Grimaldi Lines

dogan · Post by **dogan** » 15 Oct 2022 21:16

I had the chance to travel last week to Mallorca and tour a bit the island.

In Palma, all ships are arriving in early morning (before the sun is up), and leaving between 10.00 and 12.00. Any picture of them inside the harbour is very hard, the sun being always in your eyes ! I caught most of them on 11.10 exiting Palma from the beach near the seafront, only place you can get a nice view of the morning "ferry parade" (about 6 or 7 ships leaving the harbour one after the other !).

Below are pictures taken of the Grimaldi Trasmed ships operating to/from the island. I'll post pictures of Balearia, GNV and Trasmapi ships in their respective threads.

Regular ships to Barcelona and Valencia are Ciudad de Palma and Ciudad de Alcudia (ex-Euroferry Egnazia).
Both ships are here seen in Palma harbour from Castel de Bellver (very nice castel to visit by the way !!).

(On the last picture, GNV Bridge, leaving Palma)

Ciudad de Alcudia leaving Palma on 11.10.

Ciudad de Palma leaving Palma on 11.10.

Eco Mediterranea and Eco Adriatica are the two new roro operating the Sagunto (Spain) - Palma (Mallorca) - Cagliari (Sardegna) - Salerno (Italy) link. Here they are seen from the western coast of Mallorca, departing Palma to Sagunto (so not the best quality).

Left : Eco Mediterranea on 10.10 / Right : Eco Adriatica on 06.10.

Ciudad de Mahon came once to Palma during my trip (09.10), but arrived and departed too early to be properly photographed. Here is the only shot I got of her ! She was due to be back on more appropriate hours the next day, but her trip seems to have been cancelled at the last minute.

Some different pictures can also be seen on my shipspotting page : https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/gallery?user=19464

Post by **hhvferry** » 19 Oct 2022 12:33

hhvferry wrote: ↑13 Oct 2022 14:29 I'm not sure in terms of vessel availability they had to close the Savona route to open the Palermo one though. The Civitavecchia-Olbia route has also just closed for the winter and the ship involved, the Cruise Bonaria, would have been free. She has scuttled off to Brindisi though so maybe is to be used for refit cover in the Adriatic and Greece.

The above looks to be the case and the Cruise Bonaria today starts a two week spell covering on the Igoumenitsa-Ancona route in place of the Visentini Florencia (which I presume is going for refit).

Assuming they've not totally wrecked the Bonaria yet it's bit of a hardware upgrade for the poor unfortunates who erroneously choose to sail with Grimaldi's two Visentinis rather than the infinitely superior Superfast and ANEK ships on their legs on this route.

Post by **hhvferry** » 20 Oct 2022 18:55

Let's cross over to scenes from a comfortable and relaxing crossing on the well-maintained Zeus Palace.

ManiaNave · Post by **ManiaNave** » 25 Oct 2022 07:10

possible new arrival at Grimaldi Lines

In recent days, the Grimaldi Lines company has made an offer to the Superfast XI ferry as it is for sale, and Grimaldi was the only one to have made an offer to purchase this ferry.

: Superfast XI Ferry

Post by **hhvferry** » 25 Oct 2022 17:36

Acquiring Superfast XI and also bringing in - as has been speculated - the Jean Nicoli would fill out their fleet plans nicely.

Post by **hhvferry** » 26 Oct 2022 00:29

This will be an ironic deployment. The Europa Palace (ex-Superfast VI) is being placed on the old backpacker line from Brindisi to Patras. The Superfasts when conceived were designed for the express Patras-Igoumenitsa-Ancona run, dispensing with the need for people from the north to drive all the way down to Bari or Brindisi to make shorter crossings to Greece. Now she is going to end up on that route.

[In Greek] New Route Patra – Igoumenitsa – Brindisi operated by Grimaldi Lines

As for this being "a new route"... ! Grimaldi Lines operated this exact same service using Visentinis and then for a while the Euroferry Egnazia and Euroferry Olympia for a number of years. They then trimmed it back to just Brindisi-Igoumenitsa when the loadings down to Patras were so light the sail couldn't be justified. Now it's back, 3 x a week. The Igoumenitsa (ex-Finnclipper) remains on the Brindisi-Igoumenitsa route so it's going back to two ships.

