{"id":3967,"date":"2011-01-14T02:04:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-14T02:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/?p=3967"},"modified":"2011-01-14T02:04:00","modified_gmt":"2011-01-14T02:04:00","slug":"hapag-lloyd-expansion-in-the-luxury-and-premium-segment-with-ms-europa-2-and-ms-columbus-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/2011\/01\/hapag-lloyd-expansion-in-the-luxury-and-premium-segment-with-ms-europa-2-and-ms-columbus-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Hapag-Lloyd Expansion in the Luxury and Premium segment with MS EUROPA 2 and MS COLUMBUS 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hl-cruises.com\/_hlkf\/images\/presse\/pm_346\/ms_columbus_2Medium.jpg\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" height=\"258\" n4=\"true\" src=\"http:\/\/www.hl-cruises.com\/_hlkf\/images\/presse\/pm_346\/ms_columbus_2Medium.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\u2022\u00a0 Commissioning of newly built MS EUROPA 2 in Spring 2013<\/div>\n<div>\u2022\u00a0 Commissioning of MS COLUMBUS 2 in April 2012<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Hapag-Lloyd Cruises will strategically expand its product offering\u00a0 by 2013 with the addition of two ships to its existing fleet. With the newly built MS EUROPA 2 the company will strengthen its leading position in the Luxury segment by Spring 2013. The Premium segment will be enhanced as of April 2012 with COLUMBUS 2.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Sebastian Ahrens, Managing Director of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises: &#8220;We are pleased to be increasing our product diversity with both ships with the aim of reaching new target groups. The EUROPA 2 is the logical further development and contemporary interpretation of a luxury ship and, as sister ship to the existing EUROPA, will be positioned as a lifestyle-oriented and informal 5-star vessel. The COLUMBUS 2 fulfils the demand for a relaxed, small Premium ship with a modern concept in the German-speaking cruise market, and therefore offers an expansion of this segment, which is attractive for us by its nature and in commercial terms.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The EUROPA 2, with her eleven decks and 258 suites, will accommodate a maximum of 516 passengers and offers the largest amount of space per passenger on a cruise ship, with all-veranda suite accommodation of at least 28 square metres. Spa, penthouse and family suites complete the accommodation range. Seven restaurants, including a sushi Bar, two lounges and four bars will offer culinary diversity and a multi-faceted entertainment programme. A large wellness and spa zone, as well as a variety of sport- and health-oriented facilities, will do justice to the current trend for active holidays and wellbeing. With seven-day combinable cruises to the Mediterranean in the summer months and to distant destinations in winter, the EUROPA 2 will be particularly suited to fulfilling the requirements of guests taking time out from work and of families who are looking for an easy-going holiday in an elegant ambience at sea. Equipped with a fleet of Zodiacs, the EUROPA 2 will also be in a position to offer landings in small harbours and isolated bays off the familiar routes.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The COLUMBUS 2 has eleven decks and with 349 cabins provides accommodation for a maximum of 698 passengers. With just 28 inside cabins and with 89 outside cabins, 170 balcony cabins, 52 penthouse suites and four Vista and six Owners&#8217; suites, the Premium ship offers a very high standard of accommodation for this market segment. The spacious cabins have a standard size of 20 square metres. With four restaurants and three bars the ship has a diversity of dining facilities ranging from casual to informally elegant.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Various stages and lounges are available for the recreational and entertainment programme. The pool deck with its stage offers the prospect of summer events in the open air. A generously sized spa and wellness zone, a pool deck with swimming pool and jacuzzis, sunbathing areas, an on-deck jogging course and on-deck driving range ensure active relaxation on days at sea. W-LAN throughout the whole ship, along with Internet access points in the Library and Observation Lounge, enable passengers to remain connected, even on the high seas.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The ship, which was built in 1998 in what is now the STX shipyard in France, will be sailing in spring and autumn on seven-day combinable routes in the Mediterranean. In the summer months COLUMBUS 2 will be offering twelve-day cruises visiting the Nordic countries and sailing the Baltic Sea. In addition, two- to three-day &#8220;introductory&#8221; cruises, for example at the time of the Hamburg Cruise Days 2012, will give passengers the opportunity to get to know the ship. In the winter months the COLUMBUS 2 will set off on a world cruise to distant destinations.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>An extended route preview with information on the COLUMBUS 2, cabins and deck plans will be published on 25th January. Bookings will be taken from that date onward.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is represented in Australia by Landmark Travel, <a href=\"mailto:gerd@landmarktravel.com.au\">gerd@landmarktravel.com.au<\/a> or\u00a013 00 13 68 46<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2022\u00a0 Commissioning of newly built MS EUROPA 2 in Spring 2013 \u2022\u00a0 Commissioning of MS COLUMBUS 2 in April 2012 Hapag-Lloyd Cruises will strategically expand its product offering\u00a0 by 2013 with the addition of two ships to its existing fleet. With the newly built MS EUROPA 2 the company will strengthen its leading position in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[333],"class_list":["post-3967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-hapag-lloyd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3967\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}