A sneak preview of NCL’s fabulous NORWEGIAN BREAKAWAY. By Peter Newall All images copyright Peter Newall Three years after the introduction of the 155,873gt, French-built Norwegian Epic, one of the most extraordinary cruise ships ever built, NCL has taken delivery of the 146,600gt, 4,028-capacity Norwegian Breakaway the first of a…
Continuing Shawn J. Dake’s Cruise Ships 2012, The Year In Review Windstar Cruises spent US$18 million on refurbishments to their three-ship fleet consisting of the WIND STAR, WIND SPIRIT and WIND SURF (ex CLUB MED 1). The original pair of sail-assisted cruisers completed theirs in November. The WIND SURF had…
Continuing Shawn J. Dake’s Cruise Ships 2012, The Year In Review Voyages To Antiquity is expanding beyond its traditional Mediterranean base with the 11,563 gross ton AEGEAN ODYSSEY (ex NARCIS, ALKYON, AEGEAN DOLPHIN, AEGEAN 1). During the winter season the ship will offer 17 to 22-day cruise-tours in India and…
On Friday April 26, 2013 at a formal ceremony, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises took delivery of the modern and casual luxury ship EUROPA 2 from the STX France shipyard in Saint Nazaire. Dr Wolfgang Flägel, Managing Director of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises and Laurent Castaing, General Manager of STX France, signed the takeover protocol.…
Continuing Shawn J. Dake’s Cruise Ships 2012, The Year In Review Plantours & Partner based in Bremen and catering to German passengers began operating the 15,067 gross ton HAMBURG, built in 1997 as the C. COLUMBUS. The German ship owners, Conti, purchased the vessel from Hapag-Lloyd Cruises and chartered it…
Continuing Shawn J. Dake’s Cruise Ships 2012, The Year In Review Compagnie du Ponant which until 2012 was a division of the giant French container company CMA-CGM Group, has been sold to Bridgepoint Capital Ltd., a British private equity firm with no previous background in the cruise industry. The deal…
Continuing Shawn J. Dake’s Cruise Ships 2012, The Year In Review Louis Cruise Lines agreed to swap their 1,460 passenger LOUIS MAJESTY (ex ROYAL MAJESTY, NORWEGIAN MAJESTY) to Thomson Cruises on a charter basis in exchange for the equivalent sized THOMSON DESTINY (ex SONG OF AMERICA, SUNBIRD) which they renamed…
Maritime enthusiasts with gather May 2 – May 5th in Long Beach, Southern California for “ShiPosium II” on board the QUEEN MARY. The ShiPosium brings SSHSA members and ship history enthusiasts together with representatives of historic vessels that are currently or potentially endangered for any number of reasons. The representatives present…
Continuing Shawn J. Dake’s Cruise Ships 2012, The Year In Review Cruise & Maritime Voyages will not continue to charter the 1976-built OCEAN COUNTESS (ex CUNARD COUNTESS, AWANI DREAM II, OLYMPIC COUNTESS, OLYMPIA COUNTESS, OCEAN COUNTESS, LILI MARLEEN, RUBY) as they have done for the last three years. The 17,593…
Canada has received their first new passenger-cargo ship in many years. On April 19, 2013 the m/v BELLA DESGAGNES was christened at the Port of Sept-Iles. This is the latest ship in the fleet of Relais Nordik which is a subsidiary of Groupe Desgagnés based in Quebec. In coastal service,…
