Here the captain himself lends a hand!
There’s only water in the Fine Dining Club, and the atmosphere in the Lounge Café is anything but relaxed. But progress is being made with the conversion of our saloon ship, the “Gräfin Cosel.” Floors are being poured and sanded, cables are being laid, work is being done in the ship’s belly, and welding is being done on the hull. Almost three months after the ship’s conversion began at the Dresden-Laubegast shipyard, even laypeople can see that the dismantling is complete, and that new things are being built to replace the old.
There’s still a good month left for the final renovation. Cables still need to be pulled and connected, new bar coolers were waiting to be installed, and of course, the new furniture is nowhere near ready. The exterior of the saloon ship is currently undergoing visibly different changes. While metal sheets are still being replaced down below, in the basement, so to speak, the upper deck is being painted. The sheets are millimeter-thick steel plates that need to be inserted into the ship’s hull where it had become too thin or had a dent. “It’ll be better than it was in the factory,” says one of the specialists with a smile, while his colleague works inside the ship’s belly.
What’s taking place on the upper deck is the transformation that will be visible at first glance. Captain Roberto Lemke and a colleague are wielding their brushes – with black paint. There’s still a lot to be painted. And yet, we can still glimpse what the ship will look like in the future. Jet black and brilliant white – like new. We’re eagerly awaiting the moment when the tarpaulins and scaffolding disappear in Laubegast…
