Premier Cruises To Return 1960-Vintage Vessel To Service
|Premier Cruises To Return 1960-Vintage Vessel To Service
By Shawn J. Dake

Premier Cruises, Ltd., no relation to the previous cruise line of the same name, will begin service in April, 2013 with the 117-passenger SERENISSIMA on voyages within Europe. The ship was originally built in 1960 at the yard of A/S Trondheims Mek. Verksted, at Trondheim, Norway as the HARALD JARL for the Norwegian Coastal Express service. It was the first full-size Hurtigrute ship to be built in Norway since 1942. During its early career the vessel sailed for the coastal company Det Nordenfjeldske Dampskibsselskab (NFDS) and later with Troms Fylkes Dampskibsselskab (TFDS) during a 41 year career spent exclusively in Norway. In 2001 the ship was sold and remarkably embarked on a second career as an expedition ship under the new name of ANDREA beginning in 2002 which took her to far flung ports in both the northern and southern hemispheres. Elegant Cruises & Tours promoted voyages on the ANDREA until they ceased operations in April of 2009. The ship was seized and laid up at Split, Croatia.

The new Premier Cruises is owned by a Russian national, Vladimir Esakov, President and CEO of Volga Dream which operates a riverboat of the same name between Moscow and St. Petersburg. The 314-foot m.s. VOLGA DREAM is described as one of the most luxurious riverboats on the Russian waterways with 60 crew members serving just over 100 passengers. It can be expected the SERENISSIMA will have a similar ratio. The Senior Vice-President of marketing and sales is Christer Morn, who comes from a long background in the cruise industry, serving most recently with Sea Cloud Cruises. The SERENISSIMA will operate its inaugural season in 2013 with cruises in the Mediterranean, Black Sea, British Isles and a return to Norway. Charters and wholesale tour companies are expected to play a large role in the marketing of the ship.

When it became the ANDREA, few exterior alterations were made and the profile of the ship remained recognizable as the former HARALD JARL. The interior was modernized, furnishings updated and many of the cabins were reconfigured yet it retained the warmth and feel of a small coastal ship. It had one of the best collections of Norwegian artwork among the Hurtigrute ships and many of the paintings were retained onboard. In preparation for its latest role the ship has already been dry docked and is currently undergoing refurbishment in Croatia which includes new carpeting, while mechanically a new set of stabilizers is being added. The registry has been changed from Monrovia to St. Vincent. Premier Cruises is headquartered in Mariehamn, Finland.

When constructed the HARALD JARL was the third of four similarly designed ships but could always be distinguished by having a combined funnel with attached mainmast situated just slightly aft of amidships. Of the others; FINNMARKEN, RAGNVALD JARL and the LOFOTEN of 1964, only the latter remains in occasional service on the Norwegian coast. The SERENISSIMA has a gross tonnage of 2,632 tons. The principal dimensions are 268.8 feet in length, 43.6 feet in beam with a 22.0 foot draft. Premier Cruises plans to operate the ship as a four-star cruise experience.
Shawn Dake
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Utterly fascinating! I’ve always had a strong affinity to the old Hurtigruten coastal liners and it’s very nice to see one of them find (or more properly continue) an existance as a cruise ship. Even more fascinating is to discover a cruise line I’ve never heard of before headquartered in Finland…
What a handsome little ship. I’m so glad to hear some good news out of the classic ship community. Can’t wait to see her in service. Kudos to Premier for seeing the value of this classic.
I did some research because I was curious. For the record, of the three sisters to HARALD JARL only LOFOTEN sails in commercial passenger service but RAGNVALD JARL now sails as the training ship SJOKURS. FINNMARKEN has evidently been preserved on land as a museum ship. So all four ships have actually made it this far which is quite an achievement!
Lofoten: http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1525803
Sjokurs: http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1539173
Finnmarken: http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1496782
HA, when i saw Premier Cruises i thought about the big red boat. 🙂
Well, one former Premier Cruise ship has a nice retirement on the Maas. But the last big red boat will be a big dead boat soon. So long, Oceanic.
what a smart little liner
In addition to the near-sisters of the SERENISSAMA mentioned that remain if not in service then at least in existance, there is a previous-generation Hurtigruten liner that remains in service with the company, the NORDSTJERNAN of 1956 (actually the same age as the RAGNVALD JARL then, but of a clearly older design with a centrally-located funnel). Like the LOFOTEN, the NORDSTJERNAN does summer-season cruising around Spitsbergen.
Of course, the secret to the continued existance of the LOFOTEN and NORDSTJERNAN is the fact that they don’t leave Norwegian waters when in commercial service and hence they are exempt from SOLAS.
Fantastic news!!!! I was once booked to sail on the ship when she was known as Andrea but for various reasons I had to cancel. As it turned out I’d have never sailed on her anyway as the company folded before my planned cruise would have taken place. Hopefully, I have now regained the chance to sail on this lovely little ship at some point in the future.
Harald Jarl (Andrea) was sister ship to Kong Olav, Lofoten and Nordnorge. (1960 – 1964) Ragnvald Jarl was sister ship to Finnmarken and to some extent Nordstjernen (all 1956 Blohm & Voss), but Nordstjernen was built with a slightly less innovative design.
We sailed on her as the Andrea from Civitavecchia to Ushuaia in 2004, and really liked her. My husband translated the Old Norse writings on the artwork and entered it into the ship’s computer, but that’s probably long gone. Glad to see she will be sailing again. Maybe we can sail with her. A lovely little ship.
…saw her on July,30.2013 at Stockholm harbour. Looked quite nice. Then bound for Mariehamn an Helsinki
Cheers!
Thank you Christian for the heads up. The Serenissima was not included in Port of Helsinki’s list of arriving cruise ships for some reason but she was here today and I managed to photograph her departure. As far as I know this was her first visit to Helsinki so it was doubly nice to have caught her on camera.
sailed on the Andrea in May 2004 … wonderful trip from Caen Normandy to St Malo, Jersey, Dartmouth, Southampton and Dover. Croatian crew, captain and cook (lots of good Spanish Wine) .. 10 day trip themed
“D Day Remembered” . .. understood it was formerly Norwegian coastal mail ship .. purchased by Elegant
Cruise Line (Croatian American owner) named ship after his Grand daughter …
This is fascinating. I was fortunate enough to sail, round trip Bergen to Kirkenes, on the Harald Jarl in 1963.
I still have my certificate for crossing the Arctic Circle and a “Midnight Sun” songbook from that trip.
It’s good to know the ship is still around.