HISTORIC CRUISING


Eternal Europa A


Anthony Nicholas provides the full historic perspective on Hapag-Lloyd’s newcomer Europa 2 and her illustrious predecessors


n old Carole King melody hangs in the evening air like fine perfume as the Europa 2 cuts an elegant swathe through


a glass-calm, summertime Mediterranean. Diners on the terrace of the open-air Yacht Club are savouring the caviar and cool breezes as the sun sets. The mood is casual, animated and altogether alluring. Scant minutes later, and that same sun is setting directly behind us, providing an absolutely perfect picture that many rush to take advantage of. Without anyone even being aware of it, the captain had swung the 42,000-ton ship round as


smartly as a Porsche in order to provide guests with the perfect shot. Few things sum up the Hapag-Lloyd Cruises philosophy more perfectly than this simple gesture. And this latest, magnificent national flagship carries on the tradition of a proud name, one that has echoed down through German maritime history for decades.


Indeed, the entire Hapag-Lloyd fleet


echoes the names of famous German liners of the past; Bremen, Columbus, Hanseatic. All redolent of a time when the company was at the forefront of transatlantic travel in the heyday of the great ocean giants.


But in the pantheon of ocean travel, the


name Europa holds a special place. Back in 1929, Germany rebounded from the humiliation of the Versailles Treaty with a pair of new world-beating giants intended to sweep the board on the lucrative Atlantic crossing. History remembers them as the Bremen and Europa. The twin sisters introduced a


whole string of ‘firsts.’ They were the first ships to feature bulbous bows to reduce drag; the first to have rounded forward superstructures to make a more streamlined shape; and, initially at least, they featured two short, squat funnels,


Autumn 2013 I WORLD OF CRUISING


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