CMV Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama cruise ship was launched in 1993 (as "MS Statendam" for Holland America) and operated as "Pacific Eden" (by P&O Australia) in the period 2015-2019. Vessel's sisterships are Pacific Aria (former MS Ryndam) and Pacific Explorer (former Dawn Princess).

History - construction and ownership

On March 7, 2018, the UK company Cruise and Maritime Voyages (CMV) announced the purchase of MS Pacific Eden from P&O Australia. The ship (renamed "Vasco da Gama") starts operations for CMV via the subsidiary Transocean Tours (maiden voyage on April 23, 2019). The official christening ceremony will be held in Bremerhaven (Germany).

The vessel joins CMV as fleet's largest. The name "MS Vasco da Gama" was announced on March 21, 2018. Among the proposed ship names were Amerigo Vespucci, Vasco da Gama, Pytheas, Henry Hudson. The short drydock refurbishment in Singapore (April 2019) will include mainly livery change and rebranding. Then the ship will be repositioned through Suez Canal for an Inaugural cruise season in Northern Europe (May-October).

The newest CMV ship will target mainly the German and Australasian markets. During summer (May through October), the cruise ship is operated by "TransOcean Kreuzfahrten" (CMV’s German brand) and homeported in Bremerhaven and Kiel. During winter (December through March) the ship is operated by CMV and deployed in Australia (homeported in Fremantle-Perth and Adelaide), with repositioning cruises via Suez Canal between Europe and Australia.

Cruise itinerary program

CMV Vasco da Gama cruise itinerary program starts with the "inaugural cruise" from Singapore to Amsterdam Holland (April 23, 2019). The 46-day repositioning (via Suez Canal) visits ports in Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Oman, Egypt, Israel, Greece, Italy, Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Portugal. The repositioning cruise is also offered as a 45-day itinerary to Tilbury-London UK.

From Amsterdam and London, the new ship offers World Cruise (through Panama Canal) to ports in the Caribbean, Mexico, French Polynesia, Cook Islands, New Zealand, and Australia.

On October 9, 2019, from London-Tilbury starts the 53-day southbound repositioning cruise to Sydney NSW (arriving December 1). In Australia, the liner will be homeported in Adelaide, Fremantle, Sydney, and Auckland NZ. From Singapore is offered the 14-day “Treasures of Southeast Asia” cruise (to Borneo, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam), that can be combined into B2B (“Tropical Escape”) - 26-day out of Fremantle.

The 71-day World Cruise from Fremantle to London-Tilbury departs on February 12, 2020.

In Europe, CMV Vasco da Gama is operated by company's German brand "Transocean Kreuzfahrten" and homeported in Kiel and Bremerhaven.

Cabins

CMV Vasco da Gama has a total of 630 well-appointed and spacious passenger cabins in 21 categories graded according to deck position and size. Stateroom sizes range from 176ft2 (16m2) for a standard Inside up to 1095ft2 (102m2) for a Royal Penthouse Suite, with an average size of 202ft2 (19m2).

There are 120 Superior and Premium balcony rooms as well as 29 Deluxe balcony suites including a Royal Penthouse Suite. The majority of twin bedded staterooms convert to double bed cabins. A limited number feature inter-connecting doors, suitable for family groups. 

All Vasco da Gama staterooms are air-conditioned and equipped with a TV, radio, telephone, personal safe and hairdryer.

Shipboard dining options - Food and Drinks

Vasco da Gama has three main Waterfront Restaurants onboard, including Waterfront Eurasia, Waterfront Mediterranean and Waterfront Restaurant where, unlike line's other ships, dining is flexible without fixed sittings. Passengers are free to dine where and when they want to. All meals are included in the cruise fare - breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, 5-course dinner, even late night snacks. Evening meals start with an appetizer followed by delicious soup - with lots of options to choose from. There are also two specialty restaurants, Chef’s Table and The Grill. Another option is the more relaxed buffet style Club Bistro.

CMV Vasco da Gama main courses range from seafood, rack of lamb, escalope of veal, beef medallions, chicken chasseur, Asian stir-fries, Italian pasta, traditional roasts - all available for guests to savor. Vegetarian meals are available to tantalize taste buds, featured on every menu together with health-conscious dishes. Light salads to refresh are offered before you finish meals - fresh fruit, international cheese platter, or delicious desserts, including English trifle, apple strudel, blueberry cheesecake, Baked Alaska, Peach Melba, strawberry tart, creme caramel, or the famous among cruisers chocolate mousse. In all Vasco da Gama bars Australian draught beer is also offered. Fine European and Australian red and white wines collection is available to complement guests’ meal.

