When your looking for adventure travel, the maritime industry has some spectacular options. From eco-cruise ships to Freighter Travel and more, the ocean is makes for a great excuse to leave work behind and enjoy life. But of all the options for eco-tourism, staying the night underwater is one of the most exciting options.
Posiedon Myster Island
WebUrbanist brings us this pick for luxury subsea accommodation. The above picture is of The Posiedon Myster Island: “The Poseidon Mystery Island is competing for the title of the world’s first luxury underwater resort. The complex will be designed by Bruce Jones, famous for designing a series of $80-million luxury submarines with their own private state rooms and plush carpets, designed for voyages of up to three weeks in length. The project will cost $105 million and will be submerged next to a private island at a depth of 40 feet with an amazing view of the ocean floor.”
[Continue Reading →]
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Tags: · cruise, cruises, holiday, hotels, subsea, Travel, underwater, vacation
This past weekend in Barcelona, MSC Cruises rolled out the 10th ship to join their growing fleet – the MSC Splendida. At 137,936 tons, the MSC Splendida can carry nearly 3,300 passengers and over 1,300 crew at a cruising speed of 24 knots. Similar to its sister ship the MSC Fantasia, the Splendida is notable for its environmentally friendly design, recently receiving the first Energy Efficient Design label ever awarded by Bureau Veritas.
Didier Chaleat, Senior Vice-President, Bureau Veritas, explained “We are very proud to class this cutting edge vessel, and especially happy that such a fine ship has been the first to achieve the rigorous energy efficiency standards set out in our voluntary Energy Efficient Design scheme.” [Continue Reading →]
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Tags: · cruise, cruise line, Cruise Ship
CDR Salamander features China’s largest FPSO on Ugly Ship Thursday. He writes;
A ship only a Captain could love. I don’t think anyone will be making those cool mahogany models of it anytime soon, but I ask you to BEHOLD and up close and personal shot of the 300,000 DWT $230 million Hai Yang Shi You 117, China’s biggest floating production, storage and offloading vessel.
Our Ugly Ship pick is the Norwegian Gem, as photographed by the Lisbon Cruise Bog:
The Fairmont Summit is not much prettier but it is a working ship.
Can you believe an FPSO can actually be beautiful or that people actually pay to board the Norwegian Gem? Shocking, we know.
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Tags: · cruise, Cruise Ship, fpso, Norwegian Gem, ugly ships
Photo by 123 look at me
First we witnessed trouble for the Hawaii Superferry (which is back in service) now Hawaii’s largest source of jobs for U.S. mariners, Norwegian Cruise Lines, is pulling another ship out of the state. The Mercury News tells us;
Last week, NCL announced it will pull the Pride of Aloha, the ship that launched its Hawaii itinerary in 2004, effective May 11.
Earlier this month, NCL’s Pride of Hawaii made its final sailing before being deployed to Europe, a move announced last April. It will be renamed Norwegian Jade.
NCL officials insist they remain committed to the Hawaiian market – Pride of America sailings were recently put on sale through 2010 – but filling three ships consistently for seven-day sailings was too difficult in a competitive field.
Andy Stuart, the line’s executive vice president of marketing, called the move “an extremely difficult but necessary commercial decision.” He also acknowledged that NCL’s costs were considerably higher because its U.S.-flagged ships must be filled by a U.S. workforce. Foreign-flagged ships typically pay their crews lower wages. Continue Reading…
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Tags: · cruise, cruises, hawaii, hawaii cruise, Jones Act, ncl, norwegian cruise lines, us mariners
Here is some video of the cruise ship Voyager battling the 2005 cyclone Valentina off the coast of Majorca. The full story: LINK 
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Tags: · cruise, Cruise Ship, heavy-weather, Video, voyager, youtube
BitterEnd reports that the Royal Navy Ice patrol ship HMS ENDURANCE, which amongst other tasks is carrying survey work in the Antarctic on behalf of the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) to improve Safety of Life at Sea products and services, has located the wreck of a cruise liner which sank last year.
Listen to our podcast on the M/V Explorer sinking HERE then read our previous posts HERE and HERE.
Also be sure to take a look at these excellent BitterEnd posts:
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Tags: · antarctica, antartica, bitterend, cruise, cruises, eco tourism, explorer, ice patrol, Icebreaker, MSC, rogue wave, ukho
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