Saturday afternoon in Miami, Oceania Cruises launched its new $600 million ship, the Marina, at a gala christening ceremony. The 66,000-ton, 1,250-passenger ship is the cruise line's first newbuild, and she joins the three other ships in Oceania's upper-premium category fleet, the 684-passenger Regatta, Insignia, and Nautica. The Riviera, a sister ship to the Marina, will join Oceania Cruises in April 2012.
Mary Hart, the long-time host of televison's "Entertainment Tonight", is the Marina's godmother.


According to Frank Del Rio, chairman and CEO of Prestige Cruise Holdings, Oceania's parent company, Ms. Hart was selected because she personifies elegance and style, just like the new Marina. Adding to her godmother qualifications, Ms. Hart has been significantly involved with many philanthropic causes devoted to children throughout her career.

The afternoon of the christening was sunny and pleasant, perfect for a celebration. As the invited guests gathered on the pier, they were serenaded by the Violin Divas, a group of six lovely young women who played electric violins. This group was followed by flamenco guitarist Alex Fox and his two sons and singer soloist Tony Fernandez. All three acts helped get everyone settled and in a festive mood.

The program moved right along as the Miami Color Guard presented the flag, and the National Anthem was sung by Dee Dee Wilde of the Marina Choir, which had been assembled just for this event. This choir also performed as speakers were introduced and at the close of the ceremony.

Speakers at the Marina christening included Bob Binder, President of Oceania Cruises, Steve Martinez of Apollo Management, which provided the funding for the Marina, Captain Dimitrios Flokos, who is the master of the Marina, and Mr. Del Rio. Captain Flokos introduced several of his key ship's officers.The speakers thanked all who had made the building of the new ship possible, and master chef and Oceania executive culinary director Jacques Pepin, who has his first namesake restaurant at sea on the Marina, was granted Commodore status by the cruise line.

The ship was blessed by both a priest and a rabbi. One funny moment occurred at the end of the blessing when the rabbi fondly admired the ship and said he hoped he would be able to sail on the Marina one day. Mr. Del Rio took the microphone and suggested that the rabbi call his travel agent. Since over 500 travel agents were at the event, this quip received a resounding round of applause.

Following the blessing, Mary Hart spoke about how thrilled and honored she was to be the Marina's godmother. She gestured to the 15-liter bottle of champagne, which arriving guests had signed as we boarded the ship. The huge golden bottle was hanging high over our heads near the bow of the ship. As Mary recited the traditional christening words, the bottle swung against the ship, broke, and confetti cannons spewed sparkling blue and white pieces over the pier. The new ship was officially named!

The Oceania Cruises' Marina departs from Miami on February 8 she on the first of two 18-day Panama Canal transits that visit San Francisco and San Diego, both new ports for Oceania Cruises. Marina then operates a 12-day Caribbean cruise, round-trip from Miami, departing March 16, before sailing along the U.S. Eastern Seaboard and on to Europe to begin her inaugural Mediterranean season.

Following the new ship's christening, a short press conference was held. One of the most interesting questions posed to Mr. Del Rio was which destinations he would like to add to the Oceanic Cruises' list of itineraries, given that the new ship significantly increases the cruise line's berths. I could tell he had either been asked the question before, or had thought it through when he quickly answered "Havana". Guess we shouldn't have been too surprised since Mr. Del Rio immigrated from Cuba to the U.S. in the 1960's. He then added other destinations that he wished Oceania could visit such as Libya, Syria, and Lebanon, since he believes (and I certainly agree) that tourism bridges differences that politicians can't solve.