The small cruise ship MS Europa made its inaugural call to Nanaimo on Friday (June 2).
The visit is the first by Hapag-Lloyd Cruises to the central Island.
The ship, which can accommodate 408 passengers, is 198 metres in length and has a shallow draft that allows it move into smaller and shallower harbours than larger craft.
Luxury service is a major feature of the Hapag-Lloyd Cruises line. MS Europa has the highest staff-to-passenger ratio in the cruise industry, with 280 multilingual employees serving 400 passengers, most of whom are of German nationality and German is also the primary language aboard the vessel – English is second.
The ship is scheduled to visit Nanaimo for seven hours before moving on to ports on the U.S. West Coast and Mexico.