Antarctica

Cruise Company Partners to Study, Protect Marine Mammals in Antarctica

Hurtigruten Expeditions strengthened its partnership with the California Ocean Alliance (COA) to better understand and protect whales and other marine mammals in Antarctica.A pilot trial was launched in late 2019 but paused due to the pandemic. But as Hurtigruten Expedition’s restarts the 2021/2022 Antarctica season, California Ocean Alliance scientists will be part of several Antarctica sailings onboard the MS Roald Amundsen, a battery hybrid powered expedition cruise ship.The team aims to collect acoustic data to study ambient noise conditions…

VARD to Build World's Largest Superyacht

Norwegian shipbuilding and design group VARD announced it has secured a contract to build the world's largest superyacht.At 33,500 GRT, with a length of 222 meters and a beam of 27 meters, the $600 million superyacht Somnio was unveiled Monday as the first ever residential "yacht liner", featuring 39 luxurious apartments for a select, secret group of ultra-wealthy travelers.Captain Erik Bredhe, co-founder of Somnio, is overseeing the project. He said, "Somnio, meaning 'to dream' in Latin…

YSA Design Chosen for SeaDream Global Yachting Club

YSA Design was chosen as the design partner for the SeaDream Yacht Club vessel SeaDream Innovation.Innovation will offer yachting lifestyle standards to guests occupying 100 ocean-view suites, developed around a one-to-one crew/guest ratio, five-star dining, generous outdoor spaces and inspiring itineraries. Formal announcement of the construction contract to shipyard group Damen allows YSA Design to disclose its pivotal role.YSA Design joined initial discussion of design ideas with the owner…

V. Ships Leisure, Mystic Cruises Team Up

V.Ships Leisure, part of V.Group, a global marine support services provider, has partnered with Mystic Cruises to provide crew management services including deck, engine, and hotel crew for the 9,300 GRT ice-classed vessel World Explorer.The vessel, which is currently under the final stages of construction at WestSea Viana Shipyard in Portugal will be delivered to Mystic Cruises in Q2 2019. With capacity for 200 passengers, World Explorer will be Mystic Cruises’ first newbuild expedition vessel…

"The best expedition cruise ship ever"

A cruise industry veteran of more than 25 years, Nikolaos Doulis, Lindblad Expeditions’ SVP, New Buildings, discusses with Maritime Reporter & Engineering News the build plan for “the best expedition cruise ship ever built.”Born in Greece to a seafaring family, Nikolaos Doulis was destined for a maritime career. His father was a ship captain and eventually a ship owner, and to support the family business he wanted his son to have an engineering education. So at the age of 14, Doulis started spending more time in and around ships…

Explorer Profile: Sven Lindblad

Profiled in the March 2019 cruise edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News is Sven Lindblad, intrepid explorer and wildlife photographer Sven Lindblad blazed the trail for environmentally sensitive travelers to Antarctica on Lindblad Expedition’s fleet of cruise ships with National Geographic.You can tell a lot about a man by whom his heroes are, whether famous athletes, virtuoso musicians, brave warriors or movie stars. As we age, we choose our heroes by their moral compass…

Cruise Shipping: 'Green Cruising' with Hurtigruten

Hurtigruten orders third hybrid-powered expedition cruise shipGrowth in the global cruise sector continues, as Hurtigruten, the world’s largest expedition cruise operator, signed an MOU with shipbuilder Kleven Verft AS for the construction of a third hybrid-powered expedition cruise ship. Tom Mulligan, Maritime Reporter’s Science & Technology writer, reports from Norway.“We are thrilled to introduce yet another revolutionary hybrid-powered expedition ship,” enthused Hurtigruten’s CEO, Daniel Skjeldam.

Shipbuilding: Hurtigruten Hybrid Construction Forges Ahead

Norwegian company Hurtigruten, the world’s largest expedition cruise operator, is continuing to push the boundaries when it comes to green travel with its order for three hybrid-powered vessels nearing completion, the first ship being due for delivery in May 2019.Two of these revolutionary ships are currently under construction at the Kleven Yard in Ulsteinvik, Norway, the MS Roald Amundsen and its sister ship, the MS Fritjof Nansen, both of which are custom-designed to cope with some of the most extreme conditions seen on our planet, each having a specially-designed, ice-strengthened hull.

Luxury Cruise Ships & The French Connection

Edie Rodriguez, the Americas Brand Chairman for PONANT Yacht Cruises and Expeditions, has spent a life and built a career centered on travel, cruise and branding in a most luxurious manner. She was a natural to discuss the booming luxury expedition sector, the next big frontier in the global cruise industry. It is natural, in the U.S., to pronounce PONANT as “po nant,” but the French have a different style and the company name is pronounced “po non,” dropping the ‘t.’ But Edie Rodriquez, charged with spreading the PONANT name in North America, does not get hung up on diction in this case.

