MS Asuka II

MS Asuka II is a cruise ship owned and operated by Nippon Yusen Kaisha, which runs the cruise division NYK Cruises, also called Asuka Cruise. She was built by the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries shipyard in Nagasaki, Japan, as Crystal Harmony for Crystal Cruises. On the maiden voyage of Crystal Harmony in South American and Caribbean waters a fuel leak in an auxiliary engine room started a fire some 200 miles from Cristóbal; the ship drifted without power for sixteen hours, then reached port under her own steam and landed her passengers in Panama. After fifteen years of service she was retired from the Crystal fleet in 2005, transferred to the parent company Nippon Yusen Kaisha, renovated and returned to service in 2006 as Asuka II, replacing the earlier Asuka. As of August 2022 she was the largest cruise ship in Japan. She caught fire again on 16 June 2020 while at dock in Yokohama.