Cruising Journal

Plantours: MS Hamburg in a New Guise

Plantours introduces, on the occasion of its relocation from Bremen to Hamburg, the innovations concerning the ship, the itinerary, and the corporate image.

There are many novelties for 2024 at Plantours: a new corporate design, including a fresh livery for the Hamburg, a new headquarters in Hamburg (previously in Bremen), and numerous new routes and destinations for the company’s only ocean cruise ship. On June 14, the company and its owner invited customers and partners to the new offices on the Alster and Elbe rivers, as well as aboard the Hamburg.

Founded in 1989 as Plantours & Partner in Hanover, the company, born from a travel agency, began operations in 1990 with the Vistamar, built in 1989. Plantours & Partner relocated to Bremen in 1994, and in 2006, the Italian catering group Ligabue (Venice) joined the company. In 2012, the Hamburg replaced the Vistamar, and Plantours & Partner became Plantours Kreuzfahrten. In 2020, the Lady Diletta entered service, the first of Plantours’ two river cruise ships, and now there are six river cruise ships in the program. The recent move is due to a change in location, but the new headquarters in the Pazifikhaus on Holzdamm in Hamburg places the company in the heart of Germany’s largest maritime hub in its 35th year of operation.

MS HAMBURG – The World Explorer Ship

With great pride, the leadership of Ligabue and Plantours was invited aboard the Hamburg, following the inauguration of the new offices on June 14, during a regular passenger change at Cruise Terminal Baakenhöft, Hamburg’s smallest yet central cruise terminal. It’s no coincidence that according to Plantours, the Hamburg is “Germany’s smallest cruise ship”. It can accommodate 420 passengers and 150 crew members, less than a tenth of giants like the AidaNova (6,600 passengers) or the MSC Grandiosa (6,300 passengers). At the same time, its owners praise it as a “world explorer ship”: repeatedly awarded for its unique itineraries; numerous port plaques in the corridors of the Hamburg testify that this ship has truly seen all seven seas of the world, in perfect harmony with Plantours’ new motto “Der Welt so nah” (“Feel the World”). And not only that: due to its compact size, it can also navigate the Great Lakes of North America and regularly includes polar seas in its itineraries. The Hamburg is defined as a “soft expedition ship”, “small and refined, yet informal” or “a small gem for ocean cruises”. It is aimed at the German-speaking market, ensuring an intimate and almost familial atmosphere on board.

Plantours – from Tour Operator to Shipping Company

Inti Ligabue, grandson of founder Anacleto Ligabue, and since 2023 not only CEO and President but also the sole owner of the family business founded in 1919, praises in his welcome message the intrinsic values of Plantours‘ flagship, built in 1997 as C. Colombus in Wismar. Onboard the Hamburg, customer satisfaction is highest regarding the crew and service (9.75/10) and the food and beverages. The percentage of repeat customers on the ship is 65% – a further sign that passengers gladly return to “their” Hamburg. And it’s not just them; many crew members have been onboard for many years and have become a close-knit community with the ship and passengers – an exception in today’s fast-paced cruise industry.

Oliver Steuber, Plantours‘ managing director, has also been “on board” since 2006, and together with Silvio Ciprietti, CEO of Ligabue’s “Maritime Division,” he explains the innovations around Plantours and the Hamburg. Plantours is being transformed from a tour operator into a real cruise shipping company, says Ciprietti. When asked if this will include a second cruise ship sooner or later, the answer is: “We are scouting the market,” but given Hamburg’s modest size, a fleet expansion is not expected in the short term. It is well known that in 2015, the Deutschland was chartered by Plantours for several weeks, and on the British market, the much larger ships of Saga Cruises (Spirit of Discovery and Spirit of Adventure) operate in a very similar market environment to Plantours. In the end, however, “soul is more important than size.”

The relocation of the shipping company to Hamburg has brought a new challenge to the fore: adding the favorite dish of Hamburgers, the fish sandwich, to the menu of the Hamburg, says Oliver Steuber. Immediately translated as “Fish Tramezzine,” Ligabue promised he would personally ensure, in perfect company style, that it soon appears on the onboard menu, no matter the name.

MS Hamburg in a New Look

The most striking innovation in the summer of 2024 is the new dark hull paint and the new company logo on the Hamburg’s funnel, but its intrinsic values continue to impress. Recently, Plantours and Ligabue used the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 to adapt the Hamburg to the tastes of the 21st century during several weeks of docking in Setubal, Portugal. At that time, 42 outside cabins on decks 4 and 5 were equipped with electrically lowering “Infinity” panoramic windows, the reception area was redesigned, and the wine bar at the aft of deck 5 (at the expense of the onboard shop) was enlarged. Since then, it can serve as a cozy lounge, an entertainment location with a stage for musical performances, or, during expeditions, as a lecture room.

In a new and brighter setting, the Palmgarten is now located on the front pool deck, while the adjacent buffet restaurant has been transformed into “The Grill”. The owners of the Hamburg have invested 20 million euros in these and other measures that give the ship a coziness that is sorely missed in the cruise market. Douglas Ward may consider the Hamburg “dated” and only award it two stars plus for modest comfort, but its supporters do not let anything negative affect the reputation of the small Hamburg. Below deck, there is no sparing with real potted plants, while the walls are adorned with nostalgic photographs of old steamers like the Columbus. Even at the buffet, the food tastes as if personally cooked by Mamma Ligabue, with pasta and risotto. Memorable food? Absolutely not forgettable! At online travel agencies like e-hoi and kreuzfahrten.de, the Hamburg is rated with three stars plus, while Plantours even places it in the four-star range. With such different perceptions, in the end, the only solution is to form your own opinion.
World Cruises and More

Guests aboard the Hamburg have more than enough opportunity for this once they are on board. In fact, the former cruise ship C. Columbus is not a ship for short cruises at all, quite the opposite. As stated by Oliver Steuber, they are currently increasingly accommodating the passengers’ wishes to travel with the ship for more than seven days. Additionally, many of them recently avoid long flights, which is why the Hamburg offers “cruises at your doorstep” until autumn, departing and ending in Hamburg but possibly reaching the Canary Islands. Similar operations are also underway for shipping companies in the British market (from Southampton), and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises recently announced that it prefers to use one of its expedition cruise ships for Northern Europe instead of Antarctica in the cold winter months.

On the other hand, Plantours is again offering the well-established and popular cruises around Cuba for winter 2024/25. Now a classic in the program, each lasting eleven days (on three dates) and including, among other things, an overnight stay in the island’s capital, Havana.

Already bookable is the world cruise 2025/26, which will depart from Hamburg on December 6, 2025, and in 134 days will take guests to Rio de Janeiro, Cape Horn, Antarctica, Cape Town, and the Indian Ocean. Only the beloved Amazon cruises, which were also popular in the past, have sadly been removed from Plantours’ program due to exorbitant pilot fees that left the company no choice. However, in Hamburg and Venice with Ligabue, there is optimism: in 2023, revenues generated by Hamburg increased by 23% compared to the previous year, and bookings for the first four months of 2024 are already 10% higher than the same period last year. Perhaps it is time for Plantours to seriously consider acquiring a second ocean cruise ship? In any case, the name has already been decided, joked Inti Ligabue during the press conference on June 14: if the current ship is named ‘Hamburg’, after Plantours’ headquarters, the second ship could only be called ‘Venezia’. We just have to wait and see when this will actually happen.

Do not miss further news, updates, and reviews of MS Hamburg on Cruising Journal, with photos, videos, and cruise offers.

Kai Ortel

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