FREEWINDS

Stephen, the FREEWINDS was the former BOHEME, not BOLERO.

Maybe the asbestos story is the reason that she is still with us. I can imagian that a scrapper does not want the hugh cost and trouble for removing it during scrapping.

As long as you leave the asbestos untouched it will be a minimum to no risk at all.

I thought there was a big outcry a few years back when the ship was extensively refitted that the owners employed their own people to remove the asbestos.
Clive

Boheme.... sorry... was at my favourant for last evening... at BOLERO's.

The story is that the FREEWIND owns of the Church of Scientilogy. She is a private vessel so does not carry passenger for 'hire'. The Scientioligists are given cruise for 'free'. One wag said it was their own fault will be their demise... and so it will get rid of the whole lot!

She is a little beauty and seems to be in prefect condition. There is crew on board and seem to be running machinery... but she has been sitting in Aruba at the dock for two years.


Stephen

She is a regular visitor to Willemstad and comes in for a couple of days at a time. I walked past her a couple of days ago and you are right she is always kept smart.
I noticed when I came back a couple of weeks ago there is a polished stone monument just outside the port with the ships name engraved on the base. Not sure what it is as its covered with a tarpaulin. Not going to take a peek either in case I get a Scientologist on my case!

George

Lots of 'free' labor keeping her spotless.

The owners have kept her well as she still exists. Her sisterships were active on calmer seas, but have all been now scrapped (?). I wonder, if the owner looks for a newer vessel as replacement. Her predecessor was the Apollo, an earlier Irish Sea ferry. Perhaps the new vessel is a retired cruise liner.

This is the fourth and last sister in the FINNHANSA class, 2 units built (for Finnlines, the Baltic Sea Finland Germany ferries FINNHANSA and FINNPARTNER) at Wärtsilä Sandviken-Helsinki and two for Lion Ferry at Turku Shipyards, Finland. These two Swedish sisterships were intended for the dual purpose of service between German Hamburg and Great Britain and being Cruise ships in off seasons - the first ship was the PRINS HAMLET, in those times under Swedish flag painted with blue hull. This second sistership contract of the Turku sisters was sold to Swedish Wallenius which decided to build this ship as a Cruise ship, named after Puccini's opera La Bohème (the Walleius director was an Opera Enthusiast, as many european maritime people are in fact... -hence all Wallenius ships being named after operas or opera figures, as well known) and the BOHÈME delivered in 1968 was the only unit of the four sisters with no Ro/Ro deck - thus being the VERY FIRST pure Cruise ship of the famous Wärtsilä shipyards - opening the World market for Royal Viking and Royal Caribbean orders for the Wärtsilä (Vaertsilae) Helsinki yards just some year after, and becoming one of the world's modern and leading shipyards for developing new Cruise ship concepts, still today (the OASIS class for example).