Oceania Cruises’ new 1,250-passenger Riviera was floated out of her construction dock at Fincantieri’s Sestri Ponente shipyard in Genoa on 16 July and moved to her fitting-out berth. All the signature features of her sistership Marina, which debuted last January, will be installed, such as the Lalique-designed Grand Lobby, ten dining venues and numerous bars and lounges, not to mention 625 cabins, ranging from 170ft2 to 2,000ft2, all designed by Norwegian designers Yran & Storbraaten.
Riviera’s ten-day maiden voyage departs from Barcelona on 14 April 2012 and calls at Marseille, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Taormina, Amalfi/Positano, Kusadasi and Santorini, ending in Piraeus. For the rest of the summer and autumn she sails a total of 21 cruises in the Mediterranean, before setting off on a 14-day repositioning voyage from Barcelona to Miami on 15 November.
The arrival of Riviera sees the transfer of one of Oceania’s three original sisters, Insignia 1998/30,277gt), to Germany’s Hapag Lloyd on a two-year charter.
