HISTORIC CRUISING
destroyed her again. But, Lazarus-like, she emerged to sail once more. Clad from stem to stern in late period Art Deco, she arrived back in New York in August 1950 to a spectacular welcome. Liberte soon became the ship for Atlantic crossings. She offered the finest food and service of any liner and gained a reputation for fun and frivolity that had never existed in her German days. She also starred as the backdrop for at least three Hollywood movies. Only in 1961 was the ageing ‘Grand Dame’ finally retired. An attempt to rescue her for use as a hotel ship fell through and she was sold for scrap at La Spezia, Italy, in 1962. She remains one of the Atlantic’s most cherished and enduring legends to this day.
The Second Europa The next Europa was acquired from the Swedish American Line in 1965 having started life as their Kungsholm 12 years earlier. She was a staunch, graceful twin-stack liner of around 20,000 tons, designed from the start for summer Atlantic crossings and long, exotic winter cruises. For this role, she was fitted with two swimming pools on her expanded, aft-facing lido decks. By the time of her German debut in 1966, the transatlantic
market was in terminal decline. The new Europa mainly worked as a top range cruise ship, sailing all over the world, with occasional Atlantic crossings offered in high summer, carrying around 840 passengers. With a new ship being built, the second Europa was sold to Costa in November 1981 and renamed as Columbus C. Three years later, while entering Cadiz, she struck a breakwater that ruptured her keel and sank up to her superstructure. Raised in 1985, she was declared a constructive total loss and scrapped that same year.
The Third Europa Unlike her predecessor, the Europa of 1981 was built in a German shipyard – Bremer Vulkan – and intended to cruise from the outset. This beautiful, 33,000-ton vessel also had a revolutionary design: all the cabins were in the forward section and the public rooms were all stacked in a kind of layer cake arrangement aft, the idea being to keep late-night noise away from passenger cabins. It was a design copied by many later ships, including the monster Sovereign class that Royal Caribbean were then planning. With a capacity for just 600, this Europa pre-dated the demand
for balcony cabins but still became a byword for style and excellence. She cruised all over the globe, from Greenland to the Amazon and on itineraries that were rarely repeated. Sold to Star Cruises in 1999, she continues in service to this day as the Saga Sapphire.
The Fourth Europa This renowned ship – consistently lauded by the Berlitz Cruise Guide as the world’s best – is still in service with Hapag-Lloyd. With a gross tonnage of almost 29,000, she emerged in 1999 with sights set firmly on the top end of the luxury trade. In pursuit of this, around 90 per cent of cabins feature private balconies while even the smallest window suites come in at around 291sq ft. Open seating dining is normal and, while she does operate some bilingual cruises, she remains predominantly for German-speaking guests. In terms of presentation and dress codes, this Europa is a more formal ship than her stunning new sibling. With a capacity of just 408, Europa sails on often long, frequently outstanding worldwide itineraries. She also offers artfully orchestrated music-themed cruises, mainly during the summer. Despite recent rumours, the company has no plans to sell this stunning, hugely successful ship.
Autumn 2013 I WORLD OF CRUISING 53
Europa 2 All of which leads smartly to the newcomer. At 42,000 tons and with a maximum capacity of 516, this all-balcony suite ship is simply the most spacious afloat. Her interiors are cool, crisp and almost totally linear. Vast expanses of glass open up the ship to the sun. For the first time, the company has built a ship aimed squarely at the bilingual English/German market. Crew members are fluent in both languages and menus in all eight open-seating restaurants are also available in both. The blissfully few announcements echo this policy, as do the in-suite daily information programmes. Shore excursions are also operated in each language. The sum total is a shimmering, elegant paragon of space
and grace; the hull echoes the simple, wedge-shaped design of the earlier Europa described above. The main difference lies in the concept of employment.
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