ms Europa

The fifth vessel of Hapag Lloyd bearing the name Europa was specifically built for worldwide cruises at the erstwhile Bremer Vulcan shipyard as yard number 1001 and entered service in 1982. Designed by Wilfried Köhnemann and Joachim Buchwald her understated elegance and spaciousness excelled all other ships of her time. Following a concept introduced with Finnjet, she was the first cruise ship divided vertically with the accomodations in in the quieter forward areas and the public rooms in aft. Europa pioneered prefabricated cabin modules; even today her standard cabins are amongst the largest found aboard passenger ships. The shape of her ice strengthened hull is related to container ships built by Bremer Vulcan at her time and the power plant bears a greater relationship to container vessels than a typical passenger ship of the era.

In 1992 ms Europa was damaged in a collision with the container ship Inchon Glory, no-one were insured. In 1999 she was sold to Star Cruises where she served as SuperStar Aries until 2004 when she was sold to Pullmantur. Renamed Holiday Dream she was based in Havana for most of the time until Pullmantur became part of the Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Group in 2007.
A description of ms Europa can e.g. be found in the January 1982 issue of The Naval Architect or in the book "Das Schiff - die neue Europa" by Wilfried Köhnemann and Udo Burk. A large model of her hull used for the towing tank tests is on display in the Deutsches Museum in Munich. A 1:100 scale model hull and plans of ms Europa are available at Steinhagen Modelltechnik.

In 2008 she was transfered to a new subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. CDF Croisières de France and renamed Bleu de France catering to the French cruise market.
In 2012 Bleu de France became Saga Sapphire of Saga Sapphire of Saga Holidays. Visit Saga Sapphire's Captain Blog to follow her conversion. More photos of this vessel be found at Simplon Postcards.

Although Europa was one of my favourite ships I ever travelled with I hardly have any video material of my own. I am therefore very gratefut that Mrs. Erika Preiss surrendered some video material from her late husband for publication on this webpage.

click on a thumbnail image to select a video clip

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ms Europa
arrives @ Kiel

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ms Europa
Great Belt Bridge

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ms Europa
Engine Room

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ms Europa
Leaves Piraeus

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ms Europa
@ Piraeus

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ms Europa
Galley