Ships in Bergen

Take a look at one of the most luxurious expedition cruise ships in the world... Operated by Hapag-Lloyd, Hanseatic is one of the now growing number of 5* expedition cruise ships serving this booming market. Even with 27 years of service under her belt, she has held her own at the top of her game, with passengers making the most of varied itineraries to 'off the beaten track' destinations (not that Bergen can claim that tiltle)! Originally built in 1990 as Society Adventurer, she changed hands in 1997 to become Hanseatic , and has since enjoyed a long and successful career. Hanseatic is 123m long, has a tonnage of 8,378 and carries just 184 passengers, served by a crew of 125. The following photos show her departure from town this afternoon. Also in Bergen today were Le Soleal and Costa Pacifica .

Following her previous visit just a couple of weeks ago, Le Soleal made another call into Bergen today. Fortunately this time the sun was out to greet her and her passengers. You can find out more about this beautiful, yacht-like cruise ship in our previous post here . Also in town today, and visible behind  Le Soleal , was Costa Pacifica .

One of four cruise ships in town today was the German-operated Mein Schiff 4 . The following photos were taken as she passed the Bergen-Askøy ferry this afternoon. You can see more photos of Mein Schiff 4  (taken from above as she passed under the Askøy bridge) and read about her history in our previous post here .

Today Costa Pacifica made one of several calls into Bergen this year. I took the following photos as she passed Nordnes during her departure this afternoon . You can see more photos of Costa Pacifica , and find out about the history of this ship in our previous post .

Rewind to her launch 25 years ago, and you'd be looking at the largest passenger ship in the world. When she first enetered service as Monarch of the Seas in 1992 for Royal Caribbean, she shared this accolade with her sister ship Sovereign of the Seas. This class of ship proved hugely successful; it wasn't until 2013 that she was renamed Monarch and transferred to the Pullmantur fleet. It hasn't always been plain sailing for Monarch . In 1998 she struck a reef, with an enourmous hole carved into her side, and was grounded to prevent a full sinking. Noone was seriously injured, but the repairs saw her out of service for three months. Then, in 2005, a gas leak on board tragically lead to the deaths of three crew members, with 19 others injured. Thankfully the past few years for Monarch have been more uneventful. Monarch has a tonnage of 73,940 and can accommodate up to 2,744 passengers. She sailed from Bergen at 22:00 to continue her cruise. The following photos...