Special thanks to Ronald Smallenburg (COA) and Panos Antonelos (Majestic International Cruises) for their support for this article
Follow this link for interior photos of Ocean Majesty in her present role as a refugee ship and when sailing as a cruise ship
Ocean Majesty, one of the oldest passenger ships afloat nowadays, presently serves as a refugee ship, housing asylum seekers. She started life as a ferry in 1966, then sailed forover 30 years as a cruise ship and at this time, around 300 refugees seeking shelter in the Netherlands live on board.
In the Netherlands, the COA, Centraal Orgaan opvang Asielzoekers or Central Agency for the reception of Asylum seekers, has the task of providing refugees a safe place to live and support them to integrate in Dutch society. As huge numbers – in 2023 48,500 refugees (family joining them later included) – came to the Netherlands hoping for a better life, finding a place to stay for all of these refugees is a gigantic undertaking.
One of the solutions is to house asylum seekers on a passenger ship, a ferry or cruise ship turned into a refugee ship.
In the port of Velsen, IJmuiden, Silja Line’s SIlja Europa, a former Baltic ferry was used to house around 1000 refugees, but she has been replaced by Ocean Majesty where nowadays 300 people live on board. Measuring 10,417 GRT and with a length of 135 meters she is significantly smaller. Those living on Ocean Majesty today, all already have residence permits and are waiting for accommodation on land but because there is a considerable housing shortage in the Netherlands this is difficult to realise.
Using ferries or cruise ships as refugee ships is rare outside the Netherlands and vessels used for this purpose attract international attention, Ocean Majesty was recently visited by a BBC film crew for example.
Because Ocean Majesty was one of the oldest cruise ships in active service before she started in her present role, we asked the COA if we could pay a visit to make some photos and talk to her crew for our article on Cruiseshipodyssey.com and were granted a ship visit.
We received a very warm welcome indeed, with the famous Greek hospitality (coffee and cakes on the bridge!) and were shown around the ship. Apart from the bridge we toured also Ocean Majesty‘s public spaces and finally a visit to the engine room. Although her former luxury facilities like pools, boutiques and bars have been stripped out and turned over to provide basic accommodation, it is obvious she can depart for her next cruise anytime. Ocean Majesty is impeccably maintained and looks splendid for her age. In the engine room her two Wartsila diesels – she was reengined during the her conversion from ferry to cruise ship – are turned over monthly but not actually started for environmental reasons. Four generators, one for providing power when she is underway, one for hotel and domestic services and two reserve generators provided power during active service but are now shut down. Adjustments have been made on board, for example to her main switchboard, to enable the ship to operate on shore power. This saves a running generator on the ship or on the quay, with less noise and pollution for the residents of Velsen as a consequence.
A skeleton crew of the ship’s owners Majestic International Cruises together with a Dutch technical staff take care of daily operations for the COA at this time.
Ocean Majesty was launched in 1966 as Juan March for Spanish ferry operator Trasmediterránea. She was the first of two Albatros-class sisters, the other being the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Trasmediterranea mainly used her on the route from the Spanish mainland to the Balearic Islands. In 1985 Juan March was sold to Sol Mediterranean and was renamed Sol Christina. She was soon sold to Opale Lines and became their Kypros Star in 1986. She sailed on the Cyprus to Egypt service. Later she was chartered out to Adriatica for the service between Brindisi and Patras for a few months in 1989,
She then changed hands yet again, this time to Majestic International Cruises, who converted her from ferry to a cruise ship and gave her her current name Ocean Majesty. Work was carried out in Perama, Greece and took four years to complete until 1994. She was also reengined, her 7-cyl B&W engines were replaced by Wärtsilä 16V32D diesels. Majestic International operated her for several years themselves, but in 1994 she ws chartered out to Epirotiki Cruise Line for a year. For Epirotiki she sailed under the names of Olympic and Homeric. After her charter expired, she was returned to Majestic International and named Ocean Majesty once again.
Majestic International has chartered her out to several different companies since 1995, like Nouvelles Frontiers in 1996, Apple Vacations in 1997 and 1998 and Orient Lines in 1997. In november 2000, she was was chartered to Indian Ocean Cruise Line, but this charter was discontinued earlier then planned in 2001. Since then, Ocean Majesty has most often cruised for British tour operator Page & Moy until 2013 and since then to the German company Hansa Touristik between May and October every year. After being laid up for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ocean Majesty sailed again for Hansa Touristik during the 2022 and 2023 summer seasons. In August 2023, the ship was taken out of service in order to serve as a refugee ship in Velsen, the Netherlands where she replaced Silja Europa, a former Baltic ferry which had been fulfilling the same role of refugee ship before her.
Her current crew is obviously proud of their ship and rightly so. She not only looks pristine for a 58-year old passenger ship, but with her certificates renewed yearly, she can sail on her next charter anytime. Ocean Majesty stands out between today’s giant cruise ships being an informal, intimate vessel and hopefully she will be with us for many years to come!
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