The German “Love Boat” that will be a floating hotel for tourists during the Olympics arrived in London today.
The huge cruise liner leads a fleet of vessels for the Games including super-yachts, tall ships and the royal barge Gloriana.
The MS Deutschland is the largest vessel — at 178 metres — ever to moor at West India Dock, squeezing into position at 5am today. It will be the base for Olympic ticket holders and their evening entertainment will be enhanced by German athletes parading their medals.
The first passengers stepped ashore after breakfast and headed straight for a sightseeing tour by bus.
Monika Oberndorfer, 37, from Munich, said: “We in Germany all know the MS Deutschland. When I was young everyone was visiting the dream boat. It is like a piece of Germany coming.”
“Ship-spotter” Peter Cosgrove, 58, from east London, said: “It is the biggest ship that has been here and I wasn’t sure it would fit. There was quite a bit of scraping when it came in.”
Docklands has become home territory for supporters of the German team. Doors open soon at the Deutsches Haus in the Docklands museum where fans will cheer on Germany, which is likely to vie with Great Britain for fourth place in the medals table.
The Art Deco-style liner, which charges up to £4,300 for three nights, is used as the setting of German TV soap Das Traumschiff (the Dream Boat) which is based on the American original, the Love Boat.
Today a fleet of 14 tall ships will gather at the Thames Estuary in Tilbury before taking their moorings at Woolwich Arsenal. Port of London Authority chief executive Richard Everitt said: “Next week is set to be a very busy one on the river in London, which we’re really looking forward to. Coming just six weeks or so after the amazing river pageant it’s another reason to get back to the river.”
Docklands has been transformed into a “billionaires’ playground” with its own private beach. Several super-yachts have moored in Canary Wharf, thought to include Roman Abramovich’s Eclipse and Microsoft founder Bill Gates’s superyacht Gogypus.
