Hapag-Lloyd Cruises will be taking its premium ship Columbus out of the fleet one year earlier than planned, in May 2012, by mutual agreement with Conti, the Munich based group of companies and owner of the ship. All cruises offered up to May 2012 will be taking place on the Columbus as scheduled. The ship is to be replaced in Spring 2012 by her successor the Columbus 2. The Columbus crew will transition over to the COLUMBUS 2.
The farewell to the Columbusis the logical conclusion, resulting from the strategic business development in the premium segment for Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. The successor ship, the Columbus 2 will be welcomed to the fleet in Spring 2012, and offers a passenger capacity of 698 people. “The Columbus 2 is a modern ship. She provides more diversity and comfort at a very good price/performance ratio, represents for us an economically attractive expansion of our capacity in the premium segment,“ said Sebastian Ahrens, Managing Director of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises.
The Columbus will be offering her world tour 2011/2012 as planned. At the end of that voyage on May 7, 2012 in Nice, France, the ship will depart the Hapag-Lloyd Cruises fleet. Only two published cruises following the world tour will be cancelled. Hapag-Lloyd Cruises will be offering special deals for re-booking onto the Columbus 2 for any customers who have already booked these two cruises. The crew of the Columbus and the senior officers will be continuing their activities on the successor ship, the Columbus 2, ensuring high quality and good service from the very beginning.
