Cruise line Star Clippers has begun the design of its fourth cruise ship, the Flying Clipper. With a length of 162.22 m, it will replace the Royal Clipper, the company's third ship and holder of the Guinness World Record for the largest five-masted ship with a length of 134 m. Currently under construction in the largest Croatian shipyard - Brodosplit shipyard âeuros it should be delivered in 2017. But the cruises on board will only start in Spring 2018, as a precaution and to compensate for possible construction delays, explains Mikael Krafft.
A fleet of three sailing ships
The particularity of the Star Clippers cruise line is its sailing ships, which carry out the majority of their journey under sail. The fleet currently consists of three ships, before the launch of the Flying Clipper:
- the twin ships Star Clipper and the Star Flyer designed respectively in 1991 and 1992, are two 4-masted barquentines with a length of 115.5 m, capable of deploying 3,365 m² of sails and carrying up to 170 passengers and 74 crew members
- the Royal Clipper the France II is a five-masted barque, launched in 2000, with a length of 134 m, with a steel hull, accommodating 227 passengers with a crew of 106. It was inspired by the Preussen, the largest sailing ship ever built at that time (built in 1900) until the arrival of France II. She met a tragic end in the English Channel in 1910, when she collided with a ship and was driven onto the rocks near Dover.
The world's largest square sail boat for human-sized cruises
The Flying Clipper, qualified by its owner as "the largest square sail ship in the world" will be the almost perfect replica of the France II. This French merchant ship was a five-masted barque equipped with two 900 horsepower Schneider engines, commissioned in 1911 and which ran aground on July 11, 1922 on the Ouano reef in New Caledonia. It required an investment of 100 million euros.
The company's fourth ship will be able to accommodate 300 passengers (2 per cabin) and 140 crew members. On board, accommodation will be in 150 cabins including 34 suites with balcony and 4 owner's suites, where room service will be provided 24/24h.
The Flying Clippers will have all the comforts and luxuries of a modern ship: 3 pools, one of which is deep-sea for diving, spacious deck, massages and beauty treatments, water sports platform/marina at the back of the ship, library, reception room, piano bar, tropical bar, deck bar, sports/diving bar, restaurant on two decks and two private dining rooms.
An opening season in the Mediterranean
For its first cruise, the Flying Clippers will sail the Mediterranean from Rome, Venice or Athens with certainly stops in Cannes or Monaco. Then the cruise ship will carry out its winter season (2018-2019) in the Caribbean from Barbados or the Grenadines.
In a kind of tribute to the France II of which it will be the replica, the Flying Clippers could also join the banks of Bordeaux.
A primarily European company
Each year, Star Clippers welcomes 21,000 passengers of 20 to 25 different nationalities on board its ships and retains 60% of its passengers, who return regularly. Without giving the number of French customers, Mikael Krafft said that the French market was slower to progress, but should grow more than the others in the coming years.
