NEW SHIP REVIEW
Buchanan takes a look at the latest
Oceania Cruises vessel, hailed as ‘the best new ship of 2012,’ and comes
away impressed
VivaMarina! I
Gary
n today’s brave new world of cruising, some headline-grabbing ships, reminiscent of floating condominiums, carry as many as 6,000 passen- gers. These behemoths are launched in a blaze of publicity in which famous monuments are mar- shalled in a fevered attempt to describe their scale. The irony is that cruise operators believe they
have managed to convince the public that the bigger the ship, the better the cruise. As many devotees of refined cruising know, this is an Or- wellian fiction. Possibly one of the most distinguished ships to enter service recently was launched at the begin- ning of the year. The industry pundits were in a spin, citing the first new-build for Oceania Cruises as a “game-changer.”
Noticeably absent from the inaugural litera- Summer 2011 I WORLD OF CRUISING
ture was any recourse to metaphors to convey the inherent yardstick of 66,000-ton Marina. Instead, the principal visionary behind this acclaimed ship, chairman and CEO Frank del Rio, largely let his new creation speak for itself.
The Oceania Story Del Rio was also the principal protagonist behind Renaissance Cruises. In the closing years of the last century, this company built up a large client base and was growing at an exponential rate, building eight 684-passenger ships in less than three years. Sadly, the devastating effect of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 on America’s cruise industry precipitated the company’s demise. Less than a year later, and with more than a soupçon of bravura, Del Rio joined forces with
33
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100