The Good News in Cruise

THE in

GOOD

Cruise

NEWS

EXCITING DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CRUISE INDUSTRY WILL MEAN MORE SHIPS, GREATER CHOICE AND A WHOLE RANGE OF FRIENDLY NEW FEATURES FOR YOU AND THE ENVIRONMENT. BY RODERICK EIME

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Cruising, as if you hadn’t noticed, has grown exponentially in recent years to the point where it is the fastest growing sector of the travel business. Right now, more than 25 million passengers are travelling on cruise ships every year with an annual growth of around five to seven per cent.

Clearly 21st century travellers are taking to this form of vacation like the proverbial ducks to water and to meet this demand, cruise lines – big and small – are building ships at an unprecedented rate as well as installing groundbreaking facilities and amenities.

At time of writing, more than 50 ocean-going cruise vessels were under construction in shipyards around the world. In tandem with this furious shipbuilding, new technologies are being developed to address environmental concerns like wastewater disposal, exhaust emissions and disposable plastic consumption. If the cruise industry is to live up to its friendly face, it needs to build friendly ships both for guests and the environment.

The Giants of the Sea – Big is Beautiful

When the Titanic was launched in 1912, she was lauded as the greatest passenger ship ever built and a thing of awe and beauty. At 46,000 tons and 269 metres, she was the pinnacle of marine engineering. More than 100 years later, the world’s largest ship is currently Royal Caribbean’s (RCCL) Oasis-class Symphony of the Seas weighing in at 228,000 tons and stretching to 361 metres. In fact, there are some 40 cruise ships over 300 metres now sailing the oceans, each carrying roughly between 4000 and 6000 passengers each.

If you thought we’d seen the biggest ships ever, think again. There is a list of 200,000-plus ton ships on their way, all projected to carry more than 5000 guests and for delivery between now and 2024. Beyond that, who knows?

Asian luxury brand, Dream Cruises, is building its Globalclass ships with the first due in 2021 when it will homeport in Shanghai, while MSC, the world’s largest privately owned cruise line, is planning a new class of vessel, the World-class, which will pack 2,760 cabins and a maximum of 6,850 guests, making it the highest passenger capacity in the global cruise fleet.

While RCCL’s Oasis-class ships will remain the absolute largest for the time being, even they are designing an all-new class of ship, codenamed ‘Project Icon’. Construction is due to begin in October 2019 and will incorporate many of the latest innovations in large ship design.

Other cruise lines due to launch 5000+ passenger ships in the next few years include Costa, P&O, Aida and Carnival. Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) will launch their largest ship ever, the Norwegian Encore in 2019, but it will only carry barely 4000 passengers in double occupancy.

Hi-Tech, Friendlier Ships

Ships may be getting bigger, but they’re also getting smarter and friendlier to us and the oceans. Today’s passengers are more aware and better informed than ever before and while we love to cruise, we are mindful of the impact we have on the oceans and our children’s future.

Many cruise lines are making a noise about reducing single-use plastic items like cups, straws, water bottles and cutlery. We’re seeing the effect these trash items are having on the oceans through TV and social media and we don’t like it. Some cruise lines are slower than others to get with the program, so you can help move things along by filling out comment cards with ‘no more plastic’. It’s customer pressure that will move them to action more than anything, so it’s really in our hands.

Many of the big new ships mentioned above are incorporating some of the absolute latest technology in marine design, so even while they are getting bigger, they are actually ‘greener’ than the smaller ships they replace.

Take fuel for example. You’ll see Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) mentioned a lot with these new ships and while it is still a fossil fuel, it is many times less harmful than the cheap, crude-like oil most ships currently burn in their massive diesel engines. This heavy fuel oil (HFO) produces toxic sulphur dioxide and is banned in many areas, such as Antarctica. Many ships are moving to lighter, cleaner marine oil, but it’s expensive and LNG burns with much fewer emissions and zero sulphur. Meanwhile those new ships still burning HFO are employing the latest exhaust ‘scrubbers’ to remove virtually all of the harmful emissions.

Hybrid technology is increasingly common in cars and is also finding its way into ships. Hurtigruten, the famous Norwegian small ship line, is the first to make a big deal about hybrid electric propulsion in ocean-going passenger

Opening image: The MSC Seaside.

Top and right: PONANT’S Antarctica Expeditions; Go karts aboard NCL’s Norwegian Bliss in Alaska 2018.

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ships and plans to launch their first two 530-passenger hybrid expedition ships, MS Roald Amundsen and MS Fridtjof Nansen in 2019, then a third in 2021.

Ponant’s icebreaker, Le Commandant Charcot, due in 2021 will feature both LNG and hybrid technology together in a shipping first while Star Clippers will employ 6357 square metres of good old-fashioned sailcloth when the world’s largest sailing ship, Flying Clipper, enters service any day now.

Onboard: all the fun of the fair

It’s all well and good to pack your ships with passengers, but keeping them entertained and satisfied with dining, activities and fun is a whole new challenge. Once upon a time, deck quoits, bingo and shuffleboard was all you needed to while away the hours on sea days and now even rockwall climbing, giant water slides and video game parlours are run-of-the-mill. MSC’s radical Seaside and Seaview herald a new class of cruise ship with lavish passenger facilities like a bowling alley, Formula One simulator and a twin cable zip line across the top deck that is the longest aboard any ship as well as a Lego-themed area for youngsters up to 12. Its vast, lower deck promenade and glass-floored catwalks are designed to resemble a Miami-style condo, a challenging approach that has certainly raised some eyebrows.

