The Minerva II was completed at Chantiers de l’Atlantique, France and entered service in February 2001 as R EIGHT, the eighth ship in Renaissance’s R CLASS. That company went bankrupt in September 2001 directly after the terrorist attacks against the U.S. After a period in lay up, she re-entered service as the Minerva II in April 2003. Her gross tonnage is 30,277 gross tons; length 593.7 feet; beam 83.5 feet; and draft 19.5 feet. She carries about 600 passengers and 300 crew with a British captain and European officers, Ukranian stewardesses and Filipino dining and bar staff. She replaced the 12,500-ton, 352-passenger Minerva that Swan chartered from 1996 to 2003.

Swan Hellenic, a division of P&O Cruises and now owned by Carnival Corporation, is celebrating its 50^th anniversary of operating culturally rich cruise destinations that in the past have also included Egypt and the Nile and Western European rivers.

Swan’s first charter in the mid-1950s was Nomikos Lines’ Miaoulis, a 1,714-ton Greek ship built in 1952, and one of three sisters built for the Greek government under reparations account following World War II. In regular service, she carried 94 first, 86 second and 56 tourist, plus 150 on deck, but in cruise service, the number was considerably reduced.

Perhaps the most interesting Swan charter, lasting from the late 1950s to the early 1970’s was Turkish Maritime Lines’ Ankara. Built in 1927 for the New York and Miami S.S. Co., later Clyde Mallory Lines, she flew the U.S. flag until 1948 when she was sold to Turkey by which time she sported a single funnel. Under Swan charter the 6,178-ton ship carried some passengers in single and double cabins with private facilities but many more in four-berth cabins with shared facilities and some even in large dormitories.

The longest serving Swan ship has been Epirotiki Line’s 4,145-ton Orpheus, chartered from the early 1970s through the 1995 season. Originally built in 1948 for the British and Irish Steam Packet Company’s Liverpool-Dublin overnight service, she was rebuilt in the late 1960s for cruise service, carrying about 300 passengers. She has since been scrapped.

The charter (1996-2003) of the 12,500-ton, 352-passenger Minerva was a great increase in ship size but in fact taking only a few more passengers. She was built from an unfinished Ukrainian hull in 1996 and had a length of 436 feet. This ship is now under charter at different times of the year to Saga Cruises as the Saga Pearl and to Abercrombie & Kent as Explorer II.

Description and Review

Swan Hellenic’s Minerva II replaced an earlier and smaller Minerva in spring 2003. Built in 2001 as Renaissance Cruises' R8, she grosses 30,277 tons and is 594 feet in length. With a 25 per cent higher speed than the original Minerva, her itineraries are more wide-ranging.

Minerva II on her first call at the Port of New York.

She retains much the same original Renaissance layout but leans now more toward British tastes, to suit the majority of her approximately 600 passengers, not quite double the first Minerva’s capacity. Americans come aboard but in smallish numbers unless part of a group and being an Anglophile helps. Cultural enrichment is tops and the program draws British professors, historians, writers and clergy to non-repeating cruises that cover Northern Europe, the Mediterranean, and East of Suez to the Indian Ocean, East and South Africa and to Southeast Asia. The English country hotel atmosphere is genteel and clubby, and the restaurant choices run to a traditional dining room with open seating and its own bar, the reservations-only Grill and Swan Restaurant, the latter a Mediterranean-style eatery, and the Bridge Café, for informal indoor-outdoor buffet style. Jacket and tie for men are the norm except for the Bridge Café. While seldom of a gourmet standard, the food is good to very good and the Filipino service friendly. Particularly notable, the spacious library is outstanding in its selection of books and a large reference table allows for opening large atlases. Lectures, classical music, opera and operetta, local folklore entertainment and dancing take place in what is simply known at the lounge. With the live lectures now taped, passengers may take them in at any time in their cabins.

Half model of the P&O Caledonia (1894) in the Wheeler Bar.

The Wheeler Bar.

The Wheeler Bar, expanded into what had been the casino on the R8, is the most delightful setting with a resident pianist for a pre-dinner drink. For the best view, the Orpheus Room, an observation bar lounge, looks out in three directions and the cozy step down sections either side are quiet retreats.

The Orpheus Room.

Additional facilities include a forward-facing beauty salon, spa and fitness center, card room, Internet Room and two shops. The Pool Deck has a swimming pool with two flanking Jacuzzis, a bar and occasional barbecues. 317 of the 342 cabins are outside and 242 have private balconies. Cabins with balconies measure 214 square feet, while the standard cabins, both outside and inside, are 162 square feet. These categories share twin or queen beds, sofa or armchair and table, vanity table cum writing desk, TV and radio, direct dial telephone, hairdryer, bathrobe and binoculars. Higher grades have coffee and tea making facilities and the deluxe cabins have a complimentary drink selection upon arrival. A wide choice of single occupancy cabins is available at moderate supplemental rates. Six Owners’ Suites (952 sq. ft.) face onto aft balconies and four Master’s Suites (781 sq. ft.) have forward facing balconies. These units have all the aforementioned cabin amenities plus tub baths, separate dressing area, separate sitting area, dining table and chairs, writing desk, complimentary replenished minibar, two TVs and radio and CD player. The cabin service staff is Ukrainian. Fares include flights between the UK and the ship, a program of shore excursions in every port, all gratuities on the ship and to guides ashore and airport and port taxes. Some veteran Swan travelers complain that the new ship is much too large compared to the earlier 350-passenger Minerva, but then they also complained when the decidedly dowdy, if charming, Orpheus was replaced. For a culturally rich cruise, aboard and ashore in a decidedly English atmosphere, you cannot do any better than Swan Hellenic.