Voyager in the Bahamas? Not yet

//Voyager in the Bahamas? Not yet

alexvh.jpgThat was confusing for a moment. My trusty friends at Google informed me that the ship Alexander von Humboldt had arrived, to a warm welcome, at its new home in Grand Bahama.
The only vessel I was aware of with that name was, I thought, at anchor near Istanbul. It is awaiting a multi-million pound refit later this year, from which it will emerge under the new name of Voyager (pictured below), and will join Discovery sailing under the flag of niche cruise line Voyages of Discovery.
The last I heard was that the dry-dock work would be carried out in Germany. Had plans been changed to take the ship across the Atlantic?
As the picture (above) shows, the report at thebahamasweekly.com concerned an entirely different vessel. This is the 106-year-old sailing ship Alexander von Humboldt, a three-masted barque which has been used since 1988 by the German Sail Training Foundation, regularly competing in tall ships races.
It will now have a new role, taking visiting cruise ship passengers and other visitors to Grand Bahama on coastal sailing excursions, and will also be used for corporate receptions and parties.
The cruise ship Alexander von Humboldt, formerly Crown Monarch, was built in 1990. When it enters service as Voyager in November, it will have 278 cabins and will carry 500 passengers plus a crew of 215.
Chief engineer Mark Cameron told me today: “We don’t go to the Bahamas until next March and we’ll be Voyager by then. It will be good to see her, though as I have seen the Tall Ships twice on the Tyne and once on the Mersey.”
•The original Alexander von Humboldt was a 19th Century German naturalist and explorer, whose voyages in South America were a big influence on Charles Darwin.
Voyager.jpg

By | 2017-06-15T15:59:52+00:00 16 March 2012|Cruise Ships|0 Comments

About the Author:

John Honeywell is a travel writer specialising in cruise ships and cruise travel. Winner of CLIA UK's Contribution to Cruise award 2017.

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