German shipbuilder Meyer Werft delivered Spirit of Discovery to the British cruise company Saga Cruises.
The 38,350 GT ship is Saga's first ever newbuild. It is also the second newbuild completed by Meyer Werft in 2019 after Spectrum of the Seas which was handed over to Royal Caribbean in April.
Earlier in June, the keel laying for Saga Cruises’ second newbuild, Spirit of Adventure, was celebrated at the shipyard. Spirit of Adventure will be ready in summer 2020. The vessels each have an overall length of 236 meters, a beam of 31.2 meters and can accommodate a total of 999 passengers. Spirit of Discovery will replace Saga Pearl II that was sold earlier in 2019 and starts the inaugural cruising season from homeport Dover UK on June 28.
The relatively small size for a modern ship suits the Saga Cruises market but the addition of the newbuilds will double the overall capacity of the fleet. The size was beneficial to Meyer Werft allowing the use of the yards smaller of 2 building halls for the whole construction.
Spirit of Discovery boasts an environmentally friendly and resource-conserving design. She marks the first time the shipbuilder has equipped a vessel with the eSiPod fully azimuthing podded propulsion system by Siemens. A quartet of 9-cylinder MAN 32/44 engines rated at 5,400kw each give the liner a cruising speed of 16 kN.