Monday, 14 July 2014 - 01:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Yachting and Spa Category/Kategorie: General, Cruise ShipsReading Time: 7minutes
MS Astor is a cruise ship owned by the Germany-based Premicon, under charter to the Germany-based Transocean Tours. She was built in 1987 under the name Astor by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW), Kiel, for the Mauritius-based Marlan Corporation, although originally ordered by the South African Safmarine as a combined ocean liner/cruise ship for the Southampton–Cape Town service.
In 1988 the ship was sold to the Soviet Union-based Black Sea Shipping Company and renamed Fedor Dostoevskiy (some sources spell the name Fedor Dostoyevskiy), but spent her time under charter to various West German cruise lines. In 1995 she reverted to the name Astor. Since 1996 she has been under charter to Transocean Tours. Today she operates for Cruise & Maritime Voyages on voyages in Europe, South Africa and Australia.
Externally, the 1987-built Astor was designed to be almost identical to the 1981-built Astor, but approximately 12 metres (39 ft) longer. Due to the similar design the ships were distinguishable only due to the additional windows below the first lifeboat on the 1987 ship. Both Astors were designed with a sharply raked bow, a relatively low, terraced superstructure and a large, square funnel. In Marlan Corporation service, the Astor was initially painted with a white hull and superstructure, a red decorative stripe deparating the hull and superstructure, and red/blue funnel with a large white cross painted on it alongside the letters ML. This was later altered so that the decorative stripe was extended to cover the entire lowest supersrtucture deck, while the funnel was painted white with red stripes. As Feodor Dostoevskiy, the decorative stripe on the hull reverted to the same form as in the original livery, while the funnel was painted white with blue exhaust pipes and a wide red stripe with the hammer and sickle emblem on it. In Transocean Tours service the ship received a livery with a narrower light/dark blue decorative stripe on the hull, a white funnel with blue exhaust pipes, a thin light/dark blue stripe with Transocean Tours’ large T logo in the middle.
As with the exterior, the interior layout and decorations of the 1987-built Astor were very similar to the 1981-built Astor, down to the bathroom fittings. However, the 1987-built ship was designed with a larger number of suites, improved crew quarters, an added casino and added conference facilities. Like the 1981-built ship, the 1987-built Astor was furnished in traditional style using large amounts of dark wood, with many of the public rooms having high ceilings. The author Douglas Ward described the ship as having “a certain degree of style, comfort and elegance”.
[responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Ernst Werner Siemens was a German inventor and industrialist. Siemens’s name has been adopted as the SI unit of electrical conductance, the siemens. He was also the founder of the electrical and telecommunications company Siemens. After finishing school, Siemens intended to study at the Bauakademie Berlin. However, since his family was highly indebted and thus could not afford to pay the tuition fees, he chose to join the Prussian Military Academy's School of Artillery and Engineering, between the years 1835-1...