Follows the complete list of Vasco da Gama restaurants and food bars.

• MDRs (Waterfront Eurasia, Waterfront Mediterranean, and Waterfront Restaurant). The Waterfront Restaurant is the main dining room which operates with open-seating and a la carte menus (“Your Choice Dining”) for breakfast and lunch and offers a 4-course dinner menu. Part of the Waterfront Restaurant is the Wine Room. It serves the CMV line’s “Chef’s Table” dinner package. 
• The Grill
• Club Bistro (buffet).

Shipboard entertainment options - Fun and Sport

The 3-deck atrium is the focal point of CMV Vasco da Gama offering a Reception, Shore Excursions desk, shopping galleria, and photo gallery. Elsewhere onboard, guests will find a casino, cinema, Trumps & Aces bridge, and card room, meeting room, library, arts, and crafts area. There is also a Gelato’s ice cream bar and Cappuccino’s coffee shop.

At the 2-tiered show lounge Hollywood’s, guests may enjoy ‘big show’ entertainment from line's singers and dancers or one of the special guest acts. The Dome, with its panoramic seascapes, is a relaxing venue to watch the world sail by or chat with fellow passengers. At night, it turns into a disco. The Blue Room is the perfect venue to enjoy musical entertainment.

Vasco da Gama features extensive deck areas along with starboard and portside promenades. There are 2 swimming pools, of which the main top-deck pool boasts a retractable roof. Tennis and basketball courts are also available. The well-appointed wellness center includes hairdressing, beauty and spa facilities, as well as a well-equipped gym.

Onboard entertainment includes CMV Enrichment Programme of speakers, craft specialists and guest entertainers. On selected voyages, guests can enjoy guest comedians in ‘A Laugh on the Ocean Waves’. There is also a photographic expert ready to assist passengers in improving their skills. Evening entertainment consists of stylish productions, cabarets, classical interludes, and guest acts. During days at sea, the entertainments team arranges activities like morning quizzes or afternoon dance classes. 

The cruise ship started its carrier under the name "MS Statendam". It was operated by Holland America Line (1993 to 2015), when was drydock refurbished and transferred to P&O Australia's fleet as "Pacific Eden" (homeported in Sydney NSW). Another newcomer for PandO was Pacific Explorer (former Dawn Princess) - joined the fleet in early 2017. By design, the vessel is identical with Pacific Aria (former ms Ryndam), and also to the Holland America Line ships Veendam and Maasdam.

Fun fact is, that this CMV ship has two namesakes - the CroisiEurope-owned riverboat ms Vasco de Gama and the CMA-CGM-owned box ship Vasco De Gama. The 2015-launched container vessel is 175,000 GT tons and can carry up to 18,000 TEUs (containers).

Next, are listed ship's inaugural cruises for CMV.

46-day repositioning cruise from Asia to Europe (Singapore to Amsterdam). Fly-cruise deals were offered with cruise fare-inclusive flights from UK (London or Manchester) on April 22, 2019. CMV promo deals "buy one get one free" were initially priced from GBP 3500 pp (full fare GBP 7000) for 2 passengers sharing inside cabin.

54-day repositioning cruise from Europe to Australia (Amsterdam to Sydney)

As itinerary segments were offered 50-day Amsterdam to Auckland (Oct 8), 53-days London to Sydney (Oct 9) and 49-day London to Auckland (Oct 9).

P&O Pacific Eden ship

In May 2014, Carnival Corporation (parent company for P&O and Holland America) announced that the vessel will be transferred to P&O Australia in 2015. Pacific Eden started operations in 2015 November, after the renaming ceremony in Sydney NSW.

The christening ceremony was dual (also including the fleet mate Pacific Aria) and held at Fort Denison (Sydney Harbour) on November 25, 2015, with godmother Mrs. Kate Ritchie (actress). Part of the dual naming celebrations were also the fleet mates Pacific Pearl (now CMV Columbus), Pacific Jewel and Pacific Dawn. On each of the five ships were held musical parties with live performances by Jessica Mauboy (on Aria), The Veronicas (on Eden), Samantha Jade (on Pearl), Justice Crew (on Jewel) and Stan Walker (on Dawn).

During the inaugural season, Pacific Eden was homeported in Australian ports, including Sydney, Melbourne, Fremantle-Perth, Adelaide, Cairns, Brisbane. The ship also operated Southeast Asia itineraries leaving roundtrip from Singapore to Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia.

