This Week in Cruise: New Expedition Ship Updates From Seabourn, Hapag-Lloyd

It’s been another busy week for updates on new cruise ships, particularly in the expedition space. 

This week luxury cruise line Seabourn released new details on what to expect from its foray into the expedition cruise market, which will include the launch of two new ships with a brand-new design for the line. Each will be designed with a high level autonomy and a global deployment capability, Seabourn said, while sharing a number of other new design tidbits: shell doors at the ship’s waterline to speed the loading and unloading of Zodiacs, approximately 29,600 square feet of open deck space to maximize viewing opportunities, two onboard submarines, and more. The first ship is slated for delivery in June 2021, followed by the second in May 2022. 

Also this week Hapag-Lloyd Cruises announced that, despite the cancellation of the naming ceremony for its newest ship, the Hanseatic Nature, the ship’s inaugural sailing will still go ahead as scheduled. The line said that the ship’s handover had been delayed slightly, forcing it to cancel the naming ceremony, but that the inaugural voyage is still set to depart on April 13 as scheduled. Along with the Hanseatic Inspiration, the Hanseatic Nature is part of a pair of new expedition cruise ships for the line, designed to operate in environments ranging from the Arctic to the Amazon

Outside the expedition market, a number of other cruise lines released updates on their new ships this week, including Carnival, who announced a new celebrity chef partnership for the upcoming Mardi Gras: Emeril Lagasse. Lagasse will helm Emeril’s Bistro 1396, which will be located in the ship’s New Orleans-themed French Quarter zone. The first of Carnival’s new XL class of ships, the Mardi Gras is scheduled to enter service in Europe on August 31, 2020. 

In other restaurant news, this week Princess Cruises announced that it will be bringing over the French restaurant La Mer from the China-based Majestic Princess to the upcoming Sky Princess, which is scheduled to debut this October in the Mediterranean. La Mer will be helmed by three-Michelin-star Chef Emmanuel Renaut, who is the owner and executive chef of the Flocons de Sel restaurant in the French Alps village of Megève. The restaurant will also be available onboard Princess’ next new ship, the Enchanted Princess, which is set to sail in 2020. 

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