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Dicovery Deluxe - PONANT ordered a first of a new class of luxury cruise ships, an icebreaker

Ponant has ordered the world’s first luxury icebreaker expedition cruise ship with an electric hybrid system powered by liquefied natural gas, from Fincantieri's Vard. The contract price is approximately € 270,000,000.00 million or approximately US $324 million. The hull will be classyfied as PC2. The new class of ships, as there are options for more to be built, is eco/enviromental friendly - fueled by LNG and hybrid electricity.
The new luxury icebraking cruiser will be more luxurios, as for pax space ratio, than any other luxury offer in the expedition market - 111 GT per pax!
by Earl of Cruise
Ponant
PONANT´s new cruise icebraker - courtesy: VARD, STERLING DESIGN, PONANT
The 270-passenger, 30,000gt, 150 metre long ship will have three restaurants, spa and wellness facilities, plus 16 Zodiacs and two helicopters in garages.
The hull will be built at Vard Tulcea in Romania, and delivery is scheduled from Vard Søviknes in Norway in the second quarter of 2021. Stirling Design International created the overall design and the PC2 Polar Class hull was designed with Aker Arctic to combine forward sailing modes through compact ice and reverse sailing in extreme ice conditions- Double-Action-Principal (Aker Arctic DAS). Wärtsilä will provide the dual-fuel diesel engines while GTT will supply an innovative LNG storage technology with optimized capacity of 4,500 cubic meters. ABB is supplying the Azipods. The PONANT icebreaker is the very first electric hybrid cruise icebreaker with dual fuel propulsion, featuring high-capacity batteries and LNG storage on board.
The luxury icebreaking cruise ship is specially designed to take passengers to polar destinations such as the true geographic North Pole, the Weddell Sea, the Ross Sea and Peter I Island. "The Polar Class 2 icebreaker is fulfilling the highest standards for environmentally friendly and safe operations", Vard informed.
Ponant
PONANT´s new cruise icebraker - courtesy: VARD, STERLING DESIGN, PONANT

The above order is in addition to the four new 180-passenger ships, where LE LAPÉROUSE and LE CHAMPLAIN currently being built by Vard for Ponant for delivery in 2018. Their two sister ships are to follow in 2019.
ONANT´s new cruise icebraker - courtesy: VARD, STERLING DESIGN, PONANT
PONANT´s new cruise icebraker - courtesy: VARD, STERLING DESIGN, PONANT
The actual unnamed new luxury expedition icebrakers will have 63 cabins (staterooms) and 68 suites with big windows and terasses.
The passengers on board will find three different restaurants - two with panoramic views and a grillrestaurant, a SPA, a Fitness Room and all those nice ameneties that make a luxury vessel.
The passengers will be catered by a crew of 187 men and women.
PONANT
PONANT´s new cruise icebraker - courtesy: VARD, STERLING DESIGN, PONANT
The PONANT icebreaker will also be equipped with two helicopters in in-house hangars. The best place for the helicopters is the bow area, as here are no or only few shear winds, and the bow can be directed easily into the wind.
"This is a really exciting project for us, and we look forward to building the Ponant icebreaker for polar expedition voyages" Roy Reite, CEO and Executive Director of VARD, said.
PONANT
PONANT´s new cruise icebraker - courtesy: VARD, STERLING DESIGN, PONANT
PONANT, a subsidiary of the French Artemis Group, the finacials affair group of the Pinault family, headquartered in Marseille, France, was founded in 1988 by Jean Emmanuel Sauvée and a dozen him accompanying Merchant Navy officers from France.
PONANT has established itself as the refenrence for a new style of luxury cruises with its unique concep of sea travel, combining exceptional itineraries and five star facilities aboard small capacity ships. PONANT is the only French flag cruise line, and world number one for polar cruises.







Ponant
pavillon francais - courtesy PONANT

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