Gabriella, 28 July 2010

Gabriella

IMO 8917601
Built 1992, Brodogradiliste Split, Croatia
Tonnage 35 492 GT
Length 171,50 m
Width 28,20 m
Draught 6,25 m
2 420 passengers
2 402 verths
400 cars
900 lane metres
4 Pielstick diesels, combined 23 760 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 21,5 knots

Gabriella was ordered as the first in a pair of ships in 1989 by Sea-Link Shipping of Sweden for their planned new Euroway cruiseferry service between Malmö and Lübeck. Brodogradiliste Split based the design of the Euroway ships on the sisters Amorella and Isabella they has just completed for SF Line (one of the owners of Viking Line), but with one additional deck and a different layout on deck 7. The construction of both Euroway sisters was delayed by the war in Bosnia; the future Gabriella, than named Frans Suell, reportedly even suffered some battle damage before she was finally delivered in May 1992. The construction of the second ship - tentatively named Frans Kockum - was even more severely delayed and resulting Euroway begun collaborating with Silja Line in February 1993. (The Frans Kockum was eventually completed on the shipyard's own expense as Thomas Mann and sold after completion to DFDS Seaways who renamed her Crown of Scandinavia).

In the end Euroway proved a failure, and the service was closed down in March 1994. Immediately afterwards the Frans Suell was chartered by Sea-Link to Silja Line, who renamed the ship Silja Scandinavia for service on the Turku-Stockholm route. Two years later Sea-Link decided they would sell the Silja Scandinavia to the highest bidder. Although Silja were very pleased with the ship, the company's economic situation was so precarious at the time they could not afford buying her. Their main competitors Viking Line on the other hand were extremely interested in the ship - following the bankruptcy of the other Viking Line partner Rederi AB Slite the remaining partner SF Line (which by this time had been renamed Viking Line) has suffered from a chronic tonnage shortage.

Viking made successful bid for the ship, and in April 1997 the Silja Scandinavia was delivered to Viking Line. She was renamed Gabriella following a naming competition and placed on the Helsinki-Stockholm service as a running mate of the Mariella. During her first year with Viking the Gabriella's funnel was painted all-red, as opposed to the line's traditional red/white, to better distinguish her from her sisters Amorella and Isabella.

Photographs below show the Gabriella in Helsinki South Harbour pool, departing the Katajanokka ferry terminal on 28 July 2010, photographed from Tähtitorninmäki.

Leaving the quay and preparing to turn around.

Turning in the harbour pool.

And passing the terminal again, en-route towards Kustaanmiekka and open sea.

Celebrity Eclipse, 2 July 2010

Celebrity Eclipse

IMO 9404314
Built 2010, Meyer Werft Papenburg, Germany
Tonnage 121 878 GT
Length 314,80 m
Width 36,80 m
Draught 8,30 m
2 852 passengers
4 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 67 200 kW
2 azipods (?)
3 bow thrusters
1 stern thruster(?)
Speed 24 knots

Celebrity Eclipse is the third ship in Celebrity Cruises's five-ship Solstice-class. The Solstice-class ships are Celebrity's largest ships to date, and the Celebrity Eclipse is at the time of writing the largest (passenger) ship ever to visit Helsinki.

Visually the Solstice-class is, in my opinion, but far the most successful of the mega-cruise ships. Despite the immense size the ships look sleek and attractive. The two-funneled design evokes memories of Chandris Line's (Celebrity's original owner) ocean liner Australis - although the funnels could perhaps be slightly more substancial (they should really call the final Solstice-class ship Celebrity Australis if you ask me). The only real negative aspect in the ship's looks is having the X only on the forward funnel. Not having it on both funnels really makes it look like an afterthought. Which of course it is, originally the plan was that some of the balconies would have different-coloured gazing which would make a large X on the side of the ship. In practice this was found to be almost invisible on the lead ship Celebrity Solstice and an X was added to the forward funnel instead. Why the company insisted on just one X for the subsequent ships is beyond me. Although not unpleasant to look at, I am slightly disappointed at the colour scheme chosen for the Solstice class. In the past Celebrity have had interesting and bold colours for their ships, but with the Solstices these have been reduced to just a single wide blue stripe. Not unattractive, but a bit bland when compared to, say, the colour scheme on Celebrity Constellation (not to mention the company's older and bolder ships).

Celebrity Eclipse photographed departing Helsinki West Harbour on 2 July 2010, photographed from Lauttasaari.

Prinsendam, 5 July 2010

Prinsendam

IMO 8700280
Built 1988, Wärtsilä Marine Turku New Shipyard, Finland
Tonnage 37 983 GT
Length 205,50 m
Width 28,90 m
Draught 7,20 m
840 passengers
4 Wärtsilä-Sulzer diesels, combined 21 120 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 22 knots

Prinsendam was built in 1988 by as the Royal Viking Sun the Wärtsilä Marine shipyard in Turku for Royal Viking Line, which was one of the most luxurious cruise lines of the time. The Royal Viking Sun was, at the time, rated as a five-star ship (today, following the ever-rising standard of the cruise industry, she's only 4+ stars). Royal Viking Line soon entered hard times, and in 1994 the company assets were split between the Norwegian Cruise Line and Cunard Line: Cunard took the Royal Viking Sun and the Royal Viking Line brand, while NCL took the rest of the Royal Viking fleet. Subsequently the Royal Viking Sun was marketed as a Cunard Royal Viking Line ship, with her funnel colours modified to be a combination of Cunard's Royal Viking's colours.

