Aegean Paradise
Aegean Paradise is a cruise ship operated by Turkish tour operator Etstur. She was built in 1990 in Japan as three-stars-plus ship[3] for Japan Cruise Line as Orient Venus which was used mainly on Japanese market.
The ship was sold to Diamond Cruise. The start up intends to operate her in China out of Shanghai. Prior to her new assignement she will undergo a major refurbishment in Europe.
The ship was sold to First Cruise Line and renamed Cruise One[4] in September 2005.[1] The ship was rebuilt around 2006 in Greece to a four-star ship. In April 2007, the ship was chartered to Delphin Kreuzfahrten and renamed Delphin Voyager.[4] During the renovation in Greece, she was significantly modified from original.[4]
Due to the insolvency of Delphin Kreuzfahrten in October 2010, ship was not returned. The owner of the ship, took First Cruise One Corp., the daughter of Greek company Restis Group, the ship returned to Greece, where it was at Perama on roadstead, before it was chartered for next few months in China in 2011.
From January 2011 ship was chartered by Chinese investor group Hainan Cruises Enterprises under name Hainan Empress which was ended in May 2011. The ship was chartered to Quail/Happy Cruises under name Happy Dolphin.
Since the bankruptcy of Quail in 2011, Happy Dolphin has been laid up in Piraeus. She has been chartered for the 2012 summer season to a Turkish tour operator Etstur and was renamed to Aegean Paradise. She cruised from İzmir and was cruised 2, 3 and 4 nights to the Greek Islands for the first time. At the end of August she will be deployed to Istanbul where she will do 3, 5, 6 and 7-night cruises to the Greek Islands and to the Black Sea.
The season will end at the 28th September when the ship arrives to Istanbul.
On 24th July 2015, the ship was sold to Kingston Maritime, a wholly owned subsidiary of New Century Maritime, for US$22.89 million.
Aegean Paradise was delivered to Kingston Maritime at ST Marine Shipyard in Singapore.
After refurnishing at the shipyard, the ship will join 2 other casino ships owned by the same company. She will be operating as a casino cruise ship off the Indonesian island of Batam.
New Century Maritime is indirectly owned by
New Century Group of Hong Kong.She was wrongly reported to have been sold on Dec 5 2015 to Diamond Cruise by China Cruise and Yacht Industry News.
She is in fact been refurnished in a Singapore shipyard and is scheduled to commence operation as a casino cruise ship off the indonesian island of Batam on
Jan 8 2016.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegean_Paradise