The keel was laid down yesterday for Spirit of Discovery, the first new vessel for the British shipping company Saga Cruises at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg. The first block of the new ship weighs 320 tonnes and is 5.5 metres high, 23.5 metres long and 20 metres wide. This is the first ship of its kind for Great Britain and will be delivered in summer 2019.

Lance Batchelor (Chief Executive Officer of the Saga Group), Sir Sebastian Wood (British ambassador in Berlin) and Tim Meyer (Managing Director of Meyer Werft) came together to lay a “lucky penny” underneath the first block. The block has been lowered onto the dock bracing, and now the hull can be assembled. This is also going to use Building Dock I again for complete new builds at the shipyard. It also means three cruise ships will now be delivered to various customers in 2019 and 2020, as opposed to the two ships that were originally planned. “This implies that we do offer additional jobs for specialists within our organization," said Tim Meyer.

The Spirit of Discovery is the first of two ships for the successful English cruise line, Saga. The ships have an overall length of 236 metres, a width of 31.2 metres and a tonnage measurement of 58,250 gross tons. They can accommodate 999 passengers. Another new ship will follow in summer 2020.

The new ships will be tailored to the English market with a completely new design to make them stand out in every port, and their interior design and technology will set new standards.