Marco Polo in Helsinki, 1. October 2012

We interrupt the regular programming to bring you a bunch of images from this month, showing the autumn foliage as well as ships. We start off with the last visitor of the 2012 summer cruise season, the Marco Polo.

Marco Polo

IMO 6417097
Name history: Alexandr Pushkin, Marco Polo
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
848 passengers (lower berths)
915 berths
2 Sulzer-Cegielski diesels, combined 15 447 kW
2 propellers
1 bow thruster
Speed 16,5 knots

For a history of the Marco Polo, see the first entry on her. For an account on how the ship's exterior has been altered during her career, see the second entry on her.

As noted above, the Marco Polo was this summer's last cruise visitor to Helsinki (but not the year's last visitor - Fred. Olsen's Black Watch will be calling in late November as the first ship of the short winter cruise season). She called at the South Harbour and, as seems to be standard for CMV, she departed already at 14:30. The weather did not exactly cooperate, the sky being cloudy, but I (and my friend Olli Tuominen) went there never the less to document the end of the cruise season. Of course, as it happens we had both also documented the beginning of the cruise season.

Anyway, yes. The photographs below show the Marco Polo departing from Helsinki's Eteläsatama on 1 October 2012, photographed from Kustaanmiekka. Click on the images to see in larger size.

As is probably evident from the images, I did fiddle quite a lot with the saturation levels to bring out the colours of Autumn foliage.

Classic-looking ship, even if she doesn't really stand out from the background, the sky being about the same shade as the superstructure.

Of course, I could have strated the ship separately from the background - although I suspect that  to get the trees to stand out properly I would have needed to treat the sky separately as well.

It's interesting that CMV have decided to retain the Transocean Tours hull stripe on the Marco Polo - although since Transocean changed their livery at about the same time as the Marco Polo was chartered to CMV there sisn't much chance for confusion... but it's interesting never the less.

Next time: Silja Serenade

AIDAsol in Helsinki, 9. July 2012

AIDAsol

IMO 9490040
Built 2011, Meyer Werft Papenburg, Germany
Tonnage 71 100 GT
Length 253,33 m
Width 32,20 m
Draugth 7,30 m
2 194 passengers (double occupancy)
2 500 berths
4 MaK diesels, combined 36 000 kW
2 azipods
2 bow thrusters
2 stern thrusters
Speed 20,5 knots

Helsinki is looking very autumnal these days and yesterday marked the second-to-last cruise visit of the year with CMV's Marco Polo (the very last will be Fred. Olsen's Black Watch in late November - the first time to my knowledge that the cruise season has extended that far). Photographs of the Marco Polo's visit will be forthcoming, but in keeping with posting photos in chronological order, today's subject is the AIDAsol. In keeping the other recent posts, these photos were taken from Sisä-Hattu as the AIDAsol departed Helsinki West Harbour. Click on the images to see them in larger size.

As I have undoubtedly mentioned before, I'm not a fan of the latest Aida ships' looks. But there surroundings make any ship look good. ;)

How I managed to get almost the entire photo into focus I do not know, as I was actually using a fairly large aperture.

Foreground rocks, part 1.

And part 2.

Next time: Seven Seas Voyager (or alternatively the recent Marco Polo shots).

Eurodam in Helsinki, 9. July 2012

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
1 916 passengers
2 104 passenger berths
6 MaK diesels, combined 64 000 kW
2 azipods
3 bow thrusters
Speed 23,9 knots

Following this week's earlier entry featuring the 1980s Holland America Line ship Thomson Spirit (ex-Nieuw Amsterdam), today we look at a state-of-the art HAL ship, the Eurodam. The E-dam (geddit?) was the first ship in HAL's Signature-class, a further development of the company's extremely successful Vista-class (examples of which have also been built for P&O Cruises, Cunard Line and Costa Cruises). There's very little to say about the history of the E-dam so far; she entered service in 2008 and has apparently performed well ever since. What is interesting to notice however is the fact that since the Eurodam, HAL have taken delivery of just one further newbuilding (the E-dam's sister Nieuw Amsterdam in 2010) and HAL have no new ships in order. This is somewhat suprising when you remember that other major Carnical Corporation brands either have new ships currently in order or at least have taken deliveries of new ships within the past two years. One could therefore make the presumption that HAL is the weakest-growing Carnival brand at the moment.

But speculations aside. Below are photographs of the Eurodam departing from Helsinki West Harbour on the afternoon of 9. July 2012. She sailed out after the Thomson Spirit, but unfortunately it was practically impossible to get the two generations of HAL ships in the same photo. Photographed from Sisä-Hattu. Click on the images to see in larger size.

I've featured an increasing number of upright photos recently, which is somewhat surprising as my camera has a strong tendency not to focus properly if it's not held horizontally (yes, I do photograph with an aged, half-broken piece of crap).

I like the two funnels, but I do wish they'd paint them some other colour than white. But maybe that's just me.

Sisä-Hattu's foreground rocks featured again. What can I say, they look good there.

Two upright photos in one entry, probably a new record.

Lovely Pihlajasaari there in the background as well.

I wonder, is it always windy from the same direction when I photograph in the vicinity of Pihlajasaari, or are the trees there just permanently bent away from the open sea? Or is it just an optical illusion?

Next time: AIDAsol.

