Update on Minerva aka Explorer II aka A.v.Humboldt
Fellow blogger and cruise ship expert Doug Newman is keeping tabs on virtually every vessel on the market and has managed to research their entire owner histories. I like to cross-post these things simply for the fact that I can pepper them with links... ;-)
UPDATE: Minerva is back in route as of May 31.
Swan Hellenic has been forced to cancel its first cruise with its once and future ship, Minerva, due to unexpected generator difficulties. The eight-night Norwegian Fjords cruise was scheduled to depart from Dover on Friday 23 May, returning on Saturday, 31 May and was scheduled to call at Bergen, Flam, Ulvik, Stavanger and Kristiansand. The ship is scheduled to arrive in Hamburg tomorrow, 22 May, concluding her charter to Phoenix Reisen. According to a statement from Swan Hellenic, “[The problem] in no way affects the safety of the passengers on board and the ship will finish its current cruise on schedule this Thursday at Hamburg, where a thorough assessment can be undertaken. Once this is completed a further announcement will be made.”
The 12,331 GT, 350-berth Minerva was originally built in for Swan Hellenic in 1996 off the hull of an unfinished Russian research ship. The ship operated for Swan — then part of P&O, and later its cruise spin-off P&O Princess Cruises plc, which became Carnival plc in a merger with Carnival Corporation in 2003 — until replaced in 2003 by the larger, 30,277 GT, 710-berth Minerva II, built in 2001 as Renaissance Cruises’ R Eight. In 2006, Carnival took the decision to transfer Minerva II to Princess Cruises as Royal Princess in April 2007, and sell the now-dormant Swan Hellenic brand. While many Swan loyalists feared this unique cruise line would disappear, former P&O and P&O Princess chairman Lord Sterling came to the rescue in 2007. He quickly forged a partnership with All Leisure Group plc, parent of Voyages of Discovery, which had already arranged a charter of the former Minerva beginning in 2008. Thus the ship, which had bounced around between Saga Cruises as Saga Pearl", Abercrombie & Kent as Explorer II (with additional sub-charters to Regent Seven Seas Cruises) and Phoenix Reisen as Alexander von Humboldt, would come full circle and re-join the revived Swan Hellenic, rather than Voyages of Discovery as originally planned. Now it appears that her long-awaited re-entry into service will be slightly postponed, but that is unlikely to put much of a damper on the enthusiasm of Swan regulars, many of whom found Minerva II too large and anticipated returning to “their” ship once again.
UPDATE: Minerva is back in route as of May 31.
Swan Hellenic has been forced to cancel its first cruise with its once and future ship, Minerva, due to unexpected generator difficulties. The eight-night Norwegian Fjords cruise was scheduled to depart from Dover on Friday 23 May, returning on Saturday, 31 May and was scheduled to call at Bergen, Flam, Ulvik, Stavanger and Kristiansand. The ship is scheduled to arrive in Hamburg tomorrow, 22 May, concluding her charter to Phoenix Reisen. According to a statement from Swan Hellenic, “[The problem] in no way affects the safety of the passengers on board and the ship will finish its current cruise on schedule this Thursday at Hamburg, where a thorough assessment can be undertaken. Once this is completed a further announcement will be made.”
The 12,331 GT, 350-berth Minerva was originally built in for Swan Hellenic in 1996 off the hull of an unfinished Russian research ship. The ship operated for Swan — then part of P&O, and later its cruise spin-off P&O Princess Cruises plc, which became Carnival plc in a merger with Carnival Corporation in 2003 — until replaced in 2003 by the larger, 30,277 GT, 710-berth Minerva II, built in 2001 as Renaissance Cruises’ R Eight. In 2006, Carnival took the decision to transfer Minerva II to Princess Cruises as Royal Princess in April 2007, and sell the now-dormant Swan Hellenic brand. While many Swan loyalists feared this unique cruise line would disappear, former P&O and P&O Princess chairman Lord Sterling came to the rescue in 2007. He quickly forged a partnership with All Leisure Group plc, parent of Voyages of Discovery, which had already arranged a charter of the former Minerva beginning in 2008. Thus the ship, which had bounced around between Saga Cruises as Saga Pearl", Abercrombie & Kent as Explorer II (with additional sub-charters to Regent Seven Seas Cruises) and Phoenix Reisen as Alexander von Humboldt, would come full circle and re-join the revived Swan Hellenic, rather than Voyages of Discovery as originally planned. Now it appears that her long-awaited re-entry into service will be slightly postponed, but that is unlikely to put much of a damper on the enthusiasm of Swan regulars, many of whom found Minerva II too large and anticipated returning to “their” ship once again.
Labels: Antarctic Stuff, Expedition cruise, News
posted by leptonyx at 21:07
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