Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ expedition ship Bremen called at the Pacific Mariana Islands for the first time and stopped its engines over the deepest point on earth, the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, on Nov. 7. The Bremen’s 125 guests also heard from American explorer Don Walsh, who was onboard as a guest speaker. Walsh and his partner, Jacques Piccard, conquered the almost 11,000-meter deep Mariana Trench for the first and only time in 1960. On his first return to this location after 48 years, Walsh relived the impressions of his record-breaking deep-sea expedition. Moved by this human achievement, the captain of the Bremen, Mark Behrend, recorded in his log book: “We experienced all the events of that monumental day first-hand from this wonderful individual. At the record depth of 10,916 meters, the bathyscaphe Trieste and its two crew members were exposed to pressures of 200,000 tons. It was a very touching moment for us all. For a moment, we were all characters in Jules Verne’s world-famous novel ‘20,000 Leagues under the Sea.’ ”

Bremen and sister ship Hanseatic will be offering bilingual itineraries to warm-water destinations in 2009, including South America, the Amazon, the Panama Canal and the Solomon Islands. The Bremen went through extensive soft renovations in October, including additional computers and Internet connections, new carpeting, renovated bathrooms, new cabin furniture, new flat-screen TVs in all cabins, all cabins converted to non-smoking, and a new cruise sales area. For more information, call 877-445-7447 or visit www.hl-cruises.com.
 

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