MS Starward
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| History | |
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| Name: |
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| Owner: | Teal Shipping S.A. |
| Operator: |
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| Port of registry: |
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| Builder: | A.G. Weser, Werk Seebeck |
| Yard number: | 935 |
| Laid down: | 1 January 1967 |
| Completed: | 30 November 1968 |
| Identification: |
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| Status: | out of service |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | cruise ship |
| Tonnage: | 15,781 GT |
| Length: | 160.11 m (525 ft 4 in) |
| Beam: | 22.84 m (74 ft 11 in) |
| Draught: | 6.7 m (22 ft 0 in) |
| Decks: |
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| Speed: | 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
| Capacity: |
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| Crew: | 400 |
Louis Aura is a 16,000-ton cruise ship built in 1968 at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremerhaven, West Germany. The ship has twelve decks, eight of which are accessible to passengers. As currently configured she can accommodate 876 passengers in 349 cabins, of which 336 are staterooms and 56 are suites. She is currently operating cruises in the eastern Mediterranean.
From 1968 until 1995, the Louis Aura was operated by Norwegian Cruise Lines as the Starward, and was their first purpose-built ship along with her near identical sister, the Skyward. The M/S Starward was featured in the 1975 movie Peeper starring Natalie Wood and Michael Caine. After 1995, she was operated as the Bolero by Greek line Festival Cruises until the company's collapse in 2004 when she was purchased for $9.5 million by Abou Merhi Lines and received a $10–$15 million renovation.
In November 2005 the ship was repositioned in Dubai to begin what was an unsuccessful Persian Gulf cruise program, providing the first luxury cruise line service between Dubai and Gulf Cooperation Council countries. The ship was then positioned in Beirut and scheduled to begin a 2006 cruise season in the Mediterranean Sea. In November 2006, she was supposed to begin service from Port Canaveral, Florida, operated by Paradise Caribbean Cruise Line.
In July 2006, the Louis Aura was used to help evacuate United States citizens from Lebanon because of the ongoing conflict with Israel. The Louis Aura was escorted by the USS Gonzalez (DDG-66), a U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer, and the USS Barry (DDG-52). It took the evacuees to the port of Larnaca in Cyprus.
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