Perhaps of much greater significance is that deploying the Europa Palace here means that the Ancona-Patras route is going to close, at least for the winter. It's little more than a decade that the huge Cruise Olympia and Cruise Europa (then still Minoan Lines branded) were delivered specifically for that route.

Post by **hhvferry** » 26 Oct 2022 20:38

Just to confirm some details of this - the final Ancona-Patras sailing of the Europa Palace is on 31st October.

The ship then picks up the new operation with a Patras-Igoumenitsa-Brindisi sailing on 1st November.

Similar to her current schedule on the Ancona run she makes three round trips a week.

The northbound timetable is -
d Patras 1700
d Igoumenitsa 0100
a Brindisi 0830

Southbound it's -
d Brindisi 2000
a Igoumenitsa 0700
a Patras 1500

Southbound in particular is very leisurely and doesn't really require a fast ship like this. Much more economic though.

With the Igoumenitsa (ex-Finnclipper) continuing her daily Igoumenitsa-Brindisi round trips, which also leave Greece at 0100, this means there will be a pair of Grimaldi ships running in parallel on this leg a couple of times a week.

Post by **hhvferry** » 27 Oct 2022 20:06

L'Ora di Brindisi has now picked up this story and is delighted about the historic Patras trade returning to their local port. "And what a ship!" they proclaim.

One detail I'd not picked up on before is that, in addition to the three round trips a week mentioned above on the full Brindisi-Igoumenitsa-Patras line she will also be making a Friday evening out/Saturday daytime back round trip just between Brindisi and Igoumenitsa.

[In Italian]L'Ora di Brindisi: Grimaldi bets on Brindisi: a super ship from Ancona will restore the connection with Patras

Post by **hhvferry** » 29 Oct 2022 10:24

Another one of the green Ecos is delivered.

Post by **hhvferry** » 14 Nov 2022 00:17

Link below to a voyage report by Nikos on Shipfriends of a sailing on Grimaldi's Visentini Corfu from Cagliari to Naples. As you might expect, the experience was not particularly positive.

https://www.shipfriends.gr/forum/topic/7740-the-week-in-review/#comment-352126

Post by **hhvferry** » 24 Nov 2022 21:06

Cruise Bonaria has taken over the new Brindisi-Igoumenitsa-Patras line in place of the Europa Palace, which I assume is going for refit. The EP returns in around a month's time.

Post by **hhvferry** » 30 Nov 2022 20:52

A news article today on Grimaldi's Adriatic operations, the basics of which are quoted further down.

As ever reporters shouldn't keep taking Grimaldi press statements without properly explaining or contextualising them.

First they are saying the second ship at Brindisi is a new development. Well it might be if they hadn't maintained a two ship Brindisi-Igoumenitsa-Patras service until only a couple of years ago.

The actual main news points from developments at Brindisi are:

1. The Europa Palace has stopped running Ancona - Igoumenitsa- Patras and now runs Brindis-Igoumenitsa-Patras (this isn't really news as it happened a few weeks ago). The Igoumenitsa's sailings between Brindisi and Igoumenitsa are unchanged.

2. What should still be highlighted is the remarkable exit of Grimaldi from the Ancona-Patras trade. And there is confirmation that they don't appear to be returning to it even next summer (they still run Ancona-Igoumenitsa with a pair of Visentinis)).

3. Next summer the Patras leg of the Brindisi route that they are lauding here will be summarily dropped and the Europa Palace and Igoumenitsa will instead both operate a shuttle service between Brindisi and Igoumenitsa only, each doing a daily round trip on the route. The Patras legs of the Europa Palace will only resume after the summer peak.

4. Grimaldi now unfortunately control the port of Igoumenitsa and we should always bear developments with that in mind.

I don't follow the ro-ro schedules as closely but this story says the addition of a fourth ship means there will now be daily departures on the Venice - Bari - Patras run compared to the current three departures per week. Yet when they brought the third ship in just a few months ago they proclaimed that this would enable eight departures a week on the route 🤔

Grimaldi inserts a fourth ship on Venice - Bari - Patras
[Translated]
The Grimaldi group of Naples has announced that on 6 and 7 December next in Bari and Brindisi it will celebrate the expansion of its maritime lines between Italy and Greece.

