''Vasco da Gama'' is a
cruise ship
Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "s ...
operated by German cruise line . Completed in 1993, she previously sailed for
Holland America Line
Holland America Line is an American-owned cruise line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States.
Holland America Line was founded in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and from 1873 to 1989, it operated ...
as MS ''Statendam'', for
P&O Cruises Australia as ''Pacific Eden'' and for Cruise & Maritime Voyages as ''Vasco da Gama''. In 2020, following CMV's filing for administration, she was sold by CW Kellock & Co Ltd. at auction to Mystic Cruises' parent company, Mystic Invest for US$10,187,000.
Construction and career
MS ''Statendam''
''Vasco da Gama'' previously served as MS ''Statendam'' from 1993 to 2015, where she served as the lead member of Holland America Line's eponymous , otherwise known as S class. She was ordered in November 1989 alongside two sister ships of her class, and was designated Hull Number 5881.
Her
keel
The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...
was
laid by
Fincantieri in 1991. From 1991 to 1993, the ship was completed and underwent
sea trial
A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a " shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and ...
s, and on 25 January 1993, ''Statendam'' embarked on her maiden voyage. Upon her maiden voyage, she became the fifth Holland America Line ship to bear the name ''Statendam'', and during the summer of her inaugural season, she also became the first Holland America Line ship to sail a European itinerary in over twenty years.
During her early planning and architectural design phases, there were concerns that ''Statendam'' and the S class would not be in compliance with specific vessel stability requirements mandated by
SOLAS 90. The hull design of ''Maasdam'' and her sister ships are largely based on ''
Costa Classica'', a ship operated by sister brand
Costa Cruises
Società per Azioni, S.p.A. (), operating as Costa Cruises, is an Italian cruise line founded in 1854 and organized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc since 2000. Based in Genoa, Genoa, Italy, the cruise line primarily ca ...
. These fears were alleviated, however, following ''Statendam''s successful sea trials.
In 2006, ''Statendam'' underwent dry dock renovations at
Grand Bahama
Grand Bahama is the northernmost of the islands of the Bahamas, with the town of West End located east of Palm Beach, Florida. It is the third largest island in the Bahamas island chain of approximately 700 islands and 2,400 cays. The island is ...
Shipyard in
Freeport Freeport, a variant of free port, may refer to:
Places United States
*Freeport, California
*Freeport, Florida
*Freeport, Illinois
*Freeport, Indiana
*Freeport, Iowa
*Freeport, Kansas
*Freeport, Maine, a New England town
**Freeport (CDP), Maine, the ...
.
In 2011, ''Statendam'' once again underwent dry dock renovations at Grand Bahama Shipyard in Freeport.
In August 2013, ''Statendam'' was alerted by the
Glacier Bay National Park ranger station that a nearby tour ship, , was stranded in the ice of
Hopkins Glacier
Hopkins Glacier is a glacier situated south of Erskine Glacier and flowing westwards into the head of Tlachene Cove in Darbel Bay on the west coast of Graham Land, Antarctica. It was photographed by Hunting Aerosurveys Ltd in 1955–57, and mappe ...
, and unable to continue to Glacier Bay National Park. On arrival ''Statendam'' lowered two
lifeboats
Lifeboat may refer to:
Rescue vessels
* Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape
* Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues
* Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen
A ...
to rescue approximately 105 passengers and crew. They were disembarked at Glacier Bay National Park ranger station three hours later.
On 20 May 2014, Holland America Line announced that ''Statendam'' would be transferred to
P&O Cruises Australia.
''Pacific Eden''
After concluding her final season with Holland America Line, ''Statendam'' sailed to Singapore for dry dock at
Sembcorp Marine Admiralty Yard. From 22 October to 2 November 2015, ''Statendam'' underwent extensive interior and exterior changes, emerging as the new ''Pacific Eden''. In an attempt to garner global social media recognition for the introduction of two new
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
s, P&O Cruises Australia broadcast the ships' christening ceremony on
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
and through their godmothers' social media accounts. On 25 November 2015, ''Pacific Eden'' and her sister, ''Pacific Aria'', were renamed at a ceremony held in
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...
, Sydney.
