Expedition Cruises - HAPAG-LLOYD CRUISES gets two new expedition ships

HAPAG-LLOYD CRUISES recently has announced plans for two new expedition ships.
by Earl of Cruise

The new vessels, which will launch in spring and autumn 2019, will expand the TUI-owned lxury line’s fleet to a total of five ships.

The new HAPAG-LLOYD CRUISES expedition cruise vessels, above and below © HAPAG-LLOYD CRUISES

GT/BRZ

Length/Länge

Width/Breite

Draught/Tiefgang

Decks/Passagierdecks

Cabins/Kabinen + Suites/n

Max Passengercapacity/Maximale Passagierkapazität

Crew/Besatzung

high balcony ratio/Hoher Anteil Balkonkabinen

Restaurants

modern fitness and wellness area/Moderner Fitness und Wellnessbereich

Interior Design/Innendesign - Architektenbüro Oceanarchitects

16.100

138 Meter

22 Meter

5,4 Meter

120

240 Personen

up to/bis zu 170

At present HAPAPG-LLOYD CRUISES has two expedition cruise vessels, the aging BREMEN 1993, ex FRONTIER SPIRIT 1990 and HANSEATIC 1993, ex SOCIETY EXPLORER 1991 (laid up till ´93), which soon will leave the fleet. Besides the TUI owned cruise operator is offering the EUROPA and the EUROPA 2. The new ships show quite a family resemblence, similar as in the automobile industry ...

ms HANSEATIC 1993, ex SOCIETY EXPLORER 1991, owned by billionaire from Hamburg © HAPAG-LLOYD CRUISES

ms BREMEN 1993, ex FRONTIER SPIRIT 1990, only by HAPAG-LLOYD owned vessel © HAPAG-LLOYD CRUISES

Both will have the highest Polar Class designation. Both will be build in Norway at VARD WERFT of VARD HOLDINGS Ltd. a portfolio company of the Italian FINCANTIERI GROUP. This means they can cruise in polar regions, in the Arctic and Antarctica. One of the ships will serve especially the German speaking markets only, and the other will be for intenational for German speaking markets and also the UK, US, Netherlands, and Belgium.

Onboard zodiacs and a water sports marina will also be a feature on both ships. But a Marina at the stern, can be critical if a wave is running under vessel and rising the stern, and then diving back ... Side Marinas would have been a better solution.

Sebastian Ebel, member of the executive board of Tui Group in charge of cruises:

“The cruise business is one of the key elements of Tui’s growth strategy. Our ambitions are underpinned by our investment in the two new ships for HAPAG-LLOYD CRUISES. HAPAG-LLOYD CRUISES’ luxury and expedition cruise segments serve as world-class benchmarks.”

Karl Pojer, chief executive of HAPAG-LLOYD CRUISES:

“HAPAG-Director Albert Ballin did invent 125 years ago the modern. With our EUROPA and EUROPA 2 we are at best positioned in the luxury market. We are charting the course for the future. We already operate successfully in our expedition segment, which offers growth potential for five-star cruises. Our newbuilds will help us to further develop the expedition segment and offer a modern interpretation. They will also serve to strengthen our leading position in this market, in particular at the international level.”

ms EUROPA, 1999, one of the first mega yacht cruise vessels, when inaugurated a real benchmark © HAPAG-LLOYD CRUISES

The "international level" is the critical point in the HAPAG-LLOYD offer as it is seen abroad of Germany. For UK customers HAPAPG-LLOYD is seen as "the German" offer ... It will a challenge getting this prejudice out of the minds. But elsewhere the HAPAG-LLOYD cruises are seen as this "German offer" ... If the vessels are still crewed by members which hardly can speak English, the challenge will be a real big one.

The real 5star complement of passengers is ending to me at a max of 400 to 420 passengers, and deserves min a crew/pax ratio of 1:1. Further the cabins should start at a certain minimum of sqm or sqf. As for the EUROPA and EUROPA 2 it is 27m²/29m² ... And these big staterooms are sold all over the cruise industry as suites, only for the better service. But a suite is consisting of more than one room - simple definition. Anything other is a fake created by marketing departments.

ms EUROPA 2, 2013 © HAPAG-LLOYD CRUISES

Compared to the expedition newbuilds of SCENIC CRUISES and CRYSTAL CRUISES with less or quite equal passenger numbers, but on bigger ships, the new HAPAG-LLOYD expedition cruisers with their 240 passengers, to my opinion, are aiming for the top end of the mass market, but are not 5star.

The days when passenger vessels, the Tranatlantic liners and "Ships of State" in the golden Era, had been at the peak are gone. today the 5star offers don´t even meet the land based hotels in their 5star level.

