Ship's Status: In Class. Operating.  Ship is currently under two charter contracts for the next five (approx.) years. Charter contracts and income would transfer to a new owner of this vessel.

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The previous owner of this ship, was a German company best known for its fleet of four- and five-star river boats, has a cruise ship as well. This ship competes with Hapag Lloyd's Europa for the German premium market. The late owner, the founder and president of the line that bears his name, had a unique vision of what a cruise ship in the grand hotel tradition would be. Your view of his flagship, will depend on whether or not you share that vision.

 

Let me say at the outset that I have never sailed on a ship where attention to quality in decor matched that of this vessel. Everything onboard this ship is of the finest quality -- furniture, soft furnishings and appointments. One thing this ship cannot be called is bland. All textiles are richly patterned, including carpeting, curtains and bed linens. The ship is filled with paintings and sculpture culled from the previous owners family's collection. Wood -- and the ship's interior is almost all wood -- gleams.

 

There are beveled and etched glass mirrors everywhere. To ride in an elevator is to enter another world: a wood paneled chamber with shiny brass trim and beveled mirrors. No two elevators are alike -- they are moving rooms. There are photographs throughout the ship of famous German film actors, of German liners before World War I and between the wars, of scenes in German cities, all of which are nostalgic evocations of an idealized past.

Career

 

 

Name:

 

Port of registry:

Neustadt in Holstein, Germany

Builder:

Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, Kiel, Germany

Yard number:

32

Launched:

January 16, 1998

Christened:

May 11, 1998

Acquired:

May 11, 1998

Maiden voyage:

May 11, 1998

Status:

In service / Currently Laid-up

General characteristics

Type:

Cruise ship

Tonnage:

22,400 GT 3,460 DWT

Length:

 

Beam:

23 m (75 ft 6 in)

Draught:

 

Decks:

10 (7 passenger accessible)

Installed power:

2 × MaK-DMR 8M32 2 × MaK-DMR 6M32 12,320 kW (combined)

Propulsion:

Twin screw

Speed:

20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)

Capacity:

620 passengers (as built) 520 passengers (as rebuilt 1998)

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Information Revised: September 25,  2024

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