Grand Mistral and MSC Musica on the Gulf of Finland, 30 May 2013

Grand Mistral

IMO 9172777
Name history: Mistral, Grand Mistral
Built 1999, Chantiers de l'Atlantique, St. Nazaire, France
Tonnage 48 200 GT
Length 216 m
Width 28,80 m
Draught 6,90 m
1 715 passengers
4 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 31 680 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 22,5 knots

MSC Musica

IMO 9320087
Built 2006, Chantiers de l'Atlantique, St. Nazaire, France
Tonnage 92 409 GT
Length 293,80 m
Width 32,20 m
Draught 7,70 m
2 550 passengers (lower berths), 3 031 passengers (maximum)
5 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 58 000 kW
2 propellers
3 bow thrusters
1 stern thruster
Speed 22 knots

The Grand Mistral was featured in the this blog in the previous entry and probably needs no introduction. The MSC Musica, meanwhile, is the lead ship of MSC's Musica-class, the other ships in the class being the MSC Orchestra, MSC Poesia and MSC Magnifica. Interestingly from the point of view of this entry the Musica-class is essentially an evolution of the Grand Mistral's design, via the intermediary designs of Festival Cruises' European Vision -class (today MSC's MSC Armonia and MSC Sinfonia) and MSC's own Lirica-class.

The photographs below show the Grand Mistral and MSC Musica on the Gulf of Finland outside of St. Petersburg, photographed from onboard St. Peter Line's Princess Anastasia. Click on the images to see them in larger size.

The cloudy weather, position of the sun, ship departure times and speeds all conspired together so that I was on the deck of the Princess Anastasia in the right place at the right time.

And the best part is, with the ship backlit like that you don't see the scribbles on her side. ;)

Younger semi-sister MSC Musica catching up on the Grand Mistral.

Mistral obscured by the Musica.

Next time: Princess Anastasia interiors (if I can find the time to look through them. If not, you'll probably get the Romantika instead).

Grand Mistral on the Gulf of Finland, 30 May 2013

Grand Mistral

IMO 9172777
Name history: Mistral, Grand Mistral
Built 1999, Chantiers de l'Atlantique, St. Nazaire, France
Tonnage 48 200 GT
Length 216 m
Width 28,80 m
Draught 6,90 m
1 715 passengers
4 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 31 680 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 22,5 knots

The Grand Mistral was one of the early ships to be featured in this blog. For a short history of the ship, see the first entry on her.

The photographs below show the Grand Mistral on the Gulf of Finland outside Kronstadt. After sailing out of the channel from St. Petersburg the Grand Mistral slowed down to drop off the pilot, giving our ship (the Princess Anastasia) the chance to overtake her. The Grand Mistral re-overtook us later in the evening, but the photographs of that will be the subject of a later entry.

In case you missed my trip report from the Princess Anastasia over at MaritimeMatters, you can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

As always, click on the images to see them in larger size.

The weather had been perfect during our entire Princess Anastasia cruise... until the departure from St. Petersburg. And even that turned out to be a good thing, as it made these dramatic photos of the Grand Mistral possible.

Not one of my favourite ships in the terms of exterior design, but the dramatic lighting more than makes up for it.

I love the way the sky looks in this one.

Here I should have used a larger apperture or higher ISO level as the image is slightly out of focus. Still good though.

Next time: MSC Musica and Grand Mistral sailing into the sunset.

Grand Mistral, 10 July 2010

Grand Mistral

IMO 9172777
Built 1999, Chantiers de l'Atlantique, St. Nazaire, France
Tonnage 48 200 GT
Length 216 m
Width 28,80 m
Draft 6,90 m
1 715 passengers
4 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 31 680 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 22,5 knots

Originally named Mistral, this ship was the first newbuilding delivered to Festival Cruises, which was the first company attempting to offer a pan-European cruise experience. Two enlargened versions of the Mistral were built for Festival in 2001-2002 (European Vision and European Stars), while MSC Cruises had further two ship of a derived design built for them in 2003-2004 (MSC Lirica and MSC Opera). Following the bankruptcy of Festival Cruises in 2004 the Mistral was sold to a French invesor group, who chartered her to Iberojet Cruceros under the name Grand Mistral. In 2007 Iberojet Cruceros closed down when a new joint venture with the Carnival Corporation was founded under the name Iberocruceros. Apart from changes to the Grand Mistral's livery, this had little effect on her service.

Grand Mistral departing Helsinki West Harbour on the evening of 10 July 2010, after getting a fresh load of passengers. Photographed from Vattuniemi. Click on the images to view full size.