Name of Oman's first luxery floating hotel:  VERONICA

July 13-2013 DSME (Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering) Oman LLC, Eignerin und Betreiberin des Hotelschiffs Veronica haben die Lust verloren und bieten die schöne dame zum kauf an. Mit $20Mio. ist die betagte Dame nicht ganz billig, aber sie wurde sehr umfangreich 2010 zu einem 4+Sterne Standard renoviert. Als MONA LISA dürfte sie noch einigen Deutschen gut in Erinnerung sein, so sie nicht gestorben sind.

Oct.2013 MS Veronica, dubbed the Duqm Floating Hotel, wrapped up operations on Thursday at the end of a roughly 18-month stint as the Sultanate’s first ‘floatel’. The passenger ship, owned and operated by Daewoo Shipping and Marine Engineering (DSME) Oman LLC — operators of Oman Drydock Company (ODC) — doubled for a while as Duqm’s only deluxe hotel. That distinction ended when the Crowne Plaza Duqm, a five-star property owned by Omran, opened its doors earlier this year.
Just prior to its launch, the one-star budget property, The City Hotel, also commenced operations in Duqm, as did a string of small unrated motels. Berthed alongside ODC’s quay, the vessel played a key role in providing visiting business investors, officials, and the executive crews of ships calling for repairs at the yard, with relatively upscale accommodation for want of suitable hotel accommodation on shore.
ODC has since invested in its own executive lodgings for crews of ships calling the yard for maintenance services.
On Thursday, most of the Filipino hospitality staff working at the floating hotel were already preparing to disembark and head back to their native Philippines. A notice placed at the main entrance of Oman Drydock announced that the ‘floatel’ had ceased operations effective from October 3, 2013. The result of a multimillion dollar refurbishment, the Veronica was transformed into a floating attraction at the outset of ODC’s soft launch in 2011. Its over 200 furnished rooms broadly fell into the luxury, deluxe, standard, and serviced residence categories.
In keeping with its status as an upscale floating hotel, the vessel was also equipped with multi-cuisine restaurants, gym and spa, swimming pools, lounges, business centre, library, theatre, banquet and meeting halls, clinic and pharmacy.
Until land-based hotels became a feature of Duqm’s rapidly changing landscapes, the Veronica also served as a base for tourists looking to sample some of Duqm’s singular natural attractions, notably its expansive white-sand beaches, the Rock Garden, and Nafun island outcrop. The vessel is expected to set sail from Duqm as soon as its next port of call is finalised, according to officials.