A new HAPAG-LLOYD CRUISES?

Comments

ss NORMANDIE 1935 - 1942 IX

s s / te NORMANDIE starting from cold Owners: COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLANTIQUE BUILDERS: PENH Ö ET, St. Nazaire, France by Stephen Carey © , editing by Earl of Cruise This document is almost exclusively about the engineering aspects of NORMANDIE , mainly on how to start her up from cold. If you are looking for photos of the passenger spaces, there is a plethora of them on the web, in Facebook groups - Admirers of the ss Normandie , ss Normandie photographic file , The French Ocean Liners / Les Paquebots Fran ç ais , ss Normandie , GREAT LINERS OF THE PAST & PRESENT , and others, Pinterest and in articles about NORMANDIE here in the blog, please see at the end of the article. Using "ss" for NORMANDIE is quite incorrect, as NORMANDIE was a Turbo Electric vessel and not a steamship, therefore NORMANDIE should be adressed as "te". by Earl of Cruise te / ss NORMANDIE berthed in Le Havre, Gare Maritime May 29th, 1935 - colouring courtesy ...

HISTORY - rms MAJESTIC - Hand in Hand with rms TITANIC

TITANIC and MAJESTIC (1890), both Royal Mail Ships, hand in hand? How so? The review of João Martins will show. by João Martins , editing by Earl of Cruise And WHITE STAR LINE was more than only a shipping line which employed rms TITANIC. WHITE STAR was company with a great heritage and introduced many innovations which became standards. Founded by Thomas Henry Ismay , originally from Maryport, and shareholders amoung whom had been HARLAND&WOLFF . Later the Irish shipbuilder, located in Belfast, built all ships for WHITE STAR. rms MAJESTIC as built by HARLAND&WOLFF - Sour ce: Wikipedia ( original seize ) T he rms MAJESTIC was a 9,965 GRT British ocean liner built by HARLAND & WOLFF for WHITE STAR LINE and completed in 1890. Her career was profoundly intertwined with rms TITANIC. In the late 1880s competition for the Blue Riband, the award for the fastest Atlantic crossing, was fierce amongst the major shipping lines. At the time the prize belonged to CUNA RD...

Thank You 500,000 readers

HISTORY - The CUNARD - WHITE STAR Liner rms QUEEN ELIZABETH (1938-1972)

Over years, in my early youth, the QUEEN ELIZABETH was shaping my mind for the perfect ocean liner, despite having made my first experiences with a liner onboard the HANSEATIC (1), ex EMPRESS OF SCOTLAND, ex EMPRESS OF JAPAN. When leaning at the rail of HANSEATIC entering the port, my eyes where every where and I wished to by a camera, I took all in. And when seeing the QUEEN ELIZABETH with my own eyes, the nice behaving young boy turned into a tomboy, that my grandmére was no longer able to tame ... I did draw quite a lot of looks, back then. I found, while on research, this article and thought it interesting publishing in my blog: written and published by John Sheperd at liverpoolships.org editing and comments by Earl of Cruise I ( John Shepard ) joined the CUNARD LINE in March 1962 as an Assistant Purser and sailed the QUEEN ELIZABETH throughout that year, before transferring to the Liverpool-based CARINTHIA in November, where I remained as Crew Purser for the next five...

HISTORY - ts / ss BREMEN and ts / ss EUROPA

Germany’s two luxury liners, BREMEN and EUROPA , have not only played an important part in their country’s mercantile revival, but have added also an immortal chapter to the history of transatlantic travel. Copy from Shipping Wonders of the World From part 6 , published 17 March 1936 editing by Earl of Cruise ss / ts BREMEN in her early years - Source: Shipping Wonders of the World/Bundespresse Archiv The PRIDE OF A NATION - the NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD quadruple-screw turbine express liner BREMEN . The keel of this ship was laid in June 1927. Her launch took place in August, 1928. In less than a year later, the Bremen made her first voyage to America, when she crossed the Atlantic from Cherbourg to New York in four days seventeen hours forty-two minutes, thus setting up a new record and gaining the coveted “Blue Riband”. During the passage the Bremen attained an average speed of 27.83 knots. ss / ts BREMEN in her early years - Source: W ikipedia For the pop...

