Last year proved to be a very interesting one with such a large number of vessels calling here for the first time. And the last of these to enter the harbour was the attractive Spirit of Adventure, which was berthed at Port Chalmers last Thursday and Friday.
This vessel is much smaller than the larger cruise ships one is now accustomed to seeing.
And the vessel is the third from the fleet of Saga Shipping, which caters for the 50+ age group, to visit the lower harbour.
First of the Folkestone-based company's ships to call here was the 24,543gt Saga Rose on the first of three visits on March 1, 2004. And the 24,492gt Saga Ruby was here on February 26, 2010, and again last year on March 9.
Both were classic passenger liners of the past built for the Norwegian-America Line of Oslo. Saga Rose, built by the Forges and Ch. de La Mediterranee yard at La Seyne, entered service in September 1965 as Sagafjord. Saga Ruby was handed over by Swan Hunter Shipbuilders, Wallsend, as Vistafjord during May 1973.
Both ships were later acquired by Cunard and Sagafjord, and seen here in their colours on February 9, 1991.
Unlike the earlier visitors with their black hulls, the purpose-built Spirit of Adventure has been an all-white ship since it entered service. It was ordered from Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft at Kiel, the yard that later built the container ship Italia, which was in port last week, and its ill-fated sister ship Rena.
The cruise ship was laid down on September 4, 1979, and was launched as Berlin on January 12, 1980. The vessel was delivered to the owner, Schiffs.ges. m.s. "Berlin" on June 27, 1980.
As built, Berlin was a 7813gt vessel having an overall length of 122.51m and berths for 330 passengers. In November 1986, the ship was sent to the Nobiskrug Werft yard at Rendsburg to be lengthened. It re-entered service as a 9570gt, 139.3m-long vessel with berths for an additional 22 passengers.
Propulsion machinery supplied by the Krupp works at Kiel consists of two Vee 12-cylinder, 4-stroke diesels having a combined output of 10,768bhp. Service speed is 18 knots.
The ship operated as Berlin until February 17, 1982, when it was chartered out and renamed Princess Mahsuri. This lasted until December 31, 1984, and the ship then reverted to its original name.
During March 2005 the ship was bought by Acromas Shipping Ltd, the vessel's present manager. Then from May 23 to November 26, 2005, the ship sailed as Orange Melody on charter to Metropolis Tur of Russia.
As Spirit of Adventure, owned by Saga Cruise II Ltd, the ship began operations for Saga in March 2006. It was registered at Nassau until being transferred to the Maltese flag in January 2010.
In its pre-Saga days the ship had been part of the fleet of Peter Dielman Reederei, of Neustadt, where the vessel was also registered. These interests were also linked to European river cruising until financial difficulties caused their withdrawal from this market at the end of October, 2009.
Today the German company operates the 22,496gt, 576-berth Deutschland, which was also built at the H-DW yard at Kiel where it was completed in May 1998. This cruise ship called at Port Chalmers on January 31, 2004, and again on February 20, 2011.
Sadly, the vessel was indirectly linked to a tragic accident in its third year of operation, the ill-fated Air France Flight 4590.
Peter Dielmann had chartered the Concorde to fly passengers from Paris to New York to board Deutschland. But the plane crashed near Gonesse, France, on July 25, 2000, killing all 100 passengers, nine crew members and four people on the ground.
