Mein Schiff 4 in Helsinki, 11 June 2015

Finally I had some time to put up photos here. And it's a brand-new cruise ship built in Finland, woo!

Mein Schiff 4

IMO 9678408
Built 2015, Meyer Turku, Finland
Tonnage 99 526 GT
Length 293,20 m
Width 35,80 m
Draugth 8,05 m
2 501 passengers (lower beds), 2 790 passengers (all berths)
4 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 28 00 kW
2 propellers
3 bow thrusters
Speed 21,7 knots

The Mein Schiff 4 is, as you should know, the newest ship of the German-market cruise line TUI Cruises. She was ordered from what was then called STX Finland's Turku shipyard in November 2012, when TUI Cruises took up the option for a sister ship included in the earlier order for the Mein Schiff 3. While the ship was under construction, the Turku shipyard was sold to a consortium of Meyer Werft and the Finnish State, although the Meyer family took full ownership of the yard before the Mein Schiff 4 was delivered. When the ship was delivered on 8 May 2015, she became the first ship to be delivered by Meyer Turku.

I was present at a press showing during the delivery day, as a representative of the Finnish Ulkomatala web magazine. A detailed report from the ship will be published in Ulkomatala's next issue, which will be out on 30 June (so next Tuesday). I also wrote a short reportage with images in English for MaritimeMatters, which you can read here. I plan to post a comprehensive tour of the ship here when I have the time to look through the images properly. Considering how busy I've been of the late, this might take a while, unfortunately.

The photos below show the Mein Schiff 4 departing Helsinki Länsisatama (West Harbour) on the afternoon of 11 June 2015, her first visit to our fine city. Photographed from Vattuniemi (the water was still too cold to wade to Sisä-Hattu). As always, click on the images to see them in larger size.

Quite a few people have criticized the looks of the Turku-built Mein Schiffs, but to be honest I think they look rather good for modern cruise ships. It's a clean, unpretentious design and's quite pleasant to my eyes. Plus the fact they chose to paint the hull something other than white is a huge bonus.

Water levels were unsuaully low, which naturally suggested photos such as these.

I'm sorely tempted to write something about Finnish nature and Finnish design appearing side by side here.

This photo would be better without the seagull.

The Mein Schiff 4 is a frequest visitor this summer, so "see you again!" is the most appropriate slogan here.

Next time: Another newcomer in the form of Le Soléal.

Finnclipper on the Archipelago Sea, 9 June 2015

It's been a while since I've featured Finnlines vessels here - mostly because I'm a lazy bastard and never bother to go to the Vuosaari freight harbour to photograph their vessels sailing from Helsinki. On the other hand, one has plenty of chances to photograph them when sailing between Turku and Stockholm.

Finnclipper

IMO 9137997
Built 1999, Astilleros Españoles Puerta Real, Spain
Tonnage 33 958 GT
Length 188,30 m
Width 29,30 m
Draugth 6,30 m
Ice class 1A
440 passengers
452 berths
3 079 lane metres
4 Sulzer diesels, combined 23 040 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 22,1 knots

The Finnclipper was originally ordered in 1995 by Stena Line as the first ship of their four-strong Stena Seapacer -class. However, while the ship was under construction Stena struck a deal with Finnlines to sell the two two ships in the class to Finnlines on completion. The ship was delivered to Stena Line in May 1999, and immediately resold to Poseidon Schiffahrt, the German subsidiary of Finnlines and registered in Lübeck. The ship was initially placed on Finnlines' service between Travemünde and Helsinki. In 2001 she was re-registered in Helsinki. From the beginning of 2003 she moved to the Naantali-Kapellskär -route (which was and is marketed as Finnlink), only to move to the Malmö-Travemünde (Nordö Link) -route in the beginning of 2005, at which time she was re-registered in Malmö. This proved a short stint, as from the beginning of 2006 she reverted to the Finnlink service.

The next change came in 2012, when in the winter she made a single trip from Helsinki to Aarhus, followed by a regular service on the Malmö-Travemünde and Travemünde-Saint Petersburg -routes (reportedly the trips to Saint Petersburg were done in part to purchase cheap marine fuel from Russia). For the 2015 summer season, the Finnclipper returned to the Finnlink service, which had in the interim been altered to include an intermediate call in Långnäs in the Åland Islands in order to secure tax-free sales onboard. This also means that currently all three Finnlines' Seapacer-class ships (Finnclipper, Finneagle and Finnfellow [ex-Stena Britannia]) sail on the same route. It is perhaps of interest to note that the fourth ship in the class currently sails as the Stena Germanica in a radically rebuilt form.

The photographs below show the Finnclipper on the Archipelago Sea, en-route from Naantali to Långnäs, photographed from onboard the Baltic Princess. Click on the images to see them in larger size.

The Archipelago Sea is utterly pictoresque.

The Finnclipper, on the other hand, is in need of a fresh lick of paint.

I'm still not terribly keen on the current blue-hulled Finnlines livery (as I've explained before), but the ship does look alright.

