NAVIGATION-Cruising and Maritime Themes

A very warm thank you for following and visiting this Blog on regular basis, thank you for your support, MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY 2015 to all of you. Me on board M.S. "FUNCHAL", December of 2013

Barcelona and Civitavecchia are two of the busiest MED destinations for cruise ships throughout the year, even during the winter months there are ships on both Ports, either in transit or starting/finishing new voyages. I have been a regular to Barcelona for twenty years and for the past couple of years also Civitavecchia is amongst my most visited places in Europe, lately I have been using both Ports for my sea voyages using GRIMALDI Cruise Ferries. Seen here first at Barcelona is the HAL "MAASDAM", the following day when I got to the Rome seaport of Civitavecchia, the ROYAL CARIBBEAN "SPLENDOUR OF THE SEAS" and COSTA CRUISES, "COSTA PACIFICA" were both in Port, just about to get ready for departure. Photos taken 18th and 19th of November 2014

The M.S, "FUNCHAL" paid this last week an expected visit to the Merseyside. The ship was diverted to Liverpool due to the bad weather caused by the hurricane "Gonzalo" during the early part of the week, FUNCHAL departed Bristol/Avonmouth on the 6.10.2014 for a cruise to Norway and the Northern Lights, she was due back on the 21st, the extreme severe gales that affected the Bristol area resulted on the decision to divert the ship to Liverpool. FUNCHAL has been before, but was not expected until May of 2015, so it was really good to see her back and as always looking fabulous, the sending off at around 6.30pm is something I will never forget,a dramatic sunset, the likes of which we rarely see particularly at this time of the year, contributed for a spectacular departure. Photos 22.10.2014

 "COSTA SERENA" is a CONCORDIA-CLASS Cruise Ship http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concordia-class_cruise_ship, she was launched in 2007, built by FINCANTIERI the ship has capacity for over 3500 passengers, she is operated by COSTA CRUISES. These photos were taken at the Port of Civitavecchia last Tuesday, 14.10.2014, I was on board Cruise Ferry CRUISE ROMA arriving from Barcelona, COSTA SERENA was about to sail, secured for sea with her engines running and it was quite a sight

 I remember in the early 90's thinking that the EMPRESS, here pictured, was one very attractive passenger ship for modern standards, I still think the same, she's changed her livery from all white to the current one, but she remains a very elegant cruise ship, she should be a successful ship because of her size, at only 48.563 G.T. she is a small intimate ship, what a lot of passengers are looking for these days, the bigger the better is predominantly the motto but there has been an increase on the number of passengers looking for smaller vessels. EMPRESS was built by CHANTIERS DE L'ATLANTIQUE in 1990, since 2008 she has been operated by PULLMANTUR, she has capacity for 1850 guests. Photos taken from on board cruise ferry CRUISE ROMA arriving Civitavecchia, last tuesday, 14.10.2014

M.V. "MARINA" is a fine cruise ship operated by OCEANIA CRUISES, she entered service in January of 2011, at 66.000 G.T., she is in my opinion one of the most attractive new cruise ships in service, MARINA is seen here leaving Barcelona, 9.9.2014

INSIGNIA, ISLAND ESCAPE and MARINA were together at Barcelona last Monday, the 8th of September, I was back at the Catalan Capital once again to board the Cruise Ferry CRUISE ROMA on a voyage to Civitavecchia and got there just in time to take these photos from the Europa Bridge, a wonderful advantage point for ship spotting. Photos 8.9.2014

SILVER CLOUD is twenty years old, the ship owned and operated by SILVERSEA CRUISES was launched in 1994, she was the first ship of the Company and set standards for the next three ships, at 16.800 G.T., she has capacity for just under 300 passengers. SILVER CLOUD is seen here at the Brittany walled city of Saint-Malo. Photos 3.9.2014

 "SAGA SAPPHIRE" and "SILVER CLOUD" at Dover last June. These photos were taken from a wonderful advantage point, the Historic "PRINCE OF WALES PIER". Named after the Prince of Wales who laid the foundation stone in 1892, who later reigned as King "Edward VII". Photos 9.6.2014