Rolls-Royce to Power Ice Class Super Yacht

Rolls-Royce has won a contract to provide the propulsion and power electric systems for a new ice classified super yacht, the 70m King Shark, being built in Viareggio by Italian yacht company Rossinavi. The King Shark allows the owner the freedom to cruise the warm waters of the Caribbean and the freezing conditions of Antarctica in luxury.The vessel is equipped with amenities such as a soundproof cinema room, fully equipped gym, spa and massage room and owner cabin with large private terrace and round pool.

Scenic to Build World's First Discovery Yacht

Scenic has announced the launch of the world’s First Discovery Yacht, the Scenic Eclipse. The new ship will embark on its maiden voyage August 31, 2018, sailing from Istanbul to Venice, followed by discovery voyages to the Americas, Antarctica, Europe and the Mediterranean, and the Arctic and Norwegian Fjords. Scenic Eclipse will be a six-star all-inclusive mega yacht. The Scenic Eclipse will carry 228 guests in 114 all-veranda suites, ranging from the 344 square foot Verandah Suite to the 2,500 square foot, two-bedroom Owner’s Penthouse Suite. The Scenic Eclipse will have two helicopters for excursions as well as a seven-seat submarine.

Fast and Furious Volvo Ocean Race

The Volvo Ocean Race fleet, battered but unbroken as they battle through the Southern Ocean, face the toughest 48 hours of the nine-month marathon, reports Reuters. It is now heading for Cape Horn in southern Chile, a graveyard for countless sailors since it was first used as a trading route in the early 17th century. Cape Horn, at the southern-most tip of South America, is regarded by sailors as the most iconic and feared landmark in the world. What makes it so challenging? It's cold, it's bleak and it's dangerous. Its home to biblical storms and gale force winds, making visibility difficult.

Volvo Ocean Race: Leg 1 Preview

B&G, official supplier to The Volvo Ocean Race, has teamed up with journalist and author Mark Chisnell to create a series of weekly blogs providing behind the scenes insights into the race’s tactics and results. Starting with a preview of the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 from Alicante to Cape Town, the former America’s Cup Navigator, sailing journalist, marine electronics expert and author will provide B&G with exclusive weekly, in-depth technical analysis of the action as it unfolds on the racecourse.

Grand Circle Cruises Buys 'MV Corinthian'

Vince Cook, CEO of Grand Circle Cruise Line, informs that the company has acquired the 'M/V Corinthian', a 98-passenger, ocean-going vessel that currently operates in Antarctica. They had chartered the ship for the past year and intend to expand the Corinthian's operations with the launch of three new small ship cruise itineraries in 2015. The ship was acquired for an undisclosed price from Travel Dynamics International, an operator of educational programs aboard small cruise ships…

Rhodes Communications Celebrates a Milestone

Having served as the editor of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News for more than 20 years, it is my running joke that Jim Rhodes, president, Rhodes Communications, Inc., is the first person I see at every trade show I attend, anywhere I attend, around the world. This, I think, is testament not to dumb luck, rather to Rhodes, who this month celebrates the 30th Anniversary of his self-named PR firm, as an astute and always-present PR machine. Rhodes Communications, Inc., an international public relations and marketing services company based in Norfolk, Va., celebrates its 30th year of business this month.

BLUE: Ocean Film and Entertainment

If necessity is the mother of invention, then the pressing needs of our ocean explain the spawning of innovation at BLUE Ocean Film Festival & Conservation Summit (BLUE). This annual multi-disciplinary summit is a convergence of bright minds with big hearts focused on expediting ocean conservation - now when it’s needed most. BLUE sets in motion a mix of ocean all-stars mobilized by a supportive environment of breathtaking (and sometimes gut-wrenching) films, creative ideas and new technology.

Globecomm Keeps Tall Ships Connected

Iridium terminals and Wi-Fi hotspots installed for tall ship pair taking part in unique round the world voyage and Baltic summer racing. Globecomm Maritime is supporting British charity, the Jubilee Sailing Trust, keeping its two tall ships STS Lord Nelson and STS Tenacious connected to friends and family during their ground-breaking itineraries. Lord Nelson and Tenacious are the only vessels in the world specially modified to be accessible for disabled and able bodied sailors alike, the company said.

Vendée Globe, Everest of Yachtsmanship, Underway

The Vendée Globe 2012-2013, is a round-the-world single-handed yacht race, sailed non-stop and without assistance, a serious test of endurance. The race started last Saturday and finishes in Les Sables-d'Olonne , in the Vendée département of France ; both Les Sables d’Olonne and the Vendée Conseil Général are official race sponsors. The course is essentially a circumnavigation along the clipper route : from Les Sables d’Olonne, down the Atlantic Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope ; then clockwise around Antarctica , keeping Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn to port; then back to Les Sables d’Olonne.