M.S. "FUNCHAL" laid-up in Lisbon

-




The last "post" of the year 2012 is dedicated to a very special ship to me, the M.S."FUNCHAL". This remarkable little cruise ship has been laid-up in Lisbon since September of 2010 undergoing a massive refit, her return to service has been postponed for various times, she is today facing a very uncertain future, historians and experts on the subject fear the worse for the ship. I have sailed twice on "FUNCHAL", they were unforgettable moments, seen the ship countless times since 1963 and it would be very sad for me to see her going forever, I hope 2013 will be a very good year to all of us and the year that will mark the return of "FUNCHAL" to her sea-going career.

Comments

  1. David GibsonAugust 14, 2013 at 10:37 PM

    A truly beautiful picture of FUNCHAL in Lisbon on 13 August 2013 was logged on the great SEA PARADE website. Given earlier pics of her laid-up, this is a welcome development.

    David Gibson www.talkinghistorywithdavidgibson.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. VMFAugust 15, 2013 at 3:31 AM

    thank you for your comment David and congratulations for your website, truly magnificent

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousAugust 24, 2013 at 3:19 AM

    A beautiful ship. I sincerely hope she has a future, it would be sad to see her go.

    ReplyDelete
  4. VMFAugust 25, 2013 at 9:13 AM

    thank you for the comment above, in case you didn't know, she is now back cruising with a new Portuguese company called Portuscale Cruises, her official new maiden voyage starts 27.8.2013, please see my newer post to see the new refitted FUNCHAL

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CRISTOFORO COLOMBO, one of the nicest ships ever built

-
Image
This post is dedicated to all the Italian followers of this blog. This past week saw an unprecedented number of pageviews from Italy, I was really pleased to notice that the post "WILLEM RUYS BECOMES ACHILLE LAURO" is the most popular post of this blog, leading by far all the posts related to the COSTA CONCORDIA's tragedy, so despite the relevance of the tragic events which obviously dominated the news not just in Italy but around the world, there is an obvious interest on Italian passenger liners and this is reassuring for me, I do believe that the most beautiful liners came out of Italy, this is why I have chosen CRISTOFORO COLOMBO for many the most elegant liner ever built as a testimony of appreciation to the great nation that Italy was and still is as far as shipping and ship building is concerned, so thank you to all my Italian followers, I will endeavour to carry on with the best possible work on this blog. Postcards of my collection
Read more

SS "LEONARDO DA VINCI" a remarkable liner with a short career

-
Image
The SS "LEONARDO DA VINCI" was an ocean liner built by ANSALDO SHIPYARDS at Genoa in 1960, the ship was intended as a replacement for the ill-fated ANDREA DORIA to operate on the North Atlantic run with ITALIAN LINE, she was as built 33.340 GRT and had a top speed of 25.5 knots. The ship left on her maiden voyage on the 30th June 1960 from Genoa to New York, she was kept on this service until 1965 when the new superliners MICHELANGELO and RAFFAELLO entered service, LEONARDO was then used on cruising in the MED, CARIBBEAN, SOUTH and NORTH AMERICA, after the withdrawal of the new superliners from service on the North Atlantic due to lack of passengers  LEONARDO was back on the transtlantic service, but only for a brief spell, she went back to cruising until 1978 when she arrived at La Spezia in Italy to be laid up, she caught fire in 1980 and was considered a total loss, she was finally scrapped in 1982, a brief career for such a beautiful ship, she was not a lucky vessel un
Read more

Remembering the "SUNDREAM"

-
Image
This post takes us back to 1997, the "SUNDREAM" is seen secured for sea ready for another departure from Barcelona. The ship was built in 1970 by WARTSILA in Finland as the "SONG OF NORWAY" to Royal Caribbean, she was 18416 GRT with a top speed of 22 knots, the vessel was lengthened by 24 meters in 1978, the GRT was increased to 23005 GRT. In 1996 the ship was sold to AIRTOURS SUN CRUISES and was renamed "SUNDREAM", she is still around operated by INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING PARTNERS under the name of "GEMINI" but facing uncertain times with the ship being reported for sale or charter
Read more