Amadeus River Cruises’ 110m long Amadeus Classic collided with an over bridge on the Van Starkenborgh Canal in Aduard, The Netherlands, on 25th July. The vessel was attempting to pass under the bridge but struck it, causing serious damage to her promenade deck railings. Water levels in the canal were reported as being 20cm higher than normal but within normal operating conditions.

Azamara Club Cruises’ “new” 30,277gt/2001 built Azamara Pursuit, formerly the R-Eight, Minerva II, Royal Princess and Adonia, completed her refit at Harland & Wolff in Belfast in late July before making her way to Southampton, arriving on 28th July. The first 2-night trip to Guernsey was cancelled due to bad weather so the ship remained in port until sailing for Oslo on 1st August. Her naming ceremony will be at Southampton on 28th August.

CMV’s 20,704gt/1987 built Astor will conclude her seasonal itineraries in Australia for the company between December 2018 and March 2019 after six years. CMV’s new ship, the Vasco da Gama, will begin her first Australian season in December 2019.

Crystal River Cruises welcomed its fifth ship and the newest member of the fleet, the Crystal Ravel, during a christening ceremony in Budapest, Hungary on 11th July. The ship’s godmother was Hungarian philanthropist and creator of the hit “Virtuosos” classical music talent show, Mariann Peller. The Crystal River Cruises fleet now comprises Crystal Ravel and her identical sister ships: Crystal Bach, Crystal Mahler and Crystal Debussy, as well as the Crystal Mozart, which at twice the width of any other river cruise ship, is Europe’s most spacious river cruise vessel and launched the brand in July 2016. The Crystal Ravel is currently sailing itineraries of 6-14 days between Vienna and Basel and in 2019 she will be the only river ship to sail seven-night Danube cruises round-trip from Vienna to ports in Austria, Hungary and Slovakia. Meanwhile Crystal Cruise’s 20,000gt expedition yacht Crystal Endeavour will debut on 10th August 2020 and her itineraries were published on 31st July.

Genting Hong Kong redeployed one of its older cruise ships, the 42,285gt/1988 built Superstar Libra (above), to Genting’s MV Werften yard in Wismar at the beginning of August to accommodate shipyard workers. She was noted heading north through the Dover Straits on 1st August. MV Werften’s Wismar and Warnemünde sites are working on Genting’s new 5,000-passenger capacity Global Class ships, with the first due for delivery in 2020 and the second in 2021. Additional accommodation is being built near the shipyard in Wismar but the 700 cabin capacity ship will provide a much needed temporary solution.