Hapag-Lloyd Cruises has canceled the naming ceremony for one of its two upcoming expedition ships, the Hanseatic Nature, a spokesperson for the cruise line tells Travel Agent, but the new ship is still set to embark on its inaugural voyage as scheduled.
“Unfortunately…the handover of the Hanseatic Nature in our requested five-star standard, is likely to be delayed, bringing uncertainty to our plans,” the spokesperson said. “Regrettably, as a result, we have to cancel the naming ceremony of the Hanseatic Nature that had been scheduled to take place in Hamburg on Friday, 12 April 2019.”
The spokesperson said that the cancellation will allow the cruise line to focus on preparations for the new ship’s inaugural voyage, which is still planned to depart the following day.
The Hanseatic Nature is one of two new expedition cruise ships under construction by Hapag-Lloyd, along with the Hanseatic Inspiration. The new ships will be designed to operate in environments ranging from the Arctic to the Amazon, being built with to the highest ice class rating for passenger ships (PC6). The two ships will be structurally identical, with a capacity of 230 passengers each (dropping to 199 on Arctic/Antarctic itineraries), although some details, such as dining concepts, will differ between the two. Additionally, the Hanseatic Nature will be targeted primarily at the cruise line’s German-speaking clientele, while the Hanseatic Inspiration will target both English- and German-speaking markets.
The naming ceremony for the Hanseatic Inspiration is scheduled to take place later, on October 13 in Antwerp, after which the ship will sail a 15-day inaugural voyage. Both ships are scheduled to sail an Antarctica route roundtrip from Ushuaia from January 19 – February 4, 2020. Starting March 25, they will begin offering an itinerary up the Amazon River from Belem to Iquitos, which will run through April 11, and from June 17 through August 1, they will sail a 14-day Great Lakes itinerary. The Great Lakes itinerary will make them the only deep sea vessels to traverse Lake Superior, according to the cruise line.
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