Azamara Pursuit (previously R Eight, Minerva II, Royal Princess and Adonia) is a cruise ship operating for Azamara Club Cruises. The ship was built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique at their shipyard in St. Nazaire, France in 2001.

Azamara Pursuit is a sister ship of Azamara Journey and Azamara Quest, as well as Pacific Princess of Princess Cruises, and Regatta, Nautica, Insignia and Sirena of Oceania Cruises. She previously sailed for Renaissance Cruises, Swan Hellenic, Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises and Fathom.

Azamara acquired the ship in 2017, renamed the vessel the Azamara Pursuit in March 2018 and began operating the ship in August 2018 after an extensive refit.

Service history

R Eight

Originally built as the last of eight 'R' class ships for Renaissance Cruises, Azamara Pursuit was first known as R Eight, and entered service in 2001. After Renaissance ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy in late 2001, the vessel was seized by creditors and laid up in Marseille, France.

Minerva II

In 2003, the vessel re-entered operation, this time as the sole cruise ship in Swan Hellenic's fleet. The vessel was named Minerva II, after both the Roman goddess and the company's previous vessel, Minerva.

Royal Princess

On 7 April 2007, Minerva II completed her final voyage with Swan Hellenic and was transferred by the parent company, Carnival Corporation & plc, to Princess Cruises. She was renamed Royal Princess and debuted for Princess on her maiden voyage on 19 April 2007. Her christening ceremony was on 14 June 2007 in Portofino, with Lorraine Arzt performing the honors.

Adonia

In 2010, it was announced that Royal Princess was to transfer to the P&O Cruises fleet. The ship entered service with the company on 21 May 2011 and was renamed Adonia. She was the second P&O ship to be named Adonia, succeeding Sea Princess.

After completing a major refit in 2016, Adonia was reassigned within the Carnival Corporation, and became the first ship for a new brand called "fathom", focusing on the growing number of people who wanted to work alongside local communities as part of their travel experience in areas such as education, the environment and economic development. She sailed out of Miami to the Dominican Republic and Cuba on an alternating weekly basis. While in the Dominican Republic and Cuba, passengers had the opportunity to work on programs designed to make a positive social impact on the communities they visited.

On 2 May 2016, Adonia docked in the port of Havana, the first port of her Cuban itinerary for Fathom. It marked the first time in over 50 years that a U.S. cruise line has sailed from the U.S. to Cuba. It was also the first time in decades that Cuban-born individuals were able to travel by sea to or from Cuba.

In November 2016, Carnival announced that Fathom would discontinue operations in June 2017. The Adonia returned to Carnival’s P&O Cruises fleet at that time.

Farewell Voyage

On 26 September 2017 P&O announced that Adonia would be retired in March 2018 with the last cruise leaving Barbados on 23 February and ending in Barbados on 9 March 2018. She arrived at the Grand Bahama Shipyard on 13 March 2018 and was officially handed over to Azamara the following day. She completed a short drydocking in Grand Bahama (which included hull inspections, along with changing her name and registry) before sailing for Belfast's Harland and Wolff shipyard.

Azamara Pursuit

Her first cruise under Azamara Club Cruises took place on 13 August 2018, when she joined two other R-Class vessels in the fleet, Azamara Journey and Azamara Quest. Her christening ceremony happened in Southampton on 28 August 2018, where she was officially named by Lucy Huxley and Ellen Asmodeo-Giglio, two travel industry executives. Before entering service, the ship underwent a substantial refit at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, bringing her decor and image into line with Azamara's other ships.