Princess Anastasia in Helsinki, 3 August 2013

Before we get on today's photographs, a little piece of advertising: the new issue of the Ulkomatala web magazine is out (and indeed has been for a few days now), and the magazine's new website finally up and running. So if you're fortunate enough to understand Finnish, go and check it out.

Princess Anastasia

IMO 8414582
Name history: Olympia, Pride of Bilbao, Bilbao, SPL Princess Anastasia
Built 1986, Wärtsilä Turku New Shipyard, Finland
Tonnage 37 583 GT
Length 176,82 m
Width 28,40 m
Draught 6,71 m
Ice class 1A Super
2 500 passengers
2 447 berths
580 cars
1 115 lane metres
4 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 22 988 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 22 knots

For a history of the Princess Anastasia, see this entry. The photos below show the Princess Anastasia departing from Helsinki West Harbour in the afternoon of 3 August 2013, photographed from Sisä-Hattu. Click on the images to see them in larger size.

Last summer was maybe a bit dry, considering how withered the rowan in the foreground looks. Though the fact it grows on rock might have something to do with it.

Speaking of rock, it endlessly puzzles me that the English language doesn't have a separate word for the kind of rock you see here. It's very difficult when movable, loose rocks are referred to with the same word as the kind of rock that makes up entire islands.

The ship is maybe a bit overexposed... but it works nicely with the photo, so I'm not complaining.

Next time: AIDAbella

Princess Anastasia interiors, 27-30 May 2013

Princess Anastasia

IMO 8414582
Name history: Olympia, Pride of Bilbao, Bilbao, SPL Princess Anastasia
Built 1986, Wärtsilä Turku New Shipyard, Finland
Tonnage 37 583 GT
Length 176,82 m
Width 28,40 m
Draught 6,71 m
Ice class 1A Super
2 500 passengers
2 447 berths
580 cars
1 115 lane metres
4 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 22 988 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 22 knots

For a history of the Princess Anastasia, see this entry. Today we will be looking at interiors of the ship, with photos taken during my Princess Anastasia cruise in May this year. If you want to read a full cruise report, I wrote one for MaritimeMatters and you can read it on that website: Cruising Russian Style on the Princess Anastasia Part 1 and Part 2. A Finnish-language trip report will be published in the next issue of Ulkomatala. Now, onwards to the images.

Deck 11 contains the navigation bridge and sun deck.

Lovely retro bench.

Deck 10 has crew spaces and more sun deck space.

Deck 9 is entirely given to crew spaces.

Deck 8 has a VIP lounge forward, followed by a cinema and casino (all of these are in the area of the original extensive conference facilities). These are followed by the atrium which is flanked by a fashion shop and the Night Rabbit Bar discotheque. Aft there are more crew spaces and a sun deck with the outdoors Drunk Rabbit Bar.

Atrium sculpture, looking down from deck eight to decks seven and six.

The Night Rabbit Bar discotheoque's list of enertainment includes a stripper in the evening.

Night rabbit bar again.

Aft outer deck, with the Drunk Rabbit Bar on the right.

Deck 7 is the restaurant deck, with Seven Seas buffet forward, followed by the atrium, Rabbit Bar, and then the Kampai Sushi Bar, New York and Napoli Mia restaurants. Right aft is the Columbus Night Club, the main entertainment venue.

Seven Seas buffet.

Atrium on deck 7, almost entirely unaltered from the ship's original 1986 appearance.

Atrium tables with sea views.

Original 1986 wall clock, with different hour hands for Finnish and Swedish time.

The starboard side has an arcade connecting the atrium to Columbus Night Club aft, with all other spaces on the deck accessible from the arcade. This view is forward from Columbus entrance.

The Rabbit Bar, taking the place of the original pub. Although the details are not visible in this image, all decor is rabbit-related.

Rabbit Bar, with mrs Id modelling.

More Rabbit Bar.

Kampai Sushi Bar. This dining option was relatively expensive and not very popular.

New York restaurant, with mrs Id again modelling.

New York restaurant again.

Napoli Mia restaurant.

The Columbus Night club was given a thorough renovation before the ship entered service as the Princess Anastasia and looks superb.

More Columbus Night Club, facing aft.

Columbus Night Club, facing port.

Deck 6 has passenger cabins fore and aft. Amidships is the atrium with the main entrance (that cannot actually be used in her current service, as all terminals only have passenger gangways linking to deck 4), Bake & Coffee cafeteria, the tax-free shop and a large children's playroom.

