Star Pride

Star Pride (formerly Seabourn Pride) is one of three German built cruise ships that were initially built for the Seabourn Cruise Line. She was known as Seabourn Pride and is now operated for Windstar Cruises and was the first of her class.

Star Pride in 2016
History
Name	1988-2014: Seabourn Pride 2014-present: Star Pride[1]
Owner	1988-2014: Seabourn Cruise Line Limited[2] 2014-Present: Windstar Cruises[3]
Operator	1988-2014: Seabourn Cruise Line Windstar Cruises 2014-present[3]
Port of registry	1988–2001: Oslo,  Norway 2001-Present: Nassau,  Bahamas
Builder	Schichau-Seebeckwerft
Yard number	1065
Laid down	1 December 1987[2]
Launched	22 July 1988
Completed	18 November 1988[2]
Acquired	1988
In service	1988
Identification	Call sign: C6FR5 IMO number: 8707343 MMSI number: 311084000
Status	In Service
General characteristics
Class and type	Pride-Class Ships
Tonnage	9,975 GT[4]
Length	133.4 m (438 ft)[2]
Beam	20.5 m (67 ft)[2]
Draught	5.42 m (18 ft)[2]
Decks	5 passenger
Installed power	7,280 kW
Propulsion	two propeller shafts and two fixed pitch propellers
Speed	19.2 knots (35.6 km/h; 22.1 mph) (maximum) 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) (service)
Capacity	208 passengers
Crew	164

Seabourn Pride set out on her maiden voyage in November, 1988 as Seabourn Pride, after being christened by Shirley Temple Black.

Seabourn Pride at Quay in Bergen on August 1, 2009.

She is identical to her sister ships Seabourn Legend and Seabourn Spirit, the latter gaining attention when her sister, Seabourn Spirit was attacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia, in November 2005. Like her sister ships, Seabourn Pride is fitted with a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), designed as a non-lethal method to fend off attackers. During 2005, she was refurbished along with the other two vessels owned by Seabourn Cruise Line, to keep up with the luxurious image of Seabourn Cruise Line.

In 2006, a Forbes.com article declared Seabourn Pride's New Year cruise as the most expensive in its category [5]

Star Pride sailing in the Bacino di San Marco in Venice (Italy).

In 2013 Windstar Cruises announced that Seabourn Pride would be renamed Star Pride. The ship's former owner, Seabourn Cruise Line was her operator until the transfer was completed in May, 2014.[6] She departed the Seabourn fleet on March 30, 2014 and entered service for Windstar Cruises on May 5, 2014.[7]

On December 22, 2015, Star Pride hit a reef near the pacific coast of Panama. The passengers and crew were stranded for over 15 hours on Coiba, a Panamanian island and national park. The passengers were rescued by another Windstar boat, the Star Breeze, and Paul Gauguin Cruise's ship, the Tere Moana. She was salvaged and put back into service on June 9, 2016.[8]

On 7 September 2018, Star Pride lost power while in Buzzards Bay between Woods Hole and Martha's Vineyard off Massachusetts, United States. The ship anchored, and regained power after several hours. Commercial tugboats went to its aid. The US Coast Guard sent a helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod, to police a security zone around the ship.[9] Star Pride later sailed to Newport, Rhode Island for inspection, and was then cleared to sail to New York, to disembark passengers and prepare for its next voyage. The ship had experienced a loss of cooling water for the engine systems, causing an automatic shutdown of the propulsion and auxiliary engines.[10]