Ships in Bergen

Calling into Bergen today was the modestly sized Pacific Princess . Considerably smaller than most modern mass-market cruise ships, many passengers are drawn to the more intimate experience on offer, with a relaxed atmosphere and shorter queues. Pacific Princess originally enetered service in 1998 as R Three for the now-defunct Renaissance Cruises. She was one of an ambitious series of eight identical ships built for the line between 1998 and 2001. Unfortunately this turned out to be a step too far, and Renaissance Cruises ceased operations in 2001 (this is often attributed to unlucky timing; their closure came with the massive global downturn in travel that followed the 9/11 attacks in the USA). In the following years, this fleet of eight smart, modern cruise ships found their way to a variety of cruise lines across the world. Princess Cruises initially took two of these (with a third, Royal Princess, added in 2007).  Pacific Princess has remainded a member of their fle...

The sun was out yesterday as Holland America Line's Zuiderdam made a call into Bergen. You can find out more about this impressive ship in our previous post , with more facts and photos (including some aerial views as Zuiderdam sailed under the Askøy bridge). The following photos show Zuiderdam departing her berth at Bontelabo after a fantastic day in the city.

In addition to my previous post showing Silver Wind arriving into Bergen on Monday, I also went to watch her departure from the city, and took the following photos. Silver Wind pulled away from her berth right on time at 23:00, sadly just a couple of minutes after a fantastic sunset (which could have produced some lovely pictures).

One of the cruise ships calling into Bergen to day was Silversea's Silver Wind . This handsome little ship has (along with her sister Silver Cloud ) been a mainstay of the luxury cruise market for over 20 years, and the pair are still going strong. A series of refurbishements and improvements throughout her career have seen Silver Wind cement her place in the industry, despite competition from an increasing number of modern luxury cruise ships. Silver Wind is 156m long and has a tonnage of 16,800. Her 294 passengers are looked after by a crew of 204. The following photos show Silver Wind as she approached Bergen this morning, as seen from the Bergen-Askøy ferry.

Over the weekend Viking Sea paid a visit to her homeport of Bergen as she took onboard passengers for her next voyage. You can find out more about Viking Sea in our previous post . The following photos were taken this afternoon, before Viking Sea departed the city.