More specifically, the Neapolitan shipping company will introduce a fourth ro-ro ship on the Venice – Bari – Patras route, increasing the frequency of the service which will thus become daily compared to the current three rotations per week.

In addition to this, the Grimaldi Group will also present the entry into the connections with Greece of the Europa Palace ferry which will be added to the Igoumenitsa ship and which, in addition to covering the Brindisi-Igoumenitsa route, will extend the its route also to the port of Patras.

Source: [In Italian] Grimaldi inserts a fourth ship on Venice - Bari - Patras

Post by **hhvferry** » 02 Dec 2022 18:55

Here's another of those "Grimaldi have announced a refit of this ship" articles that has pictures showing hardly anything has changed. OK a few new vinyls but the Ciudad de Palma, which is 15 years old now, is essentially still factory-fit Visentini in the images in the link below.

Note the fifth picture down has the letters 'CNV' inlaid into the floor tiles - that's Cantiere Navale Visentini, the ship's builders and owners for the first six years of her life. Grimaldi aren't alone in leaving this detail in place, Balearia's Napoles and Sicilia also still have it.

Linky: [In Spanish] Trasmed introduces improvements to the ship "Ciudad de Palma"

Post by **hhvferry** » 06 Dec 2022 00:25

Here we have Grimaldi Lines' provisional 2023 Summer line-up (passenger ships only).

The Cruise Smeralda (ex-Ikarus Palace and, in my view, the company's nicest ship) has yet to be allocated a route.

Even with her operations still not finalised Grimaldi don't yet have enough ships to fulfil the operations they ran in 2022 given the addition of the Naples-Palermo line. The veil was very quickly and embarrassingly drawn over the Savona-Porto Torres route which was opened with much fanfare. The Savona-Barcelona-Tangier line has also long gone and the Cruise Smeralda's Salerno-Palermo-Tunis line is also missing at the moment. In fact there aren't any announced Tunis sailings at all in the schedules yet amidst rumours Grimaldi could also abandon that market entirely.

So there are plenty of places the Cruise Smeralda could be allocated to yet; if I had to bet I'd say they'll keep the Salerno-Palermo-Tunis route going, although the Naples-Palermo route is presumably abstracting traffic on the domestic legs. The alternative is to try again at Porto Torres where GNV and Moby will be very keen to give them another kicking.

All this assumes there are no further fleet additions to come - and there are rumours of ships like the Jean Nicoli or Superfast XI being on Grimaldi's shopping list.

------------
GRIMALDI LINES
Cruise Roma - Civitavecchia-Porto Torres-Barcelona
Cruise Barcelona - Civitavecchia-Porto Torres-Barcelona
Cruise Europa - Livorno-Olbia
Cruise Sardegna (ex-Cruise Olympia) - Livorno-Olbia

Zeus Palace - Livorno-Palermo
Cruise Bonaria (ex-Knossos Palace) - Civitavecchia-Olbia
Cruise Smeralda (ex-Ikarus Palace) - TBC

Europa Palace (ex-Superfast VI) - Brindisi-Igoumenitsa (Brindisi-Igoumenitsa-Patras outside peak season)
Cruise Ausonia (ex-Superfast XII) - Naples-Palermo (schedule steps up to round trips every 24 hours)

Igoumenitsa (ex-Finnclipper) - Brindisi-(Corfu)-Igoumenitsa

Venezia - Ancona-(Corfu)-Igoumenitsa
Florencia - Ancona-(Corfu)-Igoumenitsa
Catania - TBC but presumably Civitavecchia-(Arbatax)-Cagliari
Corfu - Naples-Cagliari-Palermo

