History
The vessel was constructed for Carnival Cruise Lines by Danish shipyard Aalborg Vaerft, and when it launched in 1982, was the first cruise ship custom-built for the company. As the company expanded and acquired larger ships, Carnival decided that Tropicale would be their 'test ship' for new cruises, and as such was the first Carnival ship to be based in San Juan, New Orleans, Alaska, and Tampa. In 1985 the vessel appeared in an episode of the A-Team called "Judgement Day (part 2)".
In September 1999, the vessel's engine room caught fire en route from Cozumel to Tampa. While disabled in the Gulf of Mexico, the ship was struck by Tropical Storm Harvey. No crew or guests were injured during the two days the Tropicale spent without propulsion. The vessel was slated to replace the collapsed Cape Canaveral Cruises in 2001, but before Carnival Tropicale could enter service, the vessel was transferred to the fleet of Costa Cruises, where she was renamed Costa Tropicale.
The vessel underwent refits in Genoa over the course of 2001 and 2002, redeveloping the vessel and customizing her for a European client base. Costa Tropicale served with the company until 2005, when replacement by larger, more modern cruise ships prompted a transfer to P&O Cruises Australia, where the vessel again underwent a major refit in Palermo, Italy and was renamed Pacific Star. In 2008 the Pacific Star was sold to Pullmantur Cruises and renamed Ocean Dream following a refit in Singapore.
In June 2009, an outbreak of swine flu occurred about the Ocean Dream during a cruise around Central and South America. The ship docked in Margarita, Venezuela to allow its Venezuelan passengers to disembark, before heading to Aruba, where the remaining passengers were able to leave the ship. An earlier report had suggested that the ship had been placed in quarantine, however, the ship's owners Pullmantur later denied that this was the case.
"M/S Ocean Dream" is now bare chartered to Peace Boat, the owners of the "SS Oceanic" and as of April 2012, has left the Pullmantur Cruises fleet.
Read more about this topic: Ocean Dream (ship)
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