Germany and HAPAG - A Journey through History

HAMBURG-AMERIKANISCHEPACKETFAHRT ACTIEN GESELLSCHAFT - HAPAG or HAMBURG AMERICA LINE is reflecting, as Germany, the LLOYD of Bremen, two times of rsing and two times of devasting downfall and a third rise. BORUSSIA , 1856, First Day Cover 1956 of Deutsche Bundespost - own collection Once Germany´s biggest shipping line HAPAG / HAMBURG-AMERIKANISCHE PACKETFAHRT ACTIEN GESELLSCHAFT-LLOYD, merged with it former old Hanseatic rival NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD in 1970, to now HAPAG-LLOYD, had its peaks and downs, but rose each time on its own to new hights, without any state subsidies. As German mail subsidiaries did never cover the costs for purchasing or mainting the vessels ordered for the specific German mail lines. by Earl of Cruise In this article I used most German Wikipedia links, as they proved to be mostly of better research quality, and surprisinf to me, some English lines and liners have only German written articles, for the others, English Wiki links are to ...

Ocean Liners in Movies or Films at Sea (updated Nov 2017)

For liners and the shipping companies movies and films had been a top marketing tool Movies or Films and liners at sea, had been intriguing me since I have read about in my youth in LUXUSLINER - BILDER EINER GROSSEN ZEIT by Lee Server ( THE GOLDEN AGE OF OCEAN LINERS ). But earlier, mot only since my first crossing, I was keen watching movies with liners in it, and disapointed, which was an understatement, when I realized the films have been made in a set ashore in some movie "factory". That was after my first crossing. by Earl of Cruise an essay in progress `Sabrina´, Humphrey Bogart in the office, while LIBERTÉ is sailing out of New York harbor - screenshot Ocean liners, especially those of the luxury category, had been the location of dramas, love stories, thrillers, suspense and catastrophies sinde film was born, or nearly. In this list, the most descriptions are taken from Wikipedia, as I guess no one can expect having seen all these films ... otherwise I w...

HISTORY - PACIFIC MAIL STEAMSHIP COMPANY

The PACIFIC MAIL STEAMSHIP COMANY was existing for "just" one hundred years and was in her heydays a backbone for the development of the US West. The PACIFIC MAIL STEAMSHIP COMPANY was founded April 18, 1848, as a joint stock company under the laws of the State of New York by a group of New York City merchants, William H. Aspinwall , Edwin Bartlett, Henry Chauncey, Mr. Alsop, G.G. Howland and S.S. Howland. These merchants had acquired the right to transport mail under contract from the United States Government from the Isthmusof Panama to California awarded in 1847 to one Arnold Harris. The company was sold 1938 last to AMERICAN PRESIDENT LINES , existing only on the paper, was closed down in 1949. by Earl of Cruise CALIFORNIA , PACIFIC MAIL's first ship - Source: Wikipedia CALIFORNIAwas the first steamer built by the PACIFIC MAIL STEAMSHIP COMPANY and she was launched May 19, 1848. She sailed from New York for Panama, via Cape Horn, on October 6, 1848...

HISTORY - Traveling with airliner LZ 129 HINDENBURG was the most luxurious airtravel

The real airliner LZ 129 HINDENBURG enabled the most luxurious airtravel for decades. Imagine, gliding through the air while the landscape or the sea below can be seen ... LZ 129 HINDENBURG marks the climax of airship construction. On May 6, 1937, the story of civilian airship ended in a tragedy. In Lakehurst, New Jersey, the largest flying object and has been with the similar sized LZ 130 GRAF ZEPPELIN II the most luxurious of all time. How this came about can be reconstructed logically, a series of fatal physics concatenations . The airship LZ 129 HINDENBURG marks the climax of airship construction. It was in its time the fastest and most exclusive traveling object between Europe and America. The challenges of the construction of the giant of the heaven were immense. by Earl of Cruise LZ 129 HINDENBURG, 1936, in Lakehurst - digital copy of a coloured cover photo, originally by Bill Schneider, published in Dan Grossman´s book ` ZEPPELIN HINDENBURG: AN ILLUSTRATED HI...

Ships of State - BREMEN the shocking modern German Greyhound

When BREMEN , the first of the two, the world shocking last German Greyhounds , and ` Ships of State ´, was introduced in 1929 - BREMEN had provoking radical new streamlined lines and broke with any traditions. When asking todays public: what is a typical liner, BREMEN is named among the first five. Only ten years after the Versailles Peace Treaty , with 20,000,000,000,000.00 Goldmark anual reparations for the next 58 years, an occupation of the Ruhrgebiet , a raging inflation till 1923 (then introduction of the Rentenmark ), the resurging Germany and NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD back at the top again. And BREMEN and EUROPA had been financed private! Bank loans from German and US American banks, plus the liberation of frozen LLOYD capital from pre WWI. by Earl of Cruise BREMEN, in her first years with the squat funnels - courtesy coloured by Daryl LeBlanc The difference to EUROPA are the paired windows in the front of the promenade deck and the big ventilators, the last remains o...

Search This Blog

Thank You 500,000 readers