GRIMALDI TRASMED
Ciudad de Granada (ex-Sorolla) - Valencia-Ibiza, Barcelona-Ibiza, Barcelona-Mahon
Ciudad de Palma (ex-Borja Dos, Dimonios) - Valencia-Palma, Barcelona-Palma, Barcelona-Ibiza
Ciudad de Barcelona (ex-Volcan del Teide) - Barcelona-Alcudia-Mahon, Barcelona-Palma
Ciudad de Mahon (ex-Volcan de Tijarafe) - Valencia-Ibizia-(Palma), Barcelona-Ibiza
Ciudad de Alcudia (ex-Finnhansa, Euroferry Egnazia) - Valencia-Palma-(Mahon), Barcelona-Mahon

MINOAN LINES
Kydon Palace (ex-Festos Palace) - Piraeus-(Milos?)-Chania
Festos Palace (ex-Europa Palace) - Piraeus-(Milos)-Heraklion
Knossos Palace (ex-Olympia Palace) - Piraeus-(Milos)-Heraklion
Santorini Palace (ex-Highspeed 5) - Piraeus-Syros-Tinos-Mykonos-Paros-Naxos-Santorini-Heraklion

Post by **hhvferry** » 15 Dec 2022 09:54

Grimaldi Lines are again this year doing the Rome and Barcelona New Year mini cruises which have proven popular in the past. It looks like the Barcelona one might be sold out already as it's gone off sale on their website.

The Civitavecchia-Barcelona ships Cruise Roma and Cruise Barcelona are employed, each doing the one destined for their namesake city.

Unlike some other ferry company New Year mini cruises in Southern Europe (e.g. Superfast to Patras/Athens and Grimaldi's Naples-Palermo one) which just tag on a hotel stay ashore around the regular ferry timetables with perhaps some events on board these actually involve five nights on the ship: two at sea on regular ferry passage with the vessel being used as a floating hotel whilst on their berths in Barcelona and Civitavecchia in between times. This is a rather better deal for Italians heading to Spain than vice-versa as Civitavecchia port is a good hour's drive or train north of Rome whereas the Grimaldi terminal in Barcelona, although not as conveniently located at the end of La Rambla as the Balearia/GNV/Trasmed. terminals, is at least nearby to the city centre.

Minicrociera di Capodanno a Barcellona (Grimaldi Lines)

Fin de Año 2022 (Barcelona-Roma)

ryanh · Post by **ryanh** » 15 Dec 2022 10:30

hhvferry wrote: ↑15 Dec 2022 09:54 Grimaldi Lines are again this year doing the Rome and Barcelona New Year mini cruises which have proven popular in the past. It looks like the Barcelona one might be sold out already as it's gone off sale on their website.

The Civitavecchia-Barcelona ships Cruise Roma and Cruise Barcelona are employed, each doing the one destined for their namesake city.

Unlike some other ferry company mini cruises in Southern Europe (e.g. Superfast to Patras/Athens and Grimaldi's Naples-Palermo one) which just tag on a hotel stay ashore around the regular ferry timetables with perhaps some events on board these actually involve five nights on the ship: two at sea on regular ferry passage with the vessel being used as a floating hotel whilst on their berths in Barcelona and Civitavecchia in between times. This is a rather better deal for Italians heading to Spain than vice-versa as Civitavecchia port is a good hour's drive or train north of Rome whereas the Grimaldi terminal in Barcelona, although not as conveniently located at the end of La Rambla as the Balearia/GNV/Trasmed. terminals, is at least nearby to the city centre.

capodanno-grimaldi-barcellona2023.jpg

Minicrociera di Capodanno a Barcellona (Grimaldi Lines)

Fin de Año 2022 (Barcelona-Roma)

Sounds good to me, and more appealing than anything on offer from the UK - I think only DFDS are offering anything this year?

Are these nice ships to spend a few days on? We did Honfleur for new year on the Pont-Aven four years ago, I think that was 3 or 4 nights, and the ship worked really well in 'cruise' mode I thought.

Post by **hhvferry** » 15 Dec 2022 12:40

ryanh wrote: ↑15 Dec 2022 10:30
Are these nice ships to spend a few days on?

I'm always hard on Grimaldi because the standards on their ships are so often substandard. And there are bits on the four 'Cruise' class which are obviously done on the cheap. However the 'Barcelona' and 'Roma' generally scrub up fine and whilst I would baulk at the prospect of spending five nights on board they are still probably the best way of getting between Spain and Italy. The decor is very appropriately and overtly modern, if not stark, in most ways but with hints of that Italian trait of inserting random bits of classicism amongst the modernism: random columns, busts of presumably Roman noblemen, light fittings in the shape of flaming torches and a series of forgettable and cheaply reproduced murals. But they are certainly distinctive.