I admit this is almost the exact same view of the ship as above... but it's a fine-looking photo.

Rear view of the ship isn't nearly as attractive as the front, alas.

Onwards to Åland!

Next time: Mein Schiff 4.

Mariella on Helsinki, 20 May 2015

Mariella

IMO 8320573
Built 1985, Wärtsilä Turku New Shipyard, Finland
Tonnage 37 860 GT
Length 175,70 m
Width 28,40 m
Draugth 6,78 m
Ice class 1A Super
2 500 passengers
2 500 berths
400 cars
4 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 23 008 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 22 knots

The grand old lady Mariella was given a thorough refit in April, including new restaurants, refurbished cabins and a rebuilt nightclub. On the outside, the ship was given a new livery with the new style hull stripes introduced with the Viking Grace (this change means the Gabriella is now the only ship in the Viking Line fleet still in the old livery). I finally got around to photographing her in these new colours on 20 May 2015 at Kustaanmiekka. As per the usual, click on the images to see them in larger size.

Notice the changes, part 1: the stylified wings have been removed from the bow.

Part 2: Obviously, there's the new stripes on the hull, and the hull markings have been moved aft like on other Viking Line ships (the letter G is slightly out of alignment from the rest).

Part 3: The ship's name has been moved from the bow to the forward superstructure, bringing her in-line with the rest of the fleet (except the Rosella, which still has her name on the bow, even after the recent repaint).

I kinda wish they would have added a black stripe along the windows of deck 7. It would modernise her appearance a bit, I think, and would match ger running mate Gabriella better.

Nothing much new and interesting from the rear view. There is a new summer terrace at the aft outer deck, but that doesn't really show in these pics as such.

Next time: Err... depends on when I can be bothered to head out for more photography. Or if that takes ridiclously long, on which old pics I'll dig up to share with you.

Silja Symphony in Helsinki, 20 May 2015

Silja Symphony

IMO 8803769
Built 1991, Kvaerner Masa-Yards Turku New Shipyard, Finland
Tonnage 58 377 GT
Length 203,03 m
Width 31,93 m
Draught 7,12 m
Ice class 1A Super
2 852 passengers
3 001 berths
410 cars
1 600 lane metres
4 Wärtsilä-Vasa diesels, combined 32 580 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
1 stern thruster
Speed 21 knots

The Silja Symphony is obviously familiar to readers, as she has been featured here often - actually more often than any other Silja Line ship. I have posted images of her in the new livery applied last autumn before, but these are the first photos showing her in the new livery in more normal lighting, showing her new livery to the best effect.

So, these are from the very conventional vantage point of Kustaanmiekka, showing the ship passing through the Kustaanmiekka strait. As per the usual, click on the images to see them in larger size.

The light was really surprisingly harsh, but with a little post-photography fiddling these turned out alright.

I wasn't the only one drawn out on this day, even though it was actually rather cold in Suomenlinna.

Traditional "on to the open sea" pic.

Next time: Since we're in the heat of the summer cruise season, I shan't make any precise promises. Photos of the Mariella in her new livery from the same day as these await editing on the computer, and both the Serenissima and the first visit of the Ocean Dream in Helsinki are in the pipeline for near-future photoshoots.

Marco Polo in Helsinki, 20 May 2015

The summer cruise season in Helsinki actually begun three weeks age, with the Costa Pacifica opening the season on 1 May. For my part, a combination of other commitments and poor weather meant that I did not have a chance to open the photo season until today. But I did it with a fine ship, and managed to get photos of both the Silja Symphony and Mariella in their new liveries in the process. You will get to see those later, as today we take a look at 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 brief history of the Marco Polo, see the first entry on her. For those wanting a more detailed look at this fascinating ship, I heartily recommend the book Marco Polo - Celebrating Fifty Golden Years of Ocean Travel by Richard Clammer. The book is published by Ferry Publications and you can buy it from the Ferry Pubs website (and yes, Ferry Pubs did publish my book too, so this is a bit of an advert).

Anyways, to the photos! Which show the Marco Polo departing Helsinki Eteläsatama (South Harbour) on the afternoon of 20 May 2015, photographed from Lonna. As per the usual, you can see the images in larger size by clicking on them.

The ship was moored bow towards the south and I briefly hoped she would take the more southernly shipping lane, which would have brought her right next to Lonna. Alas, she used the more northernly lane instead.

Which gave quite nice photos too...

...even if the Hanasaari power plant is not perhaps the most pleasant thing to have in the background.

It didn't take long for her to pose in front of a more attractive background.

The Marco Polo is a regular visitor - she's been calling in Helsinki at least since 1966, when she was the Alexandr Pushkin sailing on the Leningrad-Montréal transatlantic run.

You don't see them here, but like last spring, Lonna was filled with Angry Birds - namely, Canadian Geese protecting their nests.

Next time: Either the Silja Symphony or (if I head out to photograph tomorrow) the Arcadia.