POV: Cruise Ship Crashing Into the Beach
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Here’s something you don’t see every day! A video on YouTube captures the moment when the former Ocean Diamond cruise ship crashed into the beach in Aliaga, Turkey. Don’t worry! The ship was deliberately run aground but the video offers a fun glimpse to what it’s like to be onboard for such a rare experience.
After serving for 50 years, the expedition vessel arrived at a ship recycling yard on August 24, 2024, marking the end of its operational life as it prepared to be dismantled.
In a planned maneuver, the ship was intentionally beached, speeding toward a designated spot in the breaking yard. Now renamed Diamond XI, the vessel will undergo recycling, with its materials and fixtures being removed for reuse or recycling.
Watch the video here:
Previously operated by Bridgeman Services Group (Bridgemans), the ship had been converted into a floating hotel earlier this year. The Vancouver-based operator explained that the 150-cabin ship was retired and sold to facilitate the purchase of a larger vessel.
After acquiring the Diamond XI from SunStone Ships earlier this year, Bridgemans retrofitted the vessel to meet the requirements of a contract in the Mediterranean. Once the contract was successfully completed, Bridgemans chose to retire the ship in order to support the acquisition of a much larger vessel intended for use in the LNG industry.
“We obtained the Diamond XI and refit the vessel to meet our clients’ request for a premium mid-sized floatel. Shortly after the acquisition, the vessel performed superbly on an accommodation assignment in the southeast Mediterranean,” said Brian Grange, president of Bridgemans.
“With the emergence of new business opportunities, we recently made the difficult decision to retire the Diamond XI early and acquire a significantly larger vessel to serve a new floatel contract. We plan to add another 100-300 pax floatel to our fleet in the new year,” he added.
Originally built as a ro-ro freighter in 1973, the Diamond XI was transformed into a boutique cruise ship in the mid-1980s.
Over the course of its cruising career, which spanned more than four decades, the vessel operated for several cruise lines, including Regent Seven Seas, Ponant, Iceland ProCruises, and Quark Expeditions.