The Cruise Barcelona is my favourite of the four for no obvious reason as they're essentially identical (well they were before the Barcelona and Roma were stretched).

Here are some pictures on her from 2018, so before the stretch (although I don't think any of the existing public spaces were significantly changed).

: Cruise Barcelona

: Cruise Barcelona: Standard four berth outside cabin

: Cruise Barcelona: Deck 8 Stairway

: Cruise Barcelona: Smaila's Club showlounge, forward Deck 10

: Cruise Barcelona: Smaila's Club bar area

: Cruise Barcelona: Plaza de Catalunya cafe area, amidships Deck 10

: Cruise Barcelona: Circulation space

: Cruise Barcelona: Barceloneta self service restaurant, amidships Deck 10

: Cruise Barcelona: Driver's Club, Deck 10

: Cruise Barcelona: Puerto Olimpico Waiter service restaurant, Deck 10

: Cruise Barcelona: Puerto Olimpico Waiter service restaurant

: Cruise Barcelona: Nightclub, Deck 11

: Cruise Barcelona: Pool & outside deck, Deck 11

Post by **hhvferry** » 13 Jan 2023 19:30

An update to our Summer 2023 Grimaldi fleet allocations. The guys on Navi e Armatori have spotted that the Cruise Smeralda (ex-Ikarus Palace)'s summer sailings have gone on sale and she is sticking with the mainland-Palermo/Tunis routes.

I've also downgraded the Catania to a 'TBC'. There are quite persistent rumours that Grimaldi won't be operating her Civitavecchia-Arbatax-Cagliari route beyond the end of the current concession which finishes in the Spring.

As expected still no sign of them making a sheepish return to the Savona (or Genoa) to Porto Torres route or, as yet, a second ship for the Naples-Palermo route.

If the Catania is free the logical thing to do would be to move her to the Brindisi-Igoumenitsa operation which, particularly shorn of its leg down to Patras in the summer peak, doesn't need a fast or expensive ship like the currently allocated Europa Palace (ex-Superfast VI). Then the latter vessel could move west and pair up for the summer with her half-sister the Cruise Ausonia in a formidable-looking pairing on Naples-Palermo. That would definitely ruffle some GNV/Tirrenia feathers.

GRIMALDI LINES
Cruise Roma - Civitavecchia-Porto Torres-Barcelona
Cruise Barcelona - Civitavecchia-Porto Torres-Barcelona
Cruise Europa - Livorno-Olbia
Cruise Sardegna (ex-Cruise Olympia) - Livorno-Olbia

Zeus Palace - Livorno-Palermo
Cruise Bonaria (ex-Knossos Palace) - Civitavecchia-Olbia
Cruise Smeralda (ex-Ikarus Palace) - weekly rotation: Civitavecchia-Tunis-Palermo-Salerno-Palermo-Tunis-Palermo-Salerno-Palermo-Tunis-Civitavecchia

Europa Palace (ex-Superfast VI) - Brindisi-Igoumenitsa (Brindisi-Igoumenitsa-Patras outside peak season)
Cruise Ausonia (ex-Superfast XII) - Naples-Palermo (schedule steps up to round trips every 24 hours)

Igoumenitsa (ex-Finnclipper) - Brindisi-(Corfu)-Igoumenitsa

Venezia - Ancona-(Corfu)-Igoumenitsa
Florencia - Ancona-(Corfu)-Igoumenitsa
Catania - TBC
Corfu - Naples-Cagliari-Palermo

GRIMALDI TRASMED
Ciudad de Granada (ex-Sorolla) - Valencia-Ibiza, Barcelona-Ibiza, Barcelona-Mahon
Ciudad de Palma (ex-Borja Dos, Dimonios) - Valencia-Palma, Barcelona-Palma, Barcelona-Ibiza
Ciudad de Barcelona (ex-Volcan del Teide) - Barcelona-Alcudia-Mahon, Barcelona-Palma
Ciudad de Mahon (ex-Volcan de Tijarafe) - Valencia-Ibizia-(Palma), Barcelona-Ibiza
Ciudad de Alcudia (ex-Finnhansa, Euroferry Egnazia) - Valencia-Palma-(Mahon), Barcelona-Mahon

