiseline. In october of 2002, the former R Two, that was unofficially renamed Cruise Invest Two now, was chartered out to a new company named Oceania Cruises, formed by the former vice-President of Renaissance Cruises Frank del Rio and by the former CEO of Crystal Cruises, Joe Watters. For them, the ship underwent a rebuilding for around 10 million dollars, being such a new ship it was of course very easy to convert her for her new charter. She recieved her new name Insignia during building under which she was supposed to enter service for Oceania Cruises. The ship has a very traditional interiour, referring to the grand oceanliners of the 1920's and 1930's, including marvellous staircases and dark wood panneling. But this all set in a very modern and luxurious environment.

Before the ship entered Oceania Cruises service, she was sub-chartered out to the French company TMR, offering cruises in northern Europe between april and june of 2003. She wasn't officially renamed for this charter, but TMR marketed the ship under the name Vaisseau Renaissance, still keeping the connection to her former owners within this name. After this charter, the ship was returned to Oceania Cruises but because the company now also had chartered the former R One and had her rebuilt into the Insignia, the former Insignia was renamed Regatta and was painted in Oceania colours before she started her first cruise for them under this name on the 5th of july of 2003 from Barcelona. Before this cruise started, she was officially named by Marcia del Rio.

Just a short while before she was returned to Oceania Cruises, Regatta is seen as Insignia in the colours of TMR (that is the former colouring of Renaissance Cruises) at the cruiseterminal at Amsterdam, dated the 23rd of june 2003.

Because Regatta was the first ship for Oceania Cruises, the ships of the former R-class that sail for this company now, besides Regatta that is Insignia (the former R One) and Nautica (the former R Five), is now called the Regatta-class. For Oceania Cruises, these ships finally seemed to earn their money and respect, as the ship could be bought by Oceania from Cruise Invest in 2006. From 2010 onwards, Oceania Cruises added two ships of the much larger Oceania Class, the Marina and Riviera, that were based on the design of the Regatta-class ships. With 65.000 tons, they are significantly larger, showing that Oceania Cruises established themselves within the modern day cruisemarket.