For those not worried by heights, Carnival Vista features the daring Skyride where you pedal your way around a 250-metre course that hangs you 50 metres above the water in a kind laid-back (recumbent) bicycle. It’s a great way to get a bit of an exciting workout.

Feel like taking the plunge, but want to stay dry? The Ultimate Abyss Slide on Harmony of the Seas is the longest slide on any ship at sea, dropping 30 metre from a glass platform through a tunnel while sound effects urge you on. Screaming is optional, but unavoidable.

Apart from being the largest ship to pass through the Panama Canal, NCL’s Norwegian Bliss also totes a dual-level go-kart track on the top deck. Bliss may not be the only ship to have go-karts, but it’s certainly the largest of its type at sea with the electric karts able to reach 30 miles per hour.

© 2018 Danny Lehman/ NCL.

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New Horizons

While the big ships are confined to ports able to accommodate their thousands of passengers, the world’s growing fleet of small ships is busy winkling out destinations that may not even have a jetty, let alone a wharf to tie up to. We all know of expedition cruising in the Antarctic and Arctic, but there’s plenty else to see in between the two poles like the myriad tiny islands and atolls sprinkled throughout the Pacific in Melanesia and Polynesia. Pitcairn, the Marquesas, Rapa Nui (Easter island) and Tonga in the south or the Aleutian Islands of Alaska and the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia where incredible wildlife experiences will see you among seals, walrus, bears and millions of seabirds.

You’ll need to look to expert expedition specialists such as Aranui Cruises, Lindblad, Silversea or Ponant for these off-the-grid itineraries which will include a wealth of shore excursions ranging from pearl farms, mangrove forests, isolated villages, pristine coral reefs and even live volcanoes.

The world’s expedition fleet is expanding at its own rapid pace, adding a whole new dimension to the cruise experience. In fact, some will argue expedition cruising is not really cruising at all, rather ‘adventure by ship’.

Aussie favourite, Coral Expeditions (formerly Coral Princess Cruises) is adding a fourth ship to their Cairns-based fleet. To be called, Coral Adventurer, this newest vessel will become the flagship and expand the 35-year-old line’s itineraries into the South Pacific, Indonesia and Asia from 2019.

Three new, 5-star ice-class expedition vessels from German luxury line, Hapag-Lloyd, are scheduled for launch in April and October 2019 with the third in 2021, further reinforcing the pioneering small ship operator’s strong reputation in the high-end stakes. To be called Hanseatic Nature, Hanseatic Inspiration and Hanseatic Spirit, each 139-metre vessel will have a maximum passenger capacity of 240.

Above: Seven Seas Splendor, Regent Suite Dining Area.

Ponant’s ‘Explorer Class’ vessels are one of the most exciting announcements in the small ship arena. The first two of the planned six 180-guest vessels, Le Laperouse and Le Champlain are already taking guests on their first adventures.

Further small ships with exceptional expedition and adventure capacity are due from Scenic, Ponant, Aurora Expeditions, Crystal, Oceanwide and Quark.

Ultra-luxury small ship ocean cruising

A number of luxury operators have heavily invested in their fleets built for small group ocean cruising, with the added benefit of being able to drop anchor at smaller ports. In 2017, US company Regent Seven Seas spent US$125 million on a refurbishment across its fleet. In 2020, a second Explorer-class ship, the Seven Seas Splendor, will launch as the sister ship to the Seven Seas Explorer. Splendor will sail its 750 passengers throughout Europe during her first season in 2020.

For its 2020 itineraries, Silversea has set out to offer end-to-end service by including complimentary return economy flights and transfers on virtually all of its new itineraries – sailing on 191 new voyages from summer 2020 and into winter 2021. Silver Explorer will cruise in the Sea of Okhotsk, one of the least visited areas in the Russian Far East, on an 18-day voyage from June 2020. Silver Moon, sister ship to Silver Muse, will set sail on her inaugural voyage in August 2020 departing Trieste, Italy, for Civitavecchia on an 11-day cruise. For the first time in the company’s history, Silversea will also be hosting five different itineraries into Cuba, enabling guests of all nationalities to discover the region.

In November 2019, ultra-luxury operator Seabourn will also begin sailing to Cuba for the first time aboard Seabourn Sojourn departing Miami in November 2019 – visiting five Cuban ports. Seabourn, the official cruise partner of UNESCO World Heritage, also has two new purpose-built expedition ships joining its fleet in June 2021 and May 2022.

Further developments from Crystal Cruises and Windstar

Cruises are also coming to the ultra-luxury cruising space. •

Photography by various establishments.

TRAVEL FACTS

TRAVEL FACTS

• Aranui Cruises: aranuicruises.com.au

• Carnival: carnival.com.au

• Coral Expeditions: coralexpeditions.com

• Crystal Cruises: crystalcruises.com

• Dream Cruises: dreamcruiseline.com

• Hurtigruten: global.hurtigruten.com

• Lindblad Expeditions: au.expeditions.com

• MSC: msccruises.com.au

• Norwegian Cruise Line: ncl.com/au/en/

• Ponant: au.ponant.com

• Regent Seven Seas Cruises: rssc.com

• Royal Caribbean: royalcaribbean.com.au

• Seabourn: seabourn.com

• Silversea: silversea.com

• Star Clippers: starclippers.com/au

• Windstar Cruises: windstarcruises.com

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