MINOAN LINES
Kydon Palace (ex-Festos Palace) - Piraeus-(Milos?)-Chania (as of 13/1 this operation hasn't actually been officially confirmed yet for 2023 as far as I can see)
Festos Palace (ex-Europa Palace) - Piraeus-(Milos)-Heraklion
Knossos Palace (ex-Olympia Palace) - Piraeus-(Milos)-Heraklion
Santorini Palace (ex-Highspeed 5) - Piraeus-Syros-Mykonos-Paros-Naxos-Santorini-Heraklion (absolutely not in conjunction with Fast Ferries' Thunder, they just completely coincidentally run the same basic route leaving at exactly the same time on alternate days.)

Post by **hhvferry** » 16 Jan 2023 17:20

As hinted at above the future of Grimaldi's subsidised Civitavecchia-Arbatax-Cagliari route, currently operated by the Catania, is very uncertain according to this article in L'Unione Sarda.

The maritime connections between the Italian mainland and Sardinia have in recent years become even more skewed towards ports in the north of the island. But Cagliari, the island's capital with a population of 150,000 people, is a long way from those ports in Olbia and Porto Torres: 3+ hours by road, longer still by the infrequent trains.

As on the Italian mainland, the south of Sardinia seems somehow a very different place to the north; it does seem hard to believe it can't support at least one ferry operation when there are about a dozen large passenger ferries sailing in and out of Olbia and Porto Torres every day in the summer but that's what is suggested.

[Translated from Italian, full article on the link at the bottom]
Cagliari at risk of isolation by sea, the government: "Route with Civitavecchia is not very profitable"
January 15, 2023 17:38

Cagliari again risks isolation by sea . The route from Civitavecchia, with a stop at Arbatax "is considered scarcely profitable by the shipowners because it is characterized by very high costs and conditioned by the competition exerted by other lines". Furthermore "both the European Commission and the Transport Regulation Authority (Art) have expressed perplexity on the need to maintain the line under a public service regime". From March it could be closed, for this reason "a comparison and analysis activity has been launched with public and private stakeholders, in particular with the Region, in order to identify a service structure that reconciles all needs in the best possible way" .

These are the words of the undersecretary of the Ministry of Transport, Tullio Ferrante, in response to a question by the Cagliari deputy Francesca Ghirra who asked for reassurances on the future of the maritime connection of the capital of the island, currently guaranteed only three times a week.

The real problem is that the Civitavecchia-Arbatax-Cagliari route is "considered scarcely profitable: despite the subsidy originally foreseen as a basis for the tender", added the undersecretary, "the awarding procedure has not aroused particular interest on the part of shipowners, who are happier to serve other routes where the profit margins are objectively different". The dialogue is open, assured the exponent of the Meloni government. The solution, however, is not there yet. As the March deadline approaches.

Link: L'Unione Sarda: January 15, 2023 at 5:38 pm Cagliari at risk of isolation by sea, the government: «Route with Civitavecchia not very profitable»

Post by **hhvferry** » 17 Jan 2023 12:49

hhvferry wrote: ↑13 Jan 2023 19:30
Santorini Palace (ex-Highspeed 5) - Piraeus-Syros-Mykonos-Paros-Naxos-Santorini-Heraklion (absolutely not in conjunction with Fast Ferries' Thunder, they just completely coincidentally run the same basic route leaving at exactly the same time on alternate days.)

The link between Fast Ferries and Minoan Lines has now been confirmed - see The Minoan Lines thread.

Post by **hhvferry** » 28 Jan 2023 09:28

The Europa Palace is Civitavecchia-bound. She's taking over the subsidised Civitavecchia-Cagliari route whilst the Catania is off.

