The Quirky History of the MV Ocean Diamond

Although she’s called the Ocean Diamond today, the expedition ship that carries Iceland ProCruises passengers across the North Atlantic actually has a long and rather strange history under a variety of different names.

She started life as the Fern Bay, a roll-on, roll-off (“ro-ro”) ferry constructed at a shipyard in Kristianstad in southern Norway and launched in 1973. Before she could go into service, the ship was transferred to a Dutch company, who renamed her the Begonia sailing under the Netherlands Antilles flag. For much of the next decade, the ship ferried vehicles between Florida and the Caribbean, as well as the Baltic and Mediterranean.

In 1984, a German shipping company purchased Begonia and spent $35 million converting her into a cruise ship. This was a massive undertaking that entailed eliminating the bow and stern vehicle ramps, six new decks and 124 passenger cabins. Following the almost total remake — and yet another name change to Explorer Starship — the vessel began service as a luxury passenger liner on Alaskan and Caribbean routes.

When that cruise company went belly up, the ship changed ownership (and names) once again. Transferred to Singapore and sailing routes around Southeast Asia, she was now called the Song of Flower sailing for Radisson Seven Seas cruises. The new millennium brought further changes for the ship, including a brief time operating for a French cruise company that rechristened her the Le Diamant (The Diamond). Finally, in 2012, a Danish group purchased the ship the changed the name to the one we know today — Ocean Diamond –which went into service for Iceland ProCruises last year on routes between Iceland, Greenland and mainland Europe.  The ship is shared with Quark Expeditions during our off season and sails to Antarctica.

More details on the Ocean Diamond can be found on our website here.