Not to be reproduced without permission
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| The World, AIDAdiva, Thomson Destiny, Aurora, Albatros (II), Black Watch (III), Athena, Princess Danae, Saga Ruby, Van Gogh, Saga Rose & Costa Serena | |||||||||
| New Year's Eve 2007 and one reason I paid an arm and a leg for this cruise - the ships! Where else can you find so many together on a single day? Fort Lauderdale, I hear you say. Well yes, if it wasn't mainly arrivals and departures. Funchal on New Year's Eve is something quite different. So many ships calling purely for the celebrations. It baffles me why it never gets a mention on the news for its own firework display. It's just as good if not better than the ones which do. The World had already arrived on the 29th. AIDAdiva on the 30th. Diva is a brand new ship for the former German subsidiary of P&O, now run by Costa and registered in Italy. This 69,200grt ship had her maiden voyage on the 30th April 2007 and replaced AIDAblu (now Ocean Village Two) on the Canaries run. Thomson Destiny had arrived an hour before us. She began life back in 1982 for Royal Caribbean as Song of America, coming in at 37,584grt and was an inspiration for their Sovereign class ships. She still retains her original Viking Crown Lounge. In 1999 she was sold to Airtours to become Sunbird. From 2005 she has been chartered to Thomson cruises but owned by Louis Cruise lines. Well as we were due in for 8am it was an early start. Albatros was following us before anchoring. I make no apologies for so many photos of her and her former Royal Viking sister, Black Watch, as I love them almost as much as Aurora. | |||||||||
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| (C) Copyright Patricia Dempsey 31st December 2007 & 11th January 2008 Not to be reproduced without permission |
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