Magellan in Helsinki, 24 August 2015

Magellan

IMO 8217881
Name history: Holiday, Carnival Holiday, Grand Holiday, Magellan
Built 1985, Aalborg Værft, Denmark
Tonnage 46 052 GT
Length 221,57 m
Width 28,17 m
Draugth 7,77 m
1 250 passengers
2 Sulzer diesels, combined 23 520 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 21 knots

So, we're finally getting around to the new (second-hand) Cruise and Maritime Voyages ship that got people so excited earlier this year.

The Magellan started like in 1985 as the Holiday, the second-ever newbuilt ship for Carnival Cruise Line; she was essentially an enlarger version of the 1981-built Tropicale that was built by the same shipyard for Carnival. The Holiday went on to have a long and uneventful career with Carnival. Towards the last years of her career with them she came to be marketed as 'Carnival Holiday', but it appears her official name was not changed. In 2009 she was transferred within Carnival Corporation & PLC to the Spanish-market Iberocruceros brand as the Grand Holiday. Due to the Spanish cruise market facing adverse conditions as a result of the eurozone crisis, Carnival decided to close down the Iberocruceros brand effective 2014, with the Grand Holiday withdrawn. She was then sold to Greek owners, who chartered the ship to CMV as the Magellan. And this pretty much wraps up her history to date.

On a completely different tengent, I find the reaction amongst cruise ship and liner enthusiasts to the Magellan's CMV career very interesting. The Carnival Corporation, and in particular Carnival Cruise Line, is a company a certain breed of enthusiasts love to hate. These tend to be the same people who think any and all modern cruise ships are ugly. With CMV operating and having operated such classic ships as Ocean Countess, Marco Polo, Discovery and Azores, I fully expected there to be an outrage from these people when CMV opted for an old Carnival ship of the boxy type they love to hate. I was wrong. As soon as CMV became associated with the ship, she became a classic beauty worthy of preserving. This tells something very interesting about both the human mind and the way branding works. (And for the record, I think the Magellan is a fine-looking ship. But I also think many modern cruise ships are very attractive in terms of exterior design).

Anyway, onwards to the point. The photos below show the Magellan departing Helsinki Länsisatama (West Harbour) on her first call to the city on 24 August 2015. Photographed from Sisä-Hattu. As per the usual, click on the images to see them in larger size.

I find it interesting that Carnival apparently no longer demands the removal of their trademark funnel wings when a ship is sold outside the Carnival Corporation.

Water levels were unusually low, giving the chance for interesting photos like this one.

While I think the Magellan looks very swish in these colours, I'm slightly bothered by the lack of a unified colour scheme in the CMV fleet. Currently, all their ships have different hull colours, and the funnel colours aren't exactly unified either. Personally, I also think the funnel would look better if it was all-blue, with the CMV logo put on in white.

What must be said is that the Magellan did smoke quite heavily, as you can also see from the previous shots. This mild fog in this photo between the ship and shore appeared to consist almost entirely of the Magellan's exhaust fumes.

Next time: depending on how much time I have, either Silja Serenade interiors or Princess Anastasia exterior shots.