The French cruise ship “Renaissance” is expected to arrive at the Lloyd Werft shipyard in Bremerhaven for the first time next weekend.
Extensive modernisation work costing €15m is to be carried out there. The ship, owned by the CFC Croisieres shipping company, has now set course for the seaside city from the Mediterranean port of Marseille after completing a New Year’s Eve cruise.
According to French media reports, the ship, which has only been sailing for CFC since the summer, is due for modernisation. It was built in Italy in 1993. In addition to further technical measures to reduce pollutant emissions and the installation of a shore power connection system, most of the public areas and cabins are also to be redesigned.
Since September 2023, BSM Cruise Services from Hamburg has been officially responsible for the nautical and technical management of the “Renaissance”, which can carry up to 1,100 passengers and has now confirmed the upcoming work at the Lloyd Werft shipyard.
“Renaissance” was built as “Maasdam”
The “Renaissance” was built as the “Maasdam” with three other sister ships of the so-called Statendam class for the Dutch shipping company Holland-America Line at the Fincantieri shipyard group. A sister ship is the “Vasco da Gama”, currently sailing for Nicko Cruises, built as the “Statendam”, which was also overhauled at the Lloyd shipyard two years ago.
In connection with the global coronavirus crisis, the “Maasdam” was sold to the Greek shipping company Seajets in 2020 and the ship was renamed “Aegean Myth”. The cruise ship was laid up for two years before being sold to the French start-up company Compagnie Française de Croisières (CFC) for US$30m in August 2022. Following a refit in Brest in the fall of 2022, the ship then entered service in June 2023.
In late summer 2024, CFC announced that the originally planned voyages of the “Renaissance”, which will be operated 100% in French, would be cancelled in January and February 2025 due to an extended stay at the shipyard. The first scheduled voyage of the “Renaissance” is scheduled to depart from Le Havre on 1 March after the shipyard period, followed by a 15-night voyage to northern Norway. (CE)
