Kristina Regina, 22 June 2010

Kristina Regina

IMO 5048485
Built 1960, Oskarshamns varv, Sweden
Tonnage 4 295 GT
Length 99,83 m
Width 15,28 m
Draft 5,25 m
245 passengers
2 Wärtsilä-Vaasa diesels, combined 3 240 kW
2 propellers (?)
1 bow thruster
Speed 17 knots

Kristina Regina is another ship with a fascinating history. She was built in 1960 as the steam-powered car/passenger ferry Bore for Steamship Company Bore. She had a small side-loadable car deck, making her in fact the first purpose-built car ferry in the North Baltic (an accolade usually given to Siljavarustamo's Skandia of the following year). She was used on an overnight service from Turku to Stockholm's Skeppsbron. In 1970 Steamship Company Bore and the associated Finland Steamship Company, Rederi AB Svea and their joint subsidiary Siljavarustamo reorganized their operations, forming the joint marketing company Silja Line. Resultingly the Bore joint the Silja Line fleet. Unlike most other Silja ships, she kept SS Co. Bore's yellow hull livery, on which Silja's seal-logo was painted.

In 1976 Silja finally decided to close the steamer service to Skeppsbron, and the Bore was laid up. In 1977 she was sold to the SS Co. Bore-associated Jakob Lines and renamed Borea for service on the Gulf of Bothnia. After a patchy career of Jakob Line services and various charters, in 1984 she was again used for overnight Turku-Stockholm service, now for Aura Line who wished to revive the service as a tourist attraction. Aura Line was not a success, and in late 1984 the Borea was again laid up.

Following a failed attempt to rebuilt the Borea into the luxury cruise ship Vanderbilt, the ship was sold in 1987 to Rannikkolinjat, based in Kotka, Finland. She was renamed Kristina Regina, re-engined with diesels and rebuilt as a cruise ship, entering cruise services on the Baltic in 1988 under the banner of Kristina Cruises. Initially she was only used for Baltic cruises in the summers and laid up for the winter months, but from 1999 onwards the Kristina Regina spent the winters cruising in warmer waters. She is, to date, the most successful Finnish cruise ship.

Due to SOLAS 2010 regulations coming into effect in October 2010, the Kristina Regina must be withdrawn from service in 2010. In preparation for this Kristina Cruises puchased a new ship, Kristina Katarina, already in late 2009. In July 2010 the Kristina Regina was sold to a group of businessmen from Turku, to be delivered after her final cruise on 21 August 2010. The plan is to restore the ship to Steamship Company Bore's livery and use her as a permanently moored hotel/museum/restaurant in her original home port Turku.

Photographs below are of the Kristina Regina in Kustaanmiekka strait on 22 June 2010, photographed from Kustaanmiekka. Click on the image(s) for full size.

Kristina Regina making her way for the strait...

...and displaying her classic lines.

Through the strait (quite enough space for such a small ship) and onwards to open sea.

Arcadia, 6 August 2010

Arcadia

IMO 9226906
Built 2005, Fincantieri Porto Maghera, Italy
Tonnage 82 972 GT
Length 285,30 m
Width 32,20 m
Draft 7,80 m
2 556 passengers
5 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 51 840 kW
2 azipods
3 bow thrusters
Speed 22 knots

Arcadia, P&O Cruises' sole Vista-class cruise ship, came to be with the company by something of an accident. She was originally slated to become Cunard Line's Queen Victoria, but after her construction had already proceeded quite far Cunard decided they wanted to make large-scale changes to the design of the ship, based on their experiences with the Queen Mary 2. The final result was that Cunard ordered a brand-new ship to become their Queen Victoria, and the ship originally laid down as the Queen Victoria was transferred instead to P&O Cruises, becoming their Arcadia.

Photographs below for the Arcadia departing Helsinki West Harbour on 6 August 2010, photographed from Vattuniemi. Click on the image(s) to view full size.

Arcadia with Hernesaari in the background and just one sailboat in the foreground.

As you can see, sailboats were quite plentiful this day, following the Arcadia all the way out to sea.

My co-conspirers were rather cross with the sailboats being in front of the ship all the time. I actually think they add a rather nice atmosphere and make the pictures more unique (while admittedly diminishing the photo's documentary value).

Heading out to sea, with most of the sailboats still following...

Marco Polo, 6 August 2010

Marco Polo

IMO 6417097
Built 1965, VEB Mathias-Thesen-Werft Wismar, East Germany
Tonnage 22 080 GT
Length 176,28 m
Width 23,55 m
Draught 8,17 m
915 passengers
2 Sulzer-Cegielski diesels, combined 15 447 kW
2 propellers
1 bow thruster
Speed 16,5 knots

Marco Polo is a fascinating survivor of a bygone era in many ways. She was built in 1965 in East Germany as the second in a series of five ships for the Soviet Union. Named Alexandr Pushkin, she was set in the Baltic Shipping Company's service linking Leningrad to Montreal via Helsinki, Copenhagen, Tilbury and Quebec City. She was also used for cruises out of Canada and reportedly occasionally for charters to other operators - however her precise movements during the Soviet era are hard to trace due to conflicting information provided by different sources.

