| German market ships old and new on the 21st September 2015 with a Royal Caribbean connection. In the red corner was Europa (V) coming in at a sprightly 37.071grt, currently refreshed and exceedingly popular as Saga Sapphire. Before being sold to Acromas to become Saga's flagship, she sailed as Bleu de France for Croisières de France - a Royal Caribbean brand. In the blue corner was the new kid on the block, Mein Schiff 4, coming in at 99,500grt and sailing for TUI - in partnership with Royal Caribbean. It's such a small shipping world! MS4 debuted in June 2015 and was on the last call of a Round Britain cruise before returning to Hamburg. It was the first of two visits this week but as I would be away for the second I went down this day. Originally Sapphy was listed for 5.45am and Mein Schiff 4 at 7am then both were changed to 6.30am. It's a shame in the 21st century we still change the clocks because if we stayed on GMT year round, they'd have arrived with a gorgeous dawn. Sapphy led the way, turning round in the Middle Swinging Ground before Wyestorm pulled her astern to Mayflower Terminal then Mein Schiff 4 turned and docked at City. The sun was rising as we left and the heavens opened! |
