T
he MS Regatta, an 824-passenger flagship of Oceania Cruises, underwent a large refit in September 2019 at Seaspan Vancouver Drydock in Lower Lonsdale in North Vancouver, but now it’s back in business.
By Cindy Chan
MS Regatta: Refreshed and ready to go
According to Ad Bertens, director of business development for Seaspan Shipyards, the MS Regatta spends most of the summer periods here in the Northwest Pacific, with its home base in Seattle and Vancouver. The MS Regatta is 22 years old (built in 1998), which means the vessel has reached its half-life milestone. As a result, it was due for a refit. The construction included a total upgrade of the hotel area and mechanical equipment, and new hull coating system (silicone basis). “All of the hotel rooms were stripped down to bare steel. All the furniture, wood work, flooring and bathrooms were taken out,” Bertens explains. “Specialized companies built everything with new materials brought in from all over the world. That was the reason we had 375 20-foot containers of materials in storage.” Both propellers had been replaced, as they were 22 years old, by built-up propellers with new hydrodynamic design to improve fuel efficiency. Furthermore, built-up propellers are beneficial because if a propeller blade is damaged, the blade can just simply be removed underwater and replaced with a new one. Also, the stabilizers ave been completely overhauled.
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B.C. Tugboat 2020
