R-class cruise ship

The R class is a group of eight small cruise ships, named R One to R Eight, that Chantiers de l'Atlantique built at Saint-Nazaire in France between 1998 and 2001 for Renaissance Cruises. Each ship carried about 684 passengers and was designed inside and out by the British designer John McNeece. They were considerably larger than the line's earlier yacht-like Renaissance-class vessels, which had been built in Italian yards, and they formed the heart of the fleet. Sources differ on the size of the order: a trade profile of R One written in 1999 describes it as the first of a series of six, while the Renaissance Cruises article counts eight completed ships. Renaissance Cruises ceased operations on 25 September 2001, and the vessels were then chartered or sold to other cruise lines, several of which still operate them.