For P&O, Pacific Eden offered regularly scheduled Cruises to Nowhere with specially themed Australian roundtrips without additional ports of call along the route. These short-breaks are usually themed "Food and Wine", "Music" (various styles/performers), "Comedy", "Sports". P&O Australia "cruises to nowhere" prices are also inclusive of all special activities and themed entertainment on the ship, including classes and workshops, lectures, presentations, guest performances, theme parties.

First cruise (Maiden Voyage) for P&O Australia was on November 15, 2015 - 10-day from Fremantle to Sydney, visiting Esperance, Adelaide, Kangaroo Island, Melbourne. First Asian cruise (2016, May 2) was 12-day Fremantle roundtrip to Indonesia, visiting Komodo Island, Ujung Pandang, Lombok, Probolinggo, Bali.

Pacific Eden is the world's second cruise ship to visit Fraser Island - after Pacific Aria. Island's location is along Queensland's southern coast- some 200 km / 120 mi north of Brisbane. This is a World Heritage-listed location and also the largest sand island in the world (length 120 km / 75 ml, width 24 km / 15 ml). The Eden's scheduled visit to Fraser Island Queensland is on December 12, 2016 (Sydney round-trip cruise itinerary). Among the special P&O Cruises shore excursion deals on Fraser Island is the Kingfisher Bay Resort, offering 4WD tours along the island's beaches and some 1500 km / 930 ml of tracks.

Pacific Eden was last refurbished in Singapore (August 2017). More than 100 experienced trade people took only 12 days to complete an elaborate scope of works aboard the ship, including two Conference Rooms, Show Lounge (spanning 2 decks), Dome Bar, Kids Zone, Photo Gallery, Spa, Gym, Crew Bathrooms.

Pacific Eden had a total of 630 cabins (of which 28 Suites, 149 Balcony, 128 Inside rooms, 100 single cabins) in 23 grades. Most Pacific Eden staterooms (80%) are 195-sq.foot Oceanview rooms (353). Of all Pacific Eden cabins, nearly 25% had a private balcony. The largest aboard Pacific Aria was the Penthouse Suite (940 ft2).

Pacific Eden showcased P&O Australia fleet's biggest selection of dining options - 15 venues in total. The Pantry replaced the traditional Lido Buffet. It was an area of fresh-food stations including items like fish and chips and a delicatessen. The Dragon Lady served a range of Asian dishes, Angelo's was an elegant Italian venue. The Cinema doubled as Open Kitchen (cooking school). Other popular venues were Chef's Table (14-seat VIP dining room) and Salt Grill (specialty restaurant by Australian celebrity chef and restaurateur Luke Mangan). Follows the complete list of Pacific Eden restaurants and food bars.

• Waterfront Restaurant (open-seating dining room) - each of the three dining rooms was operated with “Your Choice Dining” (a la carte menus) for breakfast and lunch, and 4-course dinner menu, with tables capacity up to 10 guests. The Waterfront was connected with the Asian and Italian themed dining rooms.
• The Dragon Lady (Asian restaurant; ship’s second dining room)
• The Angelo’s (Italian restaurant, ship's third dining room)
• The Pantry (self-service buffet restaurant with an open-air terrace)
• Salt Grill (reservations-only specialty restaurant via a partnership with Luke Mangan)
• Chef’s Table (VIP dining room in the Galley/ship's kitchen) private dining with included galley tour

The interior design changes that transformed Statendam into Pacific Eden were done by “Tillberg Design” (Sweden). New lounges included Salt Grill Bar (complementing the MIX cocktail bar), Cellar Door (wine tastings) and Dome Observatory (disco nightclub). For kids, innovative activity clubs included Turtle Cove (ages 3-6-yo), Shark Shack (ages 7-10-yo) and HQ for teens. The adults-only Oasis was a top-deck sundeck area. All ages enjoyed Lido Deck's swimming pool. On top-deck aft was the outdoor activity area P&OEdge. The called adventure park includes Rock Climbing Wall and Roupe Course (on the funnel), Zip-Line (across top deck), Bungee Trampoline, Flying Fox (rope jumping across pool deck).

Follows the complete list of Pacific Eden lounges, clubs and other entertainment venues for kids, teens, and adults.