What is known for certain is that the Alexandr Pushkin was withdrawn from transatlantic service in 1980 when the United States and British Commonwealth forbade Soviet ships from entering their ports after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. By this time the Pushkin had been one of just four ships in transatlantic passenger service (the others being her sister Mikhail Lermontov in Leningrad-New York service, Polish Ocean Lines Stefan Batory in Poland-Canada service and of course Cunard Line's QE2). After this the Pushkin was used exclusively for cruising, chartered at least to West Germany's Transocean Tours. In 1985 her ownership was transferred from the Baltic Shipping Company to the Far Eastern Shipping Company and subsequently she was chartered to CTC Cruises for cruising out of Australia and the UK.

In 1991 - after a brief lay-up period - the Alexandr Pushkin was sold to Orient Lines, a new destination-intensive cruise line established by Gerry Herrod. After a 2½ year refit the ship finally re-emerged as Marco Polo; her exterior redesign (largely faithful to the original) had been overseen by the Knud E. Hansen maritime archiotecture practice, while her new interiors were largely the work of Michael and Agni Katzourakis. Orient Line with their sole ship was a success, and in 1998 the Norwegian Cruise Line purchased the brand.

The Marco Polo became the sole surviving ship of her class in 2005, when the last of her sisters (the Taras Shevchenko) was scrapped. By this time Norwegian Cruise Line and their owners Star Cruises were experiencing financial difficulties. Resultingly in 2008 the Marco Polo was sold to Global Maritime of Greece. The sale of the Marco Polo also meant the closure of the Orient Lines brand (although an attempt to restore the brand was made later in 2008 but was foiled by the economic downturn of that year). Global Maritime chartered the Marco Polo to Transocean Tours, who took the ship in service without a change of name. Transocean Tours planned to retain the ship until 2012, but due to financial difficulties they gave the ship up already in 2009. The newly-founded UK-based Cruise & Maritime Voyages took her under charter for five years from the beginning of 2010, still retaining the name Marco Polo.

Photographs below are of the Marco Polo departing Helsinki South Harbour on 6 August 2010, photographed from the breakwater of Suomenlinna's boat harbour. Click on the image(s) to view full size.

On Kruunuvuorenselkä.

Turning towards Kustaanmiekka strait, with Laajasalo oil harbour in the backround on the left.

Heading for the Kustaanmiekka strait...

...and entering the strait.

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.

Costa Luminosa and Costa Deliziosa, 1 July 2010

Costa Luminosa

IMO 9398905
Built 2009, Fincantieri Marghera, Italy
Tonnage 92 700 GT
Length 294,00 m
Width 32,25 m
Draught 8,00 m
2 260 passengers
6 MaK diesels, combined 64 000 kW
2 azipods (?)
3 bow thrusters
Speed 21,6 knots

Costa Deliziosa

IMO 9398917
Built 2010, Fincantieri Marghera, Italy
Tonnage 92 720 GT
Length 294,00 m
Width 32,25 m
Draught 8,00 m
2 260 passengers
6 MaK diesels, combined 64 000 kW
2 azipods (?)
3 bow thrusters
Speed 21,6 knots

Costa Luminosa and Costa Deliziosa are a pair of sister constructed for Costa Cruises in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Unlike most Costa ships, which are based on the same designs as those of Carnival Cruise Lines, the Costa Luminosa and her sister are mostly based on the Vista-class ships sailing for Holland America Line, P&O Cruises and Cunard Line, while incorpating elements of the Spirit-class ships built in Helsinki for Carnival and Costa in 2000-2004.

As is common for the various versions of the Vista class, the Luminosa and Deliziosa have a very attractive, balanced and simple profile.

Photographs below are of the Costa Luminosa and Costa Deliziosa on 1 July 2010, when they were in Helsinki at the same time. Photographed from Vattuniemi. Click on the image(s) for full size.

Costa Luminosa (left) passing Costa Deliziosa (right) while departing the cruise quay on Hernesaari.

Costa Luminosa

Costa Luminosa, again.

Costa Luminosa, with Pihlajasaari in the background.

Costa Deliziosa, identifiable from her sister by the darker funnel colour (maybe the Luminosa's has faded during the year she has been in service before her sister?).

Costa Deliziosa, with Pihlajasaari in the background. Unfortunately the distance between the ships was so long that it was impossible to get a good picture of them together on the sea.

Costa Deliziosa heading for the open sea.