Kate Ritchie
Katherine Leigh Ritchie is an Australian actress, radio presenter and children's author, she remains best known for her long-running role as original character Sally Fletcher on the television soap opera '' Home and Away'', for which she won tw ...
served as the godmother for ''Pacific Eden''.
''Vasco da Gama''
In March 2018 ''Pacific Eden'' was sold to
Cruise & Maritime Voyages
Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) was a British passenger shipping company headquartered in Purfleet, Essex, United Kingdom. The company ceased operations in 2020 and entered administration.
History
Cruise & Maritime Voyages was formed in 2009, b ...
(CMV), with delivery in March 2019. Following the purchase, members of CMV's Columbus Club were asked to choose between four names that honoured famous explorers:
Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea.
His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link E ...
,
Pytheas
Pytheas of Massalia (; Ancient Greek: Πυθέας ὁ Μασσαλιώτης ''Pythéas ho Massaliōtēs''; Latin: ''Pytheas Massiliensis''; born 350 BC, 320–306 BC) was a Greeks, Greek List of Graeco-Roman geographers, geographer, explor ...
,
Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson ( 1565 – disappeared 23 June 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the northeastern United States.
In 1607 and 160 ...
, and
Amerigo Vespucci; ''Vasco da Gama'' was chosen.
After a refit in Singapore, ''Vasco da Gama'' sailed on 23 April 2019 for Tilbury on her inaugural cruise, with calls in Malaysia, Thailand, India, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco, celebrating her namesake's travels. On 9 June 2019 she was christened in
Bremerhaven by German singer
Annett Louisan, entering service with CMV's
TransOcean Tours
Transocean Tours was a German cruise line that operated ocean-going cruise ships in the German and British markets and river cruise ships in Germany. The company was formed in 1954 and first began operating cruises in 1972, using ships chartered ...
. The ship's deployment was to spend the European summer with Transocean before repositioning to Australia for the southern summer under the CMV brand.
During the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, two CMV ships swapped passengers at sea off
Phuket
Phuket (; th, ภูเก็ต, , ms, Bukit or ''Tongkah''; Hokkien:普吉; ) is one of the southern provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, the country's largest island, and another 32 smaller islands of ...
to allow all Europeans to return direct to Tilbury on ''Columbus''; Australian and New Zealand passengers joined ''Vasco da Gama'', which docked in
Fremantle
Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...
, Australia on 27 March 2020.
Despite no positive cases, the 197
West Australian passengers were ferried to
Rottnest Island
Rottnest Island ( nys, Wadjemup), often colloquially referred to as "Rotto", is a island off the coast of Western Australia, located west of Fremantle. A sandy, low-lying island formed on a base of aeolianite limestone, Rottnest is an A-class ...
, which had been converted to a quarantine zone, to self-isolate; another 600 Australians quarantined in
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
hotels, and some 100 New Zealand passengers were flown to
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
.
All CMV's operations were suspended, and ''Vasco da Gama'' subsequently sailed without passengers to Tilbury, arriving on 30 April.
On 19 May, a male Indonesian crew member fell from deck 12 of the ship while it was docked at the
Port of Tilbury, London's main port, and landed on a cargo container that had been placed on the dock next to the ship.
One source reported that he died from the fall, while another reported that he was seriously injured but there was no confirmation that he had died, and a third reported that he was being treated at a hospital.
The crew member had been working as a storekeeper in the ship's supply area.
''Vasco da Gama'' had been docked at Tilbury since 1 May, after having repatriated passengers to Australia.
Crew members have complained that they have not been paid and are frustrated with
Cruise & Maritime Voyages
Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) was a British passenger shipping company headquartered in Purfleet, Essex, United Kingdom. The company ceased operations in 2020 and entered administration.
History
Cruise & Maritime Voyages was formed in 2009, b ...
.
Unable to trade, CMV entered administration on 20 July 2020 and in October, Mystic Invest bought the ship at auction, on behalf of
Mystic Cruises, for US$10,187,000. Since July 2021, she has sailed for Mystic Invest's German cruise brand, nicko cruises.
See also
*
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
*
nicko cruises official site page about the ship
{{Cruise & Maritime Voyages
Ships of the Holland America Line
Ships of P&O Cruises Australia
Ships built in Monfalcone
Ships built by Fincantieri
1992 ships
Cruise ships involved in the COVID-19 pandemic