10 September 2015

Norwegian Star in Helsinki, 7 August 2015

Norwegian Star

IMO 9195157
Built 2001, Meyer Werft Papenburg, Germany
Tonnage 91 740 GT
Length 294,13 m
Width 32,20 m
Draugth 8,00 m
2 240 passengers
4 MAN-B&W diesels, combined 72 000 kW
2 azipods
3 bow thrusters
Speed 24,6 knots

The Norwegian Star has been a regular visitor in Helsinki for some time, but apparently this is the first time I have managed to photograph her (or at least the first time photos of her have gotten as far as being published here).

The Norwegian Star wasn't intended to sail with Norwegian Cruise Line at all. She was ordered by Star Cruises and was originally slated to enter service with them as the SuperStar Libra. However, while she was under construction, NCL became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Star Cruises, and the under-construction ship was transferred to the NCL fleet. (Her first sister, the Norwegian Dawn, was similarly originally concieved as the SuperStar Scorpio for Star Cruises). The design, based on the earlier Star Cruises pair SuperStar Leo (today NCL's Norwegian Spirit) and SuperStar Virgo, proved successful, and a total of six sister ships were delivered to NCL by Meyer Werft.

Nothing much really to say about the Norwegian Star apart from that. According to the always-reliable Fakta om Fartyg, she collided with Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas at Bermuda in September 2012, but apart from that her careers seems to have been largely uneventful.

The photographs below show the Norwegian Star departing from Helsinki Länsisatama (West Harbour) in the afternoon of 7 August 2015. Click on the images to see them in larger size.

Very photogenic foreground flower. Alas, what I didn't realise at the time was the fact there was an underground ant hill at the spot where I had to lie down in order to get this shot. Talk about suffering for your art...
The Photogenic Tree provided a blessedly ant-free location.
Rush hour, with the Norwegian Star outbound from Länsisatama and the Gabriella inbound to Eteläsatama from her day trip to Tallinn in the background.
A good time of the year for photography, as far as foreground flowers go.
Next time: P&O's Arcadia, which still blissfully retains the traditional buff funnel colours.

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