 |
Contact Information:
Hapag-Lloyd Cruises
Kreuzfahrten GmbH
Ballindamm 25, D-20095
Hamburg, Germany
49(0)40 / 3001 4600
|
Why Hapag-Lloyd Cruises?
 Fleet's Europa is of the world's top-rated luxury ships
World cruise sails to the Americas, South Pacific, Asia and Middle East
Upscale, well-educated, conservative, self-entertaining passengers
Pampering service on all four of its ships
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
About Hapag-Lloyd Cruises
Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is part of one of the oldest shipping companies in the world. You can spot orange Hapag-Lloyd containers stacked on wharves, racing by on double-stack trains and being towed by semis on highways around the world. And, as a longtime division of Hapag-Lloyd AG, its cruise arm shares the same roots and history.
Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is today a 100 percent-owned subsidiary of TUI AG, which is Europe's leading travel group. It is the result of the merger in 1970 of two of Germany's oldest steamship companies, Hapag (Hamburg-Amerikanische Packfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft or Hamburg America Line) and Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL - North German Lloyd). Both companies were founded in the 1840's to carry passengers and freight between what is now Germany and the United States. Hapag was founded in Hamburg, while North German Lloyd served Bremen. At the time of the companies' founding, both ports were city-states and longtime rivals.
Both lines prospered, and by the 1890's were building large, fast, luxurious ocean liners. Hapag claims to have commissioned the first purpose-built cruise ship, Augusta Victoria, in 1891. In 1896, Hapag's Furst Bismarck crossed to New York in 6 days, 11 hours and 44 minutes, making her the fastest ship in the world. In 1899, NDL commissioned the first four-funnel liner, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse.
In 1911, Hapag launched the first of three giant sisters, the largest ships in the world: Imperator, Vaterland and Bismarck. At the start of World War I, Hapag was the world's largest shipping company with 175 ships. Those ships that survived the war, including the three giant sister ships, were forfeited to the allies as reparations. (NDL was permitted to retain a few ships.) The three giants became famous for their new owners. Imperator had an illustrious career as the Cunard flagship Berengaria. Vaterland was rechristened Leviathan and served as flagship of the United States Lines. Bismarck sailed for White Star Line as Majestic.
Both German companies built new ships in the 1920's. Notable among them were Hapag's Columbus and NDL's Bremen and Europa, the fastest ships of their day. In 1934, the German (Nazi) government became majority stockholder in both lines. Those ships not lost in action during World War II were seized as reparations. Europa, for example, sailed for many years as the French Line's Liberte.
After the war, Hapag concentrated on freight traffic, while NDL returned to the passenger trade. Hapag was the first line to transport standard containers, and Hapag and NDL pooled resources to build the world's first dedicated container ships, which sailed under the name Hapag-Lloyd Container Line.
After the merger, Hapag-Lloyd AG discontinued its transatlantic passenger service. However, in 1981 the line returned to cruising with the launch of Europa, a ship that set the standard for luxury and service in the German market. Seventeen years later and now under the brand name of its new subsidiary Hapag-Lloyd Cruises Ltd., it introduced its new flagship. Also called Europa, the ship is almost the same size as her predecessor, but carries 200 fewer passengers.
Today, the line features four passenger-carrying motor ships, marketed primarily to German-speaking Europeans. It has also begun an effort to increase awareness of the line's offerings to a broader, English speaking market on four of its vessels in 2010 via 18 bilingual sailings on its Europa, Hanseatic, Bremen and Columbus.
Read the complete Hapag-Lloyd Cruises Review
|
|
|
|
|
Read More About Hapag-Lloyd Cruises Ships:
Bremen
• Columbus
• Europa
| |
|
|
|
)
)
)
)