• Atrium (3-decks central open-floor area and social hub)
• The Marquee Theatre (2-decks) for large-scale shows, magic and comedy acts, daily bingo games, trivia quizzes
• Cellar Door (boutique winery)
• Ocean Bar
• Blue Room (bar)
• Monkey Bar
• The Grill (Lido food bar), Pool Bar (beverages)
• Cinema and Open Kitchen (indoor cinema with culinary school)
• Tax and Duty-Free Shops, PANDORA shop (jewelry)
• The Dome (indoor observation lounge with floor-ceiling windows, large dance floor, full-service bar), nightly transforms into a disco nightclub
• Casino (served by MIX Lounge, which doubles as sports bar)
• Expressions Studio (Photo Gallery and Shop); The Library (Internet Cafe)
• The Oasis (adults-only relaxation complex)
• Aqua HealthSpaFitness (Wellness Centre with Day Spa, Thermal Suites, Fitness with a separate room for classes, Hair and Beauty Salon)
• Promenade (decks 6 and 7), 2 swimming pools (1 covered with sliding glass roof, 1 adults-only), 2 jacuzzis
• Teens and Kids club lounges (with complementary activities by P&O youth program) - “Turtle Cove”; “Shark Shack”; “HQ” lounge; “HQ+” teen lounge
• P&OEdge Adventure Park (20 different outdoor activities, including climbing, jumping, racing, flying on ropes)
• Jogging Track
• Deck Games area (Giant Chess Set, Deck Quoits, Shuffleboard)
• Sports Court (basketball, volleyball, tennis)
• Table Tennis; Golf Nets

MS Statendam cruise ship

Follows the table with information regarding the previously named "MS Statendam" Holland America vessel.

• Passenger decks: 10
• Cabin grades number: 26
• Total number of cabins: 630 (of which 149 Suites, no Balcony, 129 Inside, 32 Spa rooms)
• Dining Rooms: Rotterdam
• Restaurants and food bars: Lido (indoor buffet with outdoor Lido Terrace), Terrace Grill (fast-food), Pinnacle Grill (steakhouse, seafood, French /"Le Cirque" in the evening), Canaletto (Italian).
• Lounges & Bars: Showroom at Sea (theater), Wajang (culinary arts, and cinema), Crow’s Nest (nightclub), MIX (Champagne, Spirits & Ales, Martini), Wine Tasting and Gourmet Shops, Explorer’s, Explorations Cafe, Neptune (suite guests), Ocean (Atrium bar), Casino, kids and teens lounges (Club HAL, The Loft, The Oasis), poolside bars.
• Amenities: complimentary 24-Hour Room-Service, Supervised Kids Program ("Club Hal"), cruise ship weddings, Internet/WiFi Access, Laundry/Self-Serve Laundromats, Spa cabins (6 CQ - large oceanview, 2 IQ - Inside), Spa suites (8, BQ category).
• Adults relaxation area (Sea View), Greenhouse Spa, Fitness, 2 jacuzzis, 2 pools, wraparound Promenade (Deck 6).
• Holland America Statendam cruise ship is of the line's 1st S-class vessel.
• The ship's Maiden Voyage was on January 16, 1993, godmother - Lin Arison. It has an art-antiques collection of items from the 17-18-19th centuries (themed Dutch exploration). In its Atrium area, this HAL ship has a huge fountain (by G.Lebigre, Italy).
• This is the 5th HAL ship with this name. Fun fact is that the 2nd Statendam ship never sailed for HAL (then NASM), but for the British - in the WWI, under the name SS Justicia.

MS Statendam itineraries

Holland America Statendam ship was transferred to P&O Australia, starting operations in November 2015. Before the transfer, the ship operated on the following itineraries (Alaskan cruises from Vancouver BC Canada):

• 7-day round-trip from Vancouver - visiting Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, Ketchikan
• 7-day Vancouver to Seward - visiting Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay
• 7-day Seward to Vancouver - visiting Glacier Bay, Haines, Juneau, Ketchikan
• 3-day round-trip Vancouver - sailing along the US Pacific Coastal
• 28-day back-to-back Panama Canal cruises, round-trip from San Diego CA

14-day one-way Panama Canal transits between San Diego and Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades, Florida) 28-day round-trip from San Diego to Hawaii (also visiting Kiribati and French Polynesia) Repositioning to and from Alaska - between San Diego and Vancouver, and back-to-back with Panama Canal transition.

Pacific Eden's tennis-themed cruise (roundtrip Sydney) departed on January 17, 2018, and included 2 full days in Melbourne to attend Australian Open. General admission tickets for 2-day sessions and a night session in Melbourne were included in the package, as well as direct transfers between the ship and Melbourne Park (throughout day and evening). No match was missed during the 2 sea days either, with all sessions screened live on a large screen on the ship. The 5-night "tennis cruise" package prices started from USD 900 per person (twin share cabin).