Busy Times for Poole

On 31st August CMV’s 16,144gt/1948 built Astoria arrived at Poole from Le Havre on her maiden call after concluding another charter to French Operator Rivages du Monde. The ship then embarked upon both her first itinerary from Poole and the port’s first UK based cruise departure. The cruise to watch Bournemouth Airshow followed by calls to Honfleur and Rouen was fully booked. When the ship returned on 3rd September Grand Circle Cruises’ 4,077gt/1990 built Corinthian was also in port, a first double cruise call for Poole involving around 1,300 passengers. This same day saw the 1,753gt/1955 built S.S Shieldhall depart back to Southampton, regular calls by the ferries Barfleur (20,133gt/1992), Condor Liberation (6,307gt/2010) and MN Pelican (12,079gt/1999) plus two coasters at the commercial quay with another arriving that evening with a fourth anchored in Poole Bay until the next day. The Astoria had also been part of a CMV double at Honfleur with the 46,052gt/1985 built Magellan two days earlier. After 3 departures from Poole the Astoria moved to Portsmouth and will return to Poole in March 2019, a year that promises a busy cruise season for the port.

Coral Expeditions released full details in early August of the inaugural season of its newbuild Coral Adventurer (above), which is under construction at the Vard Shipyard in Norway. The vessel will undergo a series of testing and shakedown cruises in March and April 2019 prior to a formal launch ceremony which is scheduled for Singapore on 22nd April. The Coral Adventurer’s maiden voyage has already sold out, and will take 120 passengers on an 18-day expedition through the Indonesian archipelago.

One Ocean Expeditions’ 6,450gt/1989 built and 117m long Akademik Ioffe (above) ran aground on 24th August between Kugaaruk on mainland Nunavut and Baffin Island in the Gulf of Boothia, Arctic Ocean. The icebreaker Canadian Coastguard Ship Amundsen attended the scene and the Canadian Coastguard Ship Pierre Radisson arrived later that day. The 96 passengers were transferred to 6,344gt/1988 built sister vessel Akademik Sergey Vavilov and taken to Kugaaruk for a flight south.

Saga Cruises’ 18,627gt/1981 built Saga Pearl II made headlines in a rather unfortunate manner on 29th August when she collided with four luxury yachts whilst entering Dartmouth Harbour on a scheduled call. Fortunately, nobody was injured and the yachts suffered only superficial damage.

Seabourn, part of the Carnival Corporation, has been granted permission to cruise to Cuba from Miami and San Juan so will begin doing so on 4th November 2019. The five 11/12/14-day sailings will visit five ports in Cuba, calling at three or four on each itinerary including overnight stopovers at Havana. The 32,477gt/2010 built Seabourn Sojourn will undertake the Cuba cruises with Carnival’s 70,538gt/1993 built Carnival Sensation and 71,925gt/1998 built Carnival Paradise plus HAL’s 57,092gt/1996 built Veendam having been visiting the island nation since 2017.

MSC Cruises has reached an agreement for a €1.5 billion finance deal for two new 339m long Seaside EVO class cruise ships. The funds were provided by a syndicate of lenders comprising BNP Paribas, Unicredit and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti S.P.A., with SACE SIMEST, the Italian ECA, fully backing the credit line and stabilising the interest rate. The ships are being built by Fincantieri with delivery scheduled for May 2021 and February 2023, respectively. With the addition of these new ships, MSC Cruises now has plans in place for up to ten newbuilds between now and 2026. The 171,598gt/2017 built MSC Meraviglia has been calling at Southampton this summer and her sister, MSC Bellissima will call at the port in March 2019 after delivery for her naming ceremony.