Hamburg - return of a perennial

 A perennial late season cruise caller in Halifax returned again today (October 28), twenty-six years after its first call (although off by three days).

Now called Hamburg it was built by MTW Shiffswerft Wismar in 1997 for Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. It was to be called "Columbus" but was registered in the Bahamas with the name c.Columbus. The small "c" had to be appended because the Bahamas, like most registries, (Canada included), forbids two ships on its register from carrying the same name, and there already a Columbus on the books.

The 15,067 gt ship has a passenger capacity of up to 420 (in 197 staterooms) and crew of 170 and was built to work on the Great Lakes in summer. In order to meet St.Lawrence Seaway regulations and to prevent damage from transiting the locks, the ship was built without bridge wings. Its boats are also stowed completely inboard and it has small rub rails on the hull near the water line. It also has a relatively shallow draft of 5.15m (16'-11"), allowing it to call at out of the way ports. [It is reporting a 5.6m (18'-5") draft on arrival today.]

The c. Columbus came to Halifax for the first time October 25, 1997 after cruising on the Great Lakes.

 In 2012 Hapag-Lloyd took delivery of a new ship and the c.Columbus was taken on by Plantours Kreuzfahrten and renamed Hamburg. It returned to Halifax with the new name in 2014 and 2015, and returned to Great Lakes cruising in 2022.

In 2023 the ship arrived in Montreal September 20 and made a large loop through the Lakes with almost daily port calls as far as Milwaukee, returning to Montreal October 5. It did a second loop returning to Montreal October 21, just barely getting out of the Seaway before it was shut down by a strike at midnight October 22-23. En route to Halifax it called in Quebec City, Port Alfred and Cap-aux-Meules.

 Aside from replacing the orange and blue strip with yeloow, and a similar finnel marking change, the ship is unchanged in appearance.

The ship's itinerary from here indicates short hops down the US coast to Mexico and on to Valparaiso and Santiago, Chile to begin Antarctic cruises. The ship remains popular with a German speaking clientele, despite being quite old for a cruise ship.

 It does show scuff marks along the waterline, but these will likely be re-touched very quickly.

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Hamburg - second last cruise ship

It has often been German ships that have wound up the cruise season in Halifax. This year Plantours' Hamburg is the second last ship. Despite the fact of missing out on the honours, it is certanily a ship worth a second look.
Built in 1997 by the MTW shipyard in Wismar, Germany for operation by HAPAG-Lloyd, it carried the unusual official name of  c.Columbus. The small "c" was usually omitted in marketing the ship, and it was known simply as Columbus. In 1997 there was already a Columbus registered in the Bahamas, a tanker, the former Maersk Javelin ex Jakob Maersk, and regulations prevented name duplication for official purposes.
A relatively small cruise ship, with a capacity of 420 passengers and 170 crew, it was built with several unusual destinations in mind, including the Great Lakes. To fit the St.Lawrence Seaway locks, the ship was built with no projections beyond the ship's sides. Therefore it has no bridge wings but does have small hinged platforms that allow for one person to see the ship's side when berthing. Also all lifeboats are accommodated completely inboard, and there are no rub rails. 
After periodic Great Lakes visits until 2011, HAPAG decided to redeploy the ship when they ordered a newer vessel.
In 2012 operation shifted to Plantours, and the ship was renamed Hamburg.
It first called in Halifax the year it was built, 

c.Columbus arrived on a beautiful fall day in 1997, in HAPAG-Loyd colours..

Its 2014 visit as Hamburg was on a much less pleasant day, with driving rain on and off. I noted the addition of another communications "golf ball" just forward of the funnel, and perhaps a larger one over the bridge.  Other than the colour change, and new funnel mark, the ship looks to be otherwise unchanged.

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