With another cruise shipping summer just around the corner the industry’s floating holiday islands are now being made ready for a new season. That’s why two of them are calling at Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven at the same time for repair and modernisation. MS "Voyager" has already docked. She arrived on Monday March 30th and will be followed on April 16th by the MS "National Geographic Explorer". The latter ship is making her third visit to Bremerhaven’s traditional cruise ship yard.
The 15,396 GT "Voyager", which is 152.5 m long and 20.560 m wide, is an old acquaintance of Project Manager Carl Ratjen. The ship, built in Valencia, was fitted with a new bulbous bow at Lloyd Werft in 2010 when she was still called "Alexander von Humboldt". "Voyager" has in fact changed her owner six times since 1990. Built in that year as "Crown Monarch" she has since been called "Nautican", "Walrus", "Jules Verne" and "Alexander von Humboldt" before sailing now as "Voyager" with mainly English passengers for the English shipping company All Leisure Holidays Ltd.
During her 15 day stay in the yard’s big Kaiserdock II, the 25-year-old cruise ship will undergo extensive blasting and conservation work, work on 14 ship tanks, inspection of all sea-valves and a range of work on pipe and valve systems. In addition, the job docket lists the renewal of rubber-headed components on the ship’s bow thruster tunnel as well as the adaption of all the ship’s lifeboats to the latest IMO safety regulations.
Along with the necessary class work on "Voyager" while she is in dock, Lloyd Werft will also carry out the yard’s programme of standard work. The ship will get a new hull bottom coating and will also be made good to look at by the 470 passengers who will sail in her during the new cruise shipping season. "Voyager" leaves Bremerhaven on April 14th for Harwich to take new passengers on board there.
The small, 6,471 GT expedition cruise ship "National Geographic Explorer", is no stranger to Lloyd Werft and previously visited the yard in 2013 and 2014. She does not need to enter the floating dock this time. Now 33 years old and ice-strengthened, the 112 m long and 16.5 m wide ship specialises in ambitious cruises into Arctic and Antarctic waters. Her 148 passengers are accommodated in 81 outside cabins. The cruise ship was built in 1982 as "Midnatsol" for Norway’s Hurtigruten. She was bought in 2007 by the U.S. shipping company Lindblad Expeditions and converted into an expedition ship.
After looking the ship over in Funchal in Madeira, Lloyd Werft personnel have already gone on board in Bilbao to begin preparations at sea for the work to be undertaken at the Bremerhaven yard between April 16th and 30th. She will berth at the outfitting quay where her central air conditioning plant and related chillers and pipe-work will be replaced. Lloyd Werft personnel will also manufacture and install a new boiler room on board. In addition to this, an extensive programme of repairs will be carried out along with work on the ship’s piping system. The conversion of the portside access door is another job which has to be completed before the "National Geographic Explorer" can set sail again for Arctic waters on April 30th.
