Lindblad Expeditions’ National Geographic Explorer (1982/6,471gt) arrived at the Lloyd Werft repair yard in Bremerhaven on 27 April for a three-week overhaul that included attention to the ship’s thrusters, rudder and propeller shafts. The visit also enabled DNV to issue her class renewal before she went back into service on 15 May.
The 148-passenger ship was acquired from Norway’s Hurtigruten in 2007 and, after a major conversion, entered service for Lindblad in the summer of 2008. She was built as one of three vessels for Hurtigruten service that later became known as mid-generation ships, trading on the Norwegian coast as Midnatsol until renamed Midnatsol II in 2003 to release the name for a new ship.
She remained laid up until late 2005, when she re-entered service for Hurtigruten as Lyngen to stand in for a ship that had gone to Antarctica for the winter. At the Bremerhaven facility she occupied space vacated by AIDAbella, which was dry-docked at Lloyd Werft from 2 to 11 April, the first time an Aida ship has been booked into that yard for maintenance.