P&O Ferries signage in the forward staircase.

Atrium, facing forward and port from the (unused) main entrance.

Atrium, facing aft from the frward staircase.

Bake & Coffee cafeteria, located on the port side next to the atrium.

Arcade connecting the atrium and aft staircase, facing forward. The tax-free shop is to the left (port) and children's playroom (originally the perfumery) to the right (starboard).

A2 class cabin, with mrs Id perusing SPL's uninformative brochure.

The wonder of Finnish ship design: the cabin corridor with a sea view that can be found on both the Mariella and the Princess Anastasia. Why this part hasn't been fixed on either ship and turned into outside cabins is a constant source of puzzlement to me.

Deck 5 is given over entirely to cabins.

Deck 4 is also entirely passenger cabins, with the current main entrance next to the forward staircase.

Deck 3C is the hoistable car platform.

Deck 3 is the main car deck.

Deck 2 has the sauna and fitness center forward, followed by cabins and then engines and other technical spaces aft.

The dressing room of the men's sauna (I was the only one there, hence I dared to take a photo). The suanas has been recently renovated, but although they looked fine there were several problems and oddities below the surface.

The main pool. Notice the sloping wall to the left; deck 2 is at the waterline and the pool is in the forward part of the ship.

Next time: Romantika

Princess Maria in Helsinki, 2 April 2013

Princess Maria

IMO 7911533
Name history: Finlandia, Queen of Scandinavia, Princess Maria
Built 1981 Wärtsilä Turku, Finland
Tonnage 34 093 GT
Length 168,05 m
Width 29 m
Draught 6,72 m
Ice class 1 A Super
1638 passengers
395 cars
4 Wärtsilä-Pielstick diesels, combined 22 948 kW
2 controllable pitch propellers
2 bow thrusters
1 sterns thruster
Speed 21,2 knots

Continuing the adventures of this photos and spring snow, we come to the Princess Maria. For the ship's history, please refer to this previous entry.

The photographs below show the Princess Maria departing from Helsinki West Harbour on the evening of 2 April 2013. Photographed from Sisä-Hattu. Click on the images to see them in larger size.

A bulky ship but yet somehow I really like the way she looks. Maybe it's because I've always had a liking for big girls. :P

If you look closely, you can see the outline of Silja Line's seal above the world "Line" on the side.

Outbound with snow, part 1...

...and part 2.

Next time: Finlandia.

Princess Maria in Helsinki, 14 December 2012

If you came here through a link with a previous picture you are probably thinking "didn't I just see a night photo of the Princess Maria in this same blog?". And indeed you did. However, since the last update (this morning, in fact) I got a new camera to replace my well-served but completely worn-out Canon EOS 350D. And of course I had to head out to test the new machine. So, the photographs below are the first taken by my new (well, second-hand) EOS 500D camera. If you compare the image quality to the old Princess Maria night photos, I think you'll agree it was a worthy investment.

Princess Maria

IMO 7911533
Name history: Finlandia, Queen of Scandinavia, Princess Maria
Built 1981 Wärtsilä Turku, Finland
Tonnage 34 093 GT
Length 168,05 m
Width 29 m
Draught 6,72 m
Ice class 1 A Super
1638 passengers
395 cars
4 Wärtsilä-Pielstick diesels, combined 22 948 kW
2 controllable pitch propellers
2 bow thrusters
1 sterns thruster
Speed 21,2 knots

Nothing really to say about the Princess Maria that wouldn't have been said in the previous entry. Still a strangely stylish ship on the outside and one of the best ferry cruise products I have seen on the inside. I really ought to sail on this ship again in the future (although that is a bit unlikely, with all the new ships and changes due in 2013 - I will probably have my year well and truly occupied with the new Viking Grace, the "new" Finlandia and Wasa Express and the new routes of the Baltic Princess and Silja Europa).

But yes, the photographs below show the Princess Maria at Länsiterminaali (West Terminal) at Helsinki's West Harbour in the afternoon (yes, afternoon, despite the lighting conditions) of 14 December 2012. Click on the images to see them in larger size.

Since it's a new camera and night photos are particularly difficult to edit afterwards, I did almost no changes to the originals the machine delivered. But just look at that precision!

A close-up from a slightly different point of view.

By the time I walked across the bay (and took some photos of the Baltic Princess before returning to the Princess Maria) it had started snowing; hence the fog-like atmosphere of the photo.