Her Brindisi-Igoumenitsa-Patras route is suspended whilst she does this; Grimaldi may have made a large fanfare at Brindisi just a few weeks ago proclaiming this supposedly "new" service but it's evidently bottom of the pile of priorities when a ship is needed elsewhere. I wonder how long the service will actually last for or if it will just be disappeared like the similarly heralded Savona-Porto Torres route last year.

Post by **hhvferry** » 29 Jan 2023 01:40

hhvferry wrote: ↑30 Nov 2022 20:52 As ever reporters shouldn't keep taking Grimaldi press statements without properly explaining or contextualising them.

I don't follow the ro-ro schedules as closely but this story says the addition of a fourth ship means there will now be daily departures on the Venice - Bari - Patras run compared to the current three departures per week. Yet when they brought the third ship in just a few months ago they proclaimed that this would enable eight departures a week on the route 🤔

Grimaldi inserts a fourth ship on Venice - Bari - Patras
[Translated]
The Grimaldi group of Naples has announced that on 6 and 7 December next in Bari and Brindisi it will celebrate the expansion of its maritime lines between Italy and Greece.

More specifically, the Neapolitan shipping company will introduce a fourth ro-ro ship on the Venice – Bari – Patras route, increasing the frequency of the service which will thus become daily compared to the current three rotations per week.

The first line on this post is as relevant now as it was back then. As the old lady in the 1980s Wendy's commercials said: "where's the beef?"

Because almost two month's later there is still no fourth ship on the Venice-Bari-Patras route. And the operation remains three-times weekly rather than "daily" as promised.

(acknowledgements to proud_ionian on Shipfriends for pointing this out).

andreg · Post by **andreg** » 31 Jan 2023 19:18

It seems that some changes will occur in Grimaldi's summer schedule: Cruise Smeralda could be transferred into Finnlines fleet - in order to substitute the Igoumenitsa (ex-Finnclipper), allowing the Vizzavona (ex-Finneagle), whose charter ends in April, to be deployed together with her sister ship on the Brindisi-Igoumenitsa.

A possible fleet allocation system could be the following:

Civitavecchia-Arbatax-Cagliari: Corfu
Napoli-Cagliari: Europa Palace (ex Superfast V, Bimini Superfast, Cruise Olbia)
Napoli-Palermo: Cruise Ausonia
Livorno-Palermo: Zeus Palace
Salerno-Palermo-Tunis-Civitavecchia: Catania
Brindisi-Igoumenitsa: Igoumenitsa, Vizzavona

Catania will return to her ordinary Tunisian schedule, whilst the Europa Palace could be a huge upgrade in Napoli-Cagliari sailings.

[Considering the speed with which Grimaldi changes programming, I do not exclude that this could be further distorted - eg. they could swap Europa Palace and Cruise Ausonia, other rumors even speak of Ausonia on the Civitavecchia-Olbia instead of Cruise Bonaria etc.]

We'll see in the coming weeks...

Post by **hhvferry** » 01 Feb 2023 13:15

andreg wrote: ↑31 Jan 2023 19:18 It seems that some changes will occur in Grimaldi's summer schedule: Cruise Smeralda could be transferred into Finnlines fleet - in order to substitute the Igoumenitsa (ex-Finnclipper), allowing the Vizzavona (ex-Finneagle), whose charter ends in April, to be deployed together with her sister ship on the Brindisi-Igoumenitsa.

The Vizzavona appears to be staying with Corsica Linea, for this summer at least. So if Grimaldi are in need of a different ship at Brindisi it doesn't seem that it will be her.

ManiaNave · Post by **ManiaNave** » 01 Feb 2023 14:00

hhvferry wrote: ↑01 Feb 2023 13:15
andreg wrote: ↑31 Jan 2023 19:18 It seems that some changes will occur in Grimaldi's summer schedule: Cruise Smeralda could be transferred into Finnlines fleet - in order to substitute the Igoumenitsa (ex-Finnclipper), allowing the Vizzavona (ex-Finneagle), whose charter ends in April, to be deployed together with her sister ship on the Brindisi-Igoumenitsa.

The Vizzavona appears to be staying with Corsica Linea, for this summer at least. So if Grimaldi are in need of a different ship at Brindisi it doesn't seem that it will be her.

the charter of vizzavona to Corsica Lines ends in October 2023 not in April