The former Maasdam from Holland America Line has been sold, according to Masters Shipping, who confirmed it acted as the broker on the sale of the ship to a company known as CFC in an email sent to Cruise Industry News.
The ship has most recently been known as the Aegean Myth and has reportedly been sold to a French start-up cruise line for $30 million, according to a report from Crew Center.
Now heading to Piraeus, the vessel has been renamed the Renaissance.
Originally launching as the Maasdam, the Fincantieri-built ship debuted in 1993 and sailed until the pandemic.
Carnival Corporation then sold the ship to Seajets, which is under the control of Greek businessman Marios Iliopoulos, who has assembled a fleet of laid-up cruise ships.
CFC, according to Crew Center, is new French start up Compagnie Francaise De Croisieres. No further details were available at press time.
The “service power packages” upgrades will include ongoing installations throughout 2023 on ships belonging to the company’s nine brands – Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, P&O Australia, Costa Cruises, Aida Cruises, P&O Cruises and Cunard.
Developed over the last six years and tailored to each vessel, upgrades to save energy include investments in variable speed drives and on-demand automation and controls, cooling enhancements, energy-saving LED lighting and more efficient heating and ventilation systems.
Carnival estimates the programme will deliver an average of 5-10% fuel savings per ship and is expected to reduce fleet-wide greenhouse gas emissions by more than 500,000 metric tons each year.
The upgrades will also result in around $150 million in fuel cost savings per year.
Carnival’s chief maritime officer Bill Burke said: “Based on our improved fleet composition, including adding six industry-leading LNG-powered ships, and our previous investments to increase efficiency and reduce emissions, our absolute carbon emissions peaked in 2011 despite significant capacity growth over the past decade.”
“These tailored service power packages further build on those efforts as part of our comprehensive approach to sustainability.”
The fleet-wide enhancements are part of Carnival’s energy efficiency investment programme. The company has committed to reducing carbon emission intensity by 20% from its 2019 baseline by 2030, supporting its efforts to achieve net carbon-neutral ship operations by 2050.
The Photo header of the MSC Virtuosa is berthed outside the Rotterdam Cruise terminal with the bridge just on the Sturnside side (backside 🤣) and I took this image at the Harbour Cruise Tour ticketing counter. The Harbour tour cost £13pp but they only accept credit/debit card payments, so the dirty deed was done and tickets purchased.
With the bridge (Erasmusbrug), in the background, we sat on the open top deck which was a bit windy and chilly but the best for viewing and taking snapshots of the ships in the harbour.
When you move off check that bridge out behind you it’s an amazing piece of engineering and it’s within walking distance from the cruise terminal.
Before you enter the working part of the docks keep an eye on Rotterdam’s wonderful architecture all around from the old windmills to the original port buildings including the original Holland America Line head office, where the 1908 steamship the SS Rotterdam is now berthed as a hotel and restaurant.,
When you cruise the industrial area of the docks you will see Massive floating dry docks, containerships being offloaded and loaded, bulk carriers and specialised craft, such as the WaveWalker 2 which has been used to repair the train station and promenade in Dawlish Devon.
The wave walker on the right and the MPI Resolution on the left which has 6 massive 70-ton legs and are used for the installation of wind turbines at sea.
On the return to the tour, dock check out the HAL head office a bit closer which is worth a visit, cruise past any ships in the cruise terminal and take in the wonderful bridge again before disembarking the 75-minute harbour tour.
We enjoyed this harbour tour and it gave us a good close-up and views of the ships on the dock, below are a few more harbour images taken by myself and Dawn my ever-loving Wife, I hope you have enjoyed this tour description and the photograph included.
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