Columbus 2 in Helsinki, 27 June 2012

Continuing with the R week, we come to the most recent entry to the Hapag-Lloyd Cruises fleet, the Columbus 2. Previously featured were the Ocean Princess, Azamara Journey and Nautica. If I can find my 2007 photos of it, Blue Moon will be the next one to be featured.

Columbus 2

IMO 9156462
Former names: R One, Insignia
Built 1998, Chantiers de l'Atlantique St. Nazaire, France
Tonnage 30 277 GT
Length 180,45 m
Width 25,73 m
Draugth 5,80 m
698 passengers (lower berths), 824 passengers (maximum)
4 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 13 500 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 18,5 knots

The Columbus 2 was of course, originally, the very first ship of Renaissance Cruises R-class, the R One of 1998. Like all the other Renaissance Cruises ships, she was arrested and laid up at Gibraltar on October 2001. In December of the same year the ship's ownership passed to Cruiseinvest One and like the six other R-class ships in Europe she was moved to a further lay-up at Marseille. The R One spent a fairly long time laid up, activated for further cruising only in June 2003 when she was chartered to Oceania Cruises who renamed the ship Insignia, taking over the name from her sister, the ex-R Two, that had previously been named Insignia but now changed into Regatta.

In December 2006 the (second) Insignia was purchased by Oceania Cruises and remained in service for several years, until spring 2012 when she was withdrawn from service by Oceania (following the entry of service of the new Marina and in preparation for the upcoming arrival of the Riviera) and chartered to Hapag-Lloyd Cruises as the Columbus 2, replacing the earlier Columbus which passed on to Plantours as the Hamburg.

The photographs below show the Columbus 2 departing from her maiden visit to Helsinki (under that name) on 27 June 2012. In the city on the same day was her fleetmate Europa, but unfortunately there was no change of getting both ships in the same photograph. Click on the images to see in larger size.

The weather was not very good at all, so (almost) all these images have been heavily treated, with the ship and the background treated separately to get the ship to stand out from the white background (notice the difference in the bightness between the Columbus 2 and the JT Line ferry Amiraali behind it).

As you can perhaps notice, the Hapag-Lloyd hull stripes have been done by simply adding an orange stripe below the Oceania Cruises blue one - compare with the previous entry on Nautica. It improves the looks in my opinion, though I can't help thinking the stripes would be even better if they were maybe one deck or hlaf a deck lower on the hull.

And speaking of improvements in the looks of the ship compared to the other ships in the class, notice how much better the orange funnel looks compared to the other sister's white ones.

This is the only photo from the entire session that looked alright without treating the background and ship separately.

Unusual to see a Hapag-Lloyd ship with Majuro in the Marshall Islands as the port of registry (or homeport as it should be called, but the cruise industry has hijacked the term for a different use).

An upright photo for a change. This one turned out particularly well. Notice how the colour of the background changes from, the right side to the left side of the photo.

Bremen in Helsinki, 24 September 2011

Bremen

IMO 8907424
Former name: Frontier Spirit
Built 1990, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Kobe, Japan
Tonnage 6 752 GT
Length 111,51 m
Width 17,05 m
Draugth 4,80 m
Ice class: 1A Super
164 passengers
184 berths
2 Daihatsu diesels, combined 4 855 kW
2 propellers
1 bow thruster
Speed 15 knots

The header for this entry sounds strange when reading it out (a bit like saying Stockholm in New York, it makes no sense unless you know the first city name is actually a ship), but I'm a sucker for consistency so no deviating from the pattern.

So, the Bremen. Like so many other Hapag-Lloyd ships, it carries a traditional name from the fleet of Norddeutsche Lloyd, being in actual fact the sixth Bremen in the fleets of NDL/HL. This Bremen started out as the Frontier Spirit, built for Frontier Cruises in 1990 by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. After three years of service for Frontier Cruises (who do not appear to have had any other ships), the Frontier Spirit was chartered to Hapag-Lloyd Cruises in late 1993. The ship was rebuilt at Werft Nobiskrug in Rendsburg, Germany, and renamed Bremen after the refit. Instead of being repainted in normal Hapag-Lloyd colours she retained the mostly blue hull from the Frontier Cruises days, with the stripe above the hull (originally red) was painted orange.

In early 1995 Hapag-Lloyd purchased the ship outright. In 2001 the ship lost her previous unique (and quite stylish) livery in favour of the standard Hapag-Lloyd Cruises livery of a white hull with narrow white and orange decorative lines. The funnel was also modified by adding blue top and aft. At the same time (or possibly earlier) the aft superstructure was somewhat extended, which probably contributed to the ship's slight aft-heaviness (evident in the images below).

The photographs below show the Bremen in Helsinki South Harbour, departing from the Pakkahuoneenlaituri used only by smallest cruise ships (and yachts) on 24 September 2011. Because my camera was misbehaving, only these few images turned out alright from the day. Click on the photos to see them in larger size.

The Bremen is really a tiny little thing, fitting into the quay previously normally used by the Kristina Regina (and not looking much bigger). Also notice how huge a single standard-sized container looks like compared to the rest of the ship.

In the harbour pool, with the Helsinki Cathedral in the background. The design of the bridge look really out-of-date for a ship built in 1990 in my opinion.

On Kruunuvuorenselkä, with the aft-heaviness quite evident.

Europa, 22 June 2010

Europa

IMO 9183855
Built 1999, Kværner Masa Yards Helsinki New Shipyard, Finland
Tonnage 28 890 GT
Length 198,60 m
Width 24,00 m
Draught 6,00 m
450 passengers
4 MAN B&W diesels, combined 21 606 kW
2 azipods
2 bow thrusters
Speed 21 knots

This is a ship that should require no introduction. Hapag-Lloyd Cruises' Europa is the only cruise ship in the world 5+ stars (some ratings actually give her the improbable six stars). Carrying a maximum of 450 passengers, she has an impressive passenger/space ratio of 64,2 when full, while the standards of service are set by the 280 crew serving the said max. 450 passengers. Fittingly for the best in the world she was built in Helsinki at the same shipyard that built the first modern purpose-built cruise ships in 1970. One could go on and on about the ship's accolades but let's no waste too much time on that.

Europa is a traditional name in the fleet of Hapag-Lloyd and their predecessors HAPAG and Norddeutscher Lloyd; the current Europa is in fact the sixth ship to bear that name. The most famous of her predecessors is without a doubt the 1930-built third Europa that (together with her sister Bremen) took the blue riband of the Atlantic for Germany for the last time. The fourth Europa was the former Swedish American Liner Kungsholm bought by Norddeutscher Lloyd in 1964; she was replaced in 1981 by the purpose-built fifth Europa that in turn had to make way for the sixth in 1999.

Externally the Europa has a sleek design, actually looking rather like an elongated version of the 1992-(re)built Sally Cruise ship Sally Albatross (present-day Louis Cristal for Louis Cruises). That said, externally the Europa lacks some of the design coherence of the Sally Albatross, with the oddly terraced forward superstructure and lack of clear defining lines on the top of the superstructure. But perhaps these minor external flaws can be forgiven for a ship of the Europa's status.

Photographs below are of the Europa leaving Helsinki via the Kustaanmiekka strait on 22 June 2010, photographed from the ramparts on Kustaanmiekka. Click on the image(s) for full size.

Europa in the Kustaanmiekka strait...

...and entering the narrowest part of the strait.

Passing between Kustaanmiekka and Vallisaari, with the top of the King's gate in the foreground.

Just moments later, the Europa has cleared the strait and heads for the open sea.