Funchal

 Funchal is one of my favorite classic ships that is still sailing, Her classic lines are unaltered in all these years and her profile is just great to admire in this modern cruise age. Although she has been a Portugese liner from the beginning, she was build in Denmark at the Helsingör Skibsvaerft og Maskinbyg in Helsingör. At that time she was the largest ship this wharf had ever built. Her tonnage is just under 10.000 and she was built for the lineservice between Lisbon, Maderia and the islands of the Azores. When build, she had accommodation for 80 passengers in first class, 156 passengers in the tourist A class and 164 passengers in the tourist B class, together with 155 crew. Her length is 152,65 meters, she is 19,08 meters wide and her draft is 6,33 meters. Her homeport was Madeira, Portugal and she kept flying the Portugese flag untill this very day. With just seventeen knots her speed was quite moderate, but passengers on this route did not think a lot about speed. The ship was also used for winter cruising. The ship was also used as the Portugese presidential yaught a few times during her carreer.

The ship had, and that is normal for a ship in her class, three cargo holds that could hold a reasonable amount of cargo. Two forward holds and one aft. All her public rooms are located on the promenade deck and they include a first class lounge, reading and card rooms on the forward section of the deck. Astern are the tourist A class lounge and the smoke room. The first class dining room was on the forward A deck and the galley and tourist class dining room were astern. The tourist B lounge was still further astern on the same deck. The first class cabins all had private bathing fascilities, but the tourist A and tourist B class passengers had shared bathrooms.

Funchal was launched at the 10th of february 1961 and arrived in Lisbon for the first time on the 19th of october of that same year. After that, she sailed steadily on her route with not much intervention or changes.

In 1972, the ship was rebuild at the Nederlandse Scheepsbouw Maatschappij in Amsterdam to a one class cruiseship because passengernumbers were dropping on her line voyages. Luckily, not much was altered to her profile, only a small extra deck was added in front of the funnel and her aft superstructure was extended a little. Her decks are now named from top to keel Navigators, Promenade, Azores, Madeira, Algarve and Estoril. She was transferred to the Companhia Portugesa des Transportes Maritimos one year later but she kept her own name. In 1985, this lovely ship was sold to Arcalia Shipping and opened up their Classic International Cruises brand. She sails for this company ever since and is a well known and popular sight across Europe.

In 2010, the ship was brought up to the new SOLAS-requirements and she would also be recieving her old colours again. Sadly, the owner of Classic International Cruises died during the time of her rebuilding and subsequently the company came in severe financial difficulties. All ships of the line have been arrested in port during september and october 2012 and the company seems to be unable to pay outstanding wages for crew, as well as the 6 million dollars that are still needed for the finishing of the rebuilding of Funchal. It seemed that nobody was able to pay for her lenghty rebuilding and that the only way for the great ship was sailing off to the beaches of India. To everyone's surprise, a Portugese named Rui Alegre bought all former Classic International liners in the beginning of 2013 and stated that he would bring all of them back to service under the new venture of Portuscale Cruises. It first seemed a little far-fetched, but the rebuilding of Funchal at the Naval Rocha shipyards at Lisbon did take place and she emerged as a very fresh looking liner with a black hull (as originally built) and a yellow funnel sporting the 'P' of Portuscale Cruises. Also her interiours have been completely updated. Her rebuilding, costing around 10 million euro has been extensive, but she did not loose her classic profile. The ship was re-inaugurated in presence of the Portugese prime-minister Passos-Coelho at the 1st of august and she left the shipyard at the end of that month. From there, she sailed to Gotheborg, Sweden for her first cruise in northern Europe.

Sadly, several problems arose with the right certifications and also a problem in the ships electrical systems delayed her introduction, but on the 2nd of september of 2013 she finally sailed for a cruise to Scotland from Gotheborg, Sweden. Although these initial problems, the company should be given credits because it can never be easy to put an old ship back in service after a lenghty and uncertain refit. Besides that, we can all be happy that somebody had the chance of keeping those great classic ships sailing and giving them a new lease of life.