MS AIDAsol Cruise Ship in Dover Harbour on her Maiden Voyage, Kent, UK

The MS AIDAsol cruise ship entered Dover Harbour on Wednesday, 13th of April, 2011 (closely followed by fog!) via the Eastern Entrance and is shown in front of the White Cliffs of Dover and Eastern Arm pier:


(Click this MS AIDAsol cruise ship text link to see the largest size)

The passenger ship is now heading towards the Admiralty Pier of the Western Docks to berth at CT2 (Cruise Terminal 2).

The photo was taken at 8.49 am approximately 1300 yards away from near the lighthouse and cafe end of the Prince of Wales Pier (eastern side).

In the English Channel, sea fog can occur at any time of the year but seems to be more common in the late Spring and early to mid-Summer when the water inshore is still fairly cold (1).

The maiden voyage of the MS AIDAsol had the following itinerary: Kiel (Germany), Copenhagen (Denmark), Oslo (Norway), Dover (England), Le Havre (France), Amsterdam (Netherlands/Holland), and Hamburg (Germany).

The AIDA Sol had been christened in Kiel 4 days earlier on April 9th by godmother Bettina Zwickler (Betty Zwickler), accompanied by Michael Thamm (AIDA president) after a free concert featuring Kim Wilde, OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark), and John Miles.

Thorsten Albig (Mayor of Kiel) also attended.

An official video showing the MS AIDAsol's arrival in Hamburg prior to the christening on April 1st:

The MS AIDAsol is a Sphinx-class cruise ship, built at Meyer Werft for AIDA Cruises, a British-American owned German cruise line based in Rostock, Germany. Carnival Corporation & PLC is the parent company of AIDA Cruises (2).

Vessel Details (2) (3):

Gross Tonnage: 71,300 tons
Length: 252 metres (826.77 ft)
Beam: 32.2 metres (105.64 ft)
Passengers: 2174
Speed recorded (Maximum / Average): 20.5 / 19.5 knots
Flag: Italy (IT)
Call Sign: ICPE
IMO: 9490040
MMSI: 247302900

Click to see the official AIDAsol webpage (in German), the AIDA Cruises website, and the AIDAsol webcam ("bugcam"). The view is a stitched panorama of three webcams so use the scrollbar at the bottom of the picture.

(1) Fog De-mystified - when, where and how it forms
(2) Wikipedia entry for MS AIDAsol
(3) Marinetraffic entry for MS AIDAsol

The main photo first appeared at:

MS AIDAsol Cruise Ship in Dover Harbour on her Maiden Voyage

Also see:

MS AIDAsol Cruise Ship berthed at Cruise Terminal 2, Admiralty Pier, Dover (not yet uploaded)

Click to see all Dover AIDA Cruises and Cruise Ship photos.

Clickable thumbnails of all harbour-related photos from the main Panoramio Images of Dover website are available on this blog at Port of Dover Page (also linked to at the top below the blog title).

The main site Panoramio photos are each accompanied by a Google Earth satellite map. However, the images are smaller than those on the Images of Dover Blog and the captions are less well formatted.

John Latter / Jorolat

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