Following the sale of Cunard to the Carnival Corporation in 1998 the new owners decided reorganise Cunard's operations. As a part of this, the Cunard Royal Viking brand was shut down and the Royal Viking Sun was transferred to the fleet of Seabourn Cruise Line as the Seabourn Sun in 1999. The relatively large Seabourn Sun was ill-fitting in Seabourn's fleet of yacht-like ships, and in 2002 she was again transferred within the Carnival Corporation, now to the fleet of Holland America Line and renamed Prinsendam. As a smaller ship than most of HAL's fleet, she has been marketed their "elegant explorer", capable of entering ports that are too shallow for the line's larger ships.

Photographs below are of the Prinsendam on Kruunuvuorenselkä on 5 July 2010, shortly after departing the Katajanokka cruise quay in Helsinki. Click on the image(s) to view full size.

Passing behind the ex-fortification island Lonna.

Turning on Kruunuvuorenselkä towards the Kustaanmiekka strait.

Passing the Suomenlinna boat harbour.

Entering the Kustaanmiekka strait.

Ocean Countess, 5 July 2010

Ocean Countess

IMO 7358561
Built 1976, Burmeister & Wain Copenhagen, Denmark (hull), Navali Mechaniche Affini La Spezia, Italy (outfitting)
Tonnage 17 593 GT
Length 163,56 m
Width 22,80 m
Draught 6,40 m
959 passengers
4 B&W diesels, combined 15 447 kW
2 propellers
1 bow thruster
Speed 21,5 knots

Ocean Countess is a ship with a long and interesting history. Her hull was built in 1975 by the Burmeister & Wain shipyard in Copenhagen, but outfitting her interior was carried out at Navali Mechaniche Affini in La Spezia and was not completed until 1976. Cunard Countess, as she was known back then, was the first in a duo of ships built by Cunard for Caribbean cruising (her sister was the Cunard Princess, originally to be named Cunard Conquest). The sisters were notably more informal in their atmosphere than Cunard's previous ships - and in keeping with the company policy established with QE2, they originally carried plain white funnels. Rumour has it that Hugh Hefner of Playboy fame participated in the interior design, wanting the ship to be like "a floating Playboy mansion".

In 1982-83 the Cunard Countess was used as a troopship in the Falklands War (her fleetmate QE2 and P&O's Canberra usually get all the glory for this, but the Countess was there too). Around this same time she was painted with Cunard's traditional black/ref funnel colours. In 1993-1994 the Cunard Countess briefly served under the joint Cunard-EffJohn venture Cunard Crown Cruises. Cunard Crown was not a success, and in 1996 the Cunard Countess was sold. She passed on to Awani Cruises as Awani Dream II for cruises around the Indonesian islands. Awani soon ran into financial difficulties, and in 1998 the Awani Dream II was sold to Royal Olympic Cruises and she was renamed Olympic Countess. In 2002 after the Olympic Committee took offense in Royal Olympic's naming scheme, the ship's name was amended to Olympia Countess and the company name correspondingly to Royal Olympia Cruises.

Royal Olympia Cruises failed in 2004 and the Olympia Countess was sold to Maximus Navigation (who to the knowledge of the author remain her owners to this day) and remained Ocean Countess for service with Monarch Classic Cruises. In 2005-2006 she was chartered to the Germany-based Holiday Kreuzfahrten as the Lili Marleen. Following Holiday's bankruptcy the ship was laid up, until chartered to Louis Cruise Lines in spring 2007 as a temporary replacement for the sunken Sea Diamond under the name Ruby. In late 2007 the ship returned to Monarch Classic Cruises and her previous name Ocean Countess. She remained with Monarch Classic until 2009 when she was chartered to the Spain-based Quail Cruises. In 2010 the ship was in turn chartered to her current operator, the UK-based Cruise & Maritime Voyages, retaining the name Ocean Countess.

Photographs below are of the Ocean Coutness on Kruunuvuorenselkä, briefly after departing helsinki South Harbour on 5 July 2010. Click on the image(s) to view full size.

Ocean Countess peeking from behind the former fotress island Lonna.

Turning towards the Kustaanmiekka strait....

...and entering the Kustaanmiekka strait.

Eurodam, 8 July 2010

Eurodam

IMO 9378448
Built 2008, Fincantieri Porto Maghera, Italy
Tonnage 86 273 GT
Length 285,30 m
Width 32,25 m
Draught 7,80 m
2 104 passengers
6 MaK diesels, combined 64 000 kW
2 azipods
3 bow thrusters
1 stern thruster(?)
Speed 23,9 knots

Eurodam is the lead ship of Holland America Line's Signature-class, essentially a further refined version of their Vista-class ships that first appeared in 2002. Like the HAL Vista-class ships, the Eurodam is an unusual modern ship in the respect that she has two working funnels (although during the 00's multi-funneled ships designs have become fashionable again - certainly a welcome development).

The photo below is of Eurodam departing Helsinki West Harbour in the foggy eveniong of 8 July 2010. The picture has been heavily treated to give an agreeable-looking presentation of the Eurodam. The ships visible behind her are Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Sun (left) and Royal Caribbean International's Vision of the Seas (right). Click on the image to view full size.