Next time: Baltic Princess

Princess Maria in Helsinki, 18 November 2010

Princess Maria

IMO 7911533
Name history: Finlandia, Queen of Scandinavia, Princess Maria
Built 1981 Wärtsilä Turku, Finland
Tonnage 34 093 GT
Length 168,05 m
Width 29 m
Draught 6,72 m
Ice class 1 A Super
1638 passengers
395 cars
4 Wärtsilä-Pielstick diesels, combined 22 948 kW
2 controllable pitch propellers
2 bow thrusters
1 sterns thruster
Speed 21,2 knots

I was looking through old photographs I have on the computer (stuff since 2008) to see if there was anything that I could put up here. And sure enough, there was this forgotten gem from autumn 2010, the Princess Maria in a nocturnal setting at the Makasiiniterminaali. There are no less than five different variants of this individual photo saved. I suspect I was displeased with the way colours turned out in all of them (the original was heavile red-tinted) and that is why it was never featured here at the time. But better late then never, looking at it now I think it's a fantastic photo.

A shame you can't take a photo like this anymore in the South Harbour. Although come to think of it, something similar could be archieved in the West Harbour... I should try heading there some evening.

Next time: probably the Linda Line fast catamaran Karolin.

Princess Anastasia in Helsinki, 21 October 2011

Princess Anastasia

IMO 8414582
Former names: Olympia, Pride of Bilbao, Bilbao
Built 1986, Wärtsilä Turku New Shipyard, Finland
Tonnage 37 583 GT
Length 176,82 m
Width 28,40 m
Draught 6,71 m
Ice class 1A Super
2 500 passengers
2 447 berths
580 cars
1 115 lane metres
4 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 22 988 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 22 knots

For a history of the Princess Anastasia (or SPL Princess Anastasia, as her registered name goes), see this entry. For once I've decided to go with the marketing name over the official one as SPL Princess Anastasia just sounds stupid), see the first entry on the ship.

The photographs here were a part of my attempts last autumn to photographs ships and the autumn foliage - though here I was already a bit too late as many of the trees at least in Suomenlinna were leafless. Anyway, the photographs show the Princess Anastasia passing through the Kustaanmiekka strait (you know the drill), photographed from Kustaanmiekka. Click on the images to view them in larger size.

Shy Anastasia, hiding behind the island.

You know how much I like panoramic photos. ;)

This photo illustrates particularly well the problem with the Princess Anastasia's current livery (which is of course the same as her latter P&O Ferries livey, except with a white funnel in place of a blue one): the overall shape of the ship is very boxlike and the vast expanse of white on the side accentuates this further. The ship would really benifit from a racing stripes -livery similar to that of the Princess Maria. Or at least having the hull colour extend higher, a la her sister Mariella.

Autumnal Suomenlinna and departing Anastasia. Nowadays the sPL ships have moved to sail from the West Harbour, hence no more chances of photographing the Anastasia at Kustaanmiekka. On the other hand she will probably be around a lot when I try to photographs cruise ships in the West Harbour next summer...

Look at that magnificient shade of blue on the hull the setting sun and my camera produced. We need more ships with hues as nautical as that.

Stockholm-bound.

It was already getting a bit nippy in October, though the latter part of the year was much warmer than usual.

Princess Maria in Helsinki, 30 June 2011

Princess Maria

IMO 7911533
Previous names: Finlandia, Queen of Scandinavia
Built 1981 Wärtsilä Turku, Finland
Tonnage 34 093 GT
Length 168,05 m
Width 29 m
Draught 6,72 m
Ice class 1 A Super
1638 passengers
395 cars
4 Wärtsilä-Pielstick diesels, combined 22 948 kW
2 controllable pitch propellers
2 bow thrusters
1 sterns thruster
Speed 21,2 knots

For a history of the Princess Maria, please refer to this previous entry on her. The sight of her sailing through the Kustaanmiekka strait will (again) soon be history, as the company's Helsinki terminal will relocate to the West Harbour later this month.

Princess Maria departing Helsinki on 30 June 2011. Photographed from Kustaanmiekka. Click on the individual images to view in larger size.

By the terms of their looks, the ex-Finlandia and her sister are probably amongst the least liked to have sailed on the North Baltic (although the general population seems to often dislike everything, as long as it's big). For whatever reason, I really like the Princess Maria's exterior.

A sight from the time before I was born. And after. But in different incarnations, the Princess Maria has been around for a long time. Come to think of it, last April was the 30th anniversary of her maiden voyage.

I'm not entirely pleased with the way this image has been cropped. But the ship looks good regardless.