Ships in Bergen

I'm posting a quick update today following a few days away (I've been moving into a new apartment, so the blog has had to wait in the wings). One of many ships to call into Bergen last week was the German-operated MS Hamburg . She has visited the city several times throughout the 2017 season, but was looking particularly good this time in the afternoon sun. You can read a little more about Hamburg 's history and statistics in my previous post . So, enjoy the photos of this lovely little cruise ship, and there will be plenty more updates to follow as I build back up to full speed with the blog...

Today was a particularly busy day in the port of Bergen, with no fewer than 6 cruise ships visiting the city simultaneously. The complete list reads as follows: Queen Mary 2 , Mein Schiff 1 , Hamburg , Norwegian Jade , Silver Whisper and Crystal Symphony . Placed end-to-end, these ships are around 1,5km long, and brought with them approximately 9,000 passengers. Fortunately for all it's been a fantastic sunny day, and visitors have been able to enjoy Bergen at its finest. Speaking of which, I'm off to enjoy the evening sun myself. I'll be posting more photos and content from this bumper batch of cruise ship calls over the coming days...

It often strikes me as strange that such a small and understated cruise ship should carry the name of a nation, but here she is; Phoenix Reisen's Deutschland made her final call of the year into Bergen today. This is a ship with an interesting history (including a tragic brush with fate when a plane-load of holiday makers bound to join  Deutschland  in New York lost their lives in the horrible Concorde crash in 2000) which you can read about in my previous post . This afternoon  Deutschland  departed right on schedule, and headed south to Flekkefjord to continue her current cruise.  

Japan isn't generally regarded as a major cruise ship manufacturer, but over the past few decades a steady stream of small- and mid-sized vessels have been built. Amadea is one of these. Launched in 1991 as Asuka for Nippon Yusen Kaisha, she sailed with this Japanese line until 2006, when she was replaced by Asuka II and acquired by the German line Phoenix Reisen, for whom she has sailed as  Amadea  ever since. Amadea  has a length of 193m, and a gross tonnage of 28,850. She carries up to 624 passengers and a crew of 292. I passed  Amadea  on the Bergen-Askøy ferry this afternoon, and took the following photos of her moored at Skolten Syd.

Today Bergen did what it does best; delivering all four seasons in a single day. At the mercy of the wind, torrential downpours, and occasional sunny patches were the passengers on board Thomson Celebration . Built as Noordam, she entered service in 1984 for Holland America Line, and enjoyed a long, successful, and relatively uneventful career. In 2005 she left the HAL fleet, was placed under long-term charter to the UK-based Thomson Cruises, and renamed  Thomson Celebration . She now sails a variety of itineraries along with her sister ship (and original fleetmate) Thomson Spirit (featured on this blog here , on a much sunnier afternoon). Thomson Celebration  has a length of 215m, a gross tonnage of 33,933 and can accommodate up to 1350 passengers and 520 crew. The following photos show  Thomson Celebration  as she came alongside at Skolten Nord this morning.

Making her one-and-only visit to Bergen in 2017 today was Oceania Cruises' Nautica . Originally entering service in 2000 as R Five (one of eight R-Class ships built for the now-defunct Renaissance Cruises) she sailed brifely for Pullmantur Cruises from 2002-2004, before being acquired by Oceania Cruises and joining their fleet as  Nautica  the folloing year. Regular readers will remember our post about Nautica's sister ship Pacific Princess last month, which provides a bit of extra information about the scattering of several of these R-Class ships throughout the industry. Nautica  has a length of 181m, a gross tonnage of 30,277 and can accommodate up to 824 passengers, with a crew of around 325. The following photos show  Nautica  alongside at Skolten (on what I call the 'wrong side' of the terminal building; much of her hull and superstrucutre is obscured). Unfortunately I am unable to make it to her departure later this evening. Also in port toda...