Thomson Spirit in Helsinki, 9 July 2012

Thomson Spirit

IMO 8024014
Name history: Nieuw Amsterdam, Patriot, Nieuw Amsterdam, Spirit, Thomson Spirit
Built 1983, Chantiers de l'Atlantique St. Nazaire, Frence
Tonnage 33 930 GT
Length 214,66 m
Width 27,26 m
Draugth 7,40 m
1 254 passengers (lower berths)
1 350 berths
2 Sulzer diesels, combined 22 400 kW
2 propellers
1 bow thruster
1 stern thruster
Speed 21 knots

The present-day Thomson Spirit was originally the Nieuw Amsterdam, the first of two cruise ships completed for the Holland America Line at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard. Her sister ship was the Noordam, delivered a year after the Nieuw Amsterdam in 1984. The 1980s Nieuw Amsterdam and Noordam were the last newbuilt ship delivered to HAL prior to the company being taken over by the Carnival Corporation in 1988. Unfortunately the ships suffered from poor constuction quality and also extensive vibrations, particularly towards the stern.

Despite these problems the 1983 Nieuw Amsterdam sailed with HAL for 17 years until the year 2000, when she was sold to America Classic Voyages, a US-based company that used her for cruising around Hawaii under the banner of the historic United States Lines (however, this new United States Lines had nothing to do with the original liner operator United States Lines). The new United States Lines renamed the ship Patriot and placed her under the US flag, an arrangement made possible by the US congress' permission as United States Lines were also to build a brand-new ship at a US shipyard, the Project America.

The new United States Lines' existance proved to be exceptionally short, as the company folded already in October 2001, due to the travel downturn that followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In January 2002 Holland America Line bought back the Patriot and she reverted to the name Nieuw Amsterdam. I don't know if she ever saw service during her second stint under this name. Already in May 2002 the ship was chartered to Louis Cruises and subsequently renamed Spirit. It appears that the ship was not in fact used by Louis at all and she only re-entered service in May 2003 when she was sub-chartered by Louis to Thomson Cruises and renamed Thomson Spirit.

Since 2003 the Thomson Spirit has remained in service with Thomson Cruises. In 2008 she was bought by Louis Cruises (or more properly a subsidiary of theirs), but remains under charter to Thomson. Her sister ship, the ex-Noordam, also sails for Thomson Cruises as the Thomson Celebration, but she is still owned by Holland America Line and operated under charter from them.

The photographs below show the Thomson Spirit departing Helsinki's West Harbour on the afternoon of 9 July 2012, photographed from Sisä-Hattu. Click on the images to see in larger size.

Although the Thomson Spirit has both bow and stern thusters, these are apparently not very powerful as she required tug assistance when departing. Also notice old and new HAL in this photo: on the left you can see the superstructure of the Eurodam. Had it been the Eurodam's younger sister, the current Nieuw Amsterdam, one could have taken very poignant photos...

The ship's profile is quite unusual, being a fairly sleek ship built in the early 80s when most cruise lines were already opting for larger ships with substantial superstructures. One might presume that the Thomson Spirit and her sister would be loved by ship afficiandos because of this, but that does not seem to be the case.

I seem to have taken surprisingly many upright photos recently. Mostly thanks to my camera sharpening them nicely and not overexposing the ship too badly.

Traditional "onwards to open sea, with Pihlajasaari in the background" -photo, now with added foreground rock.

The lovely dark clouds in the background contrast the ship beautifully.

Next time: Eurodam.

Queen Victoria in Helsinki, 6 July 2012

Queen Victoria

IMO 9320556
Built 2007, Fincantieri Maghera, Italy
Tonnage 90 049 GT
Length 297,00 m
Width 32,20 m
Draugth 7,80 m
2 014 passengers
2 014 berths
6 Sulzer diesels, combined 63 360 kW
2 azipods
3 bow thrusters
1 stern thruster
Speed 22 knots

The Queen Victoria was the second newbuilt ship delivered to the new Carnival Corporation -owned Cunard Line and (I'm sorry, this is going to be a bit of a rant, feel free to skip directly to the images) exemplifies just about everything that is wrong with the new Cunard. The ship itself is one of the numerous Vista-class ships used across various Carnival brands. It has an ahistorical name probably chosen by corporate executives with little to no understanding about the history and traditions of the company. That's really what is wrong with today's Cunard: it's a company run by people who wish to exploit the company's history to commercial ends without understanding it, aimed at people who do not understand the company's history either. The result is a pastiche - no, a parody - of the once proud Cunard Line.

The photographs below show the Queen Victoria departing from Helsinki's West Harbour on 6 July 2012, photographed from Sisä-Hattu. Click on the individual images to see them in larger size.

Just away from the quay and framed by leaves.

The twisted tree gives a bit of a Mediterranean vibe, but the Baltic Princess in the background proves that we are in fact in Helsinki.

Lovely foreground crap reeds.

Upright photo, not even a too badly distorted one thing time. This is probably my personal favourite of this batch.

Warm (I think it was, anyway) July afternoon with flowers, sunshine and ships - what more could a man ask for?

Pihlajasaari in the background, Sisä-Hattu in the foreground.

Um, yes. This doesn't really require a caption, does it?

For the record, I hate the new Blogger user interface and I'm extremely disappointed in Google for not letting us have the option of continuing to use the old interface if we wanted.

Next time: Thomson Spirit