Oh what a beauty!! Is it an amusement park w/shopping and hotel facilities??:
A market of 1.4 Billion makes a big lure for many, including the Cruise lines:
It is also the last untapped market for Chinese shipbuilders. So far Chinese yards have built small cruise ships and large ferries of foreign design for foreign operators. (A few river cruisers and large ferries of local designed for the Chinese market)
PS> Large cruise ships have so far been an almost exclusive market for European yards.
Gah!
Cape Horn is still a dangerous place to sail, even for modern ships:
Viking Polaris was delivered from VARD SĂžviknes as late as Sept. this year.
Designed and built specifically for Arctic/Antarctic expeditions, with Polar Class 6 hull:
Seen here on sea trails just outside the building yard before delivery:
No rough waves here.
BROKEN WINDOWS: Viking Polaris, anchored after the incident. Here on 1 December in the Atlantic Ocean near the city of Ushuaia in Argentina. Photo: ALEXIS DELELISI / AFP
Source: DÞdsulykke pÄ «Viking Polaris» - VG
FYI: The Viking Polaris is registered in NIS.
New concept for Mississippi Cruise Vessel(s):
Costa Diadema
Yes you are right, it is the Costa Diadema.
Sorry, but Costa an AIDA Cruise ships are both regulars in Ă
lesund.
I should have noticed that this one didnât have the âkissing mouthâ on the bow and the âswimming spermâ on the sides, though:
No need to apologize. I just noticed it. Thank you for responding.
Bob
As long as you can resist the urge to jump over the rails, travel aboard massive cattle boats provide unique experiences only made possible by the advent of mass tourism. Book your cruise today!
If you have been dreaming of visiting Franz Josefs Land you are plum out of luck:
Fred Olsen Cruise ship Bolette spent New Year Eve in Ă lesund on her way back to Southampton from her latest Northern Light Cruise in Northern Norway:
A bit out of season for Cruise ships in Geiranger, but here is a presentation of the Seawalk that has been in operation in Geiranger since 2013:
HALâs ROTTERDAM moored at the Geiranger Seawalk.
Geirangerfjord is one of Norwayâs most visited tourist sites, and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Geirangerfjord is surrounded by majestic, snow-covered mountain peaks, wild waterfalls and rare landscape. The private investors of SeaWalk Geiranger AS, says that the investment primarily was an environmental measure. They concluded on being able to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 10 ton for each ship using SeaWalk. The Port Authority has commended the operational perfomance as flawless and also received very positive comments from passengers and crew. The installation has also resulted in exellent feedback from tour operators as a result of quicker debark, increased time ashore and earlier excursions. A distinct improvement in the environment from reduced tender exhaust pollution has been noted and also substantially less detrimental wave action in the inner harbour basin.
Photo & text: Ed de Graaf (c)
See it in action:
PS> Another Norwegian cruise port without wharf facilities for large ship, Nordjordeid, got a Seawalk installed two years ago.
The small cruise ship market appears to be hot:
At the other end of the spectrum.
Whos a*s looks best (or worst)?:
The afts of the âWONDER OF THE SEAS â docked next to HALâs âROTTERDAMâ made the ROTTERDAM look tiny when in fact it is a great and wonderful ship. The âWonderâ Is indeed a wonder at 362 meters long with a capacity of 6,988 pax it is the newest addition(2022) to Royalâs fleet at a cost of $1.2 billion. With 6 ships in port with an average pax capacity of 4000 the island of St. Maarten was overwhelmed with over 20,000 cruisers trying to find taxis to get to the beaches or touring the island. The most congested beach was Maho beach where the visitors all wanted to get a glimpse of the low flying planes landing at Prinses Juliana Airport. All in all, St. Maarten, on this beautiful sunny day, was back in business and dealing well with the avalanche of cruise ships after devastating hurricanes in 2018 and Covid shutdown through 2022. No more mask requirements in St. Maarten.
Text & Photo: Kandes Bregman (c) Facts by Cor Bregman
It doesnât say what type of âdeviceâ, but one can always speculate. (??)