Cruising to the Future

Booster Blog

Cruising to the future

Deltamarin recently released a concept that might just show us the future of cruise lines. It won the prize of an internal competition at Deltamarin. The competition was intended to challenge their designers in coming up with something truly innovative. It seems to have done just that!

The activity cruise vessel runs entirely off renewable energy sources; a cruise ship with zero emissions. The designer was certainly challenged to come up with a concept that achieved this. With no fossil fuels on the ship, a dance of technicalities allows for such energy consumption. A SWAT hull form is harnessed as the foundation for this concept.

The design is 160 meters long with a beam of 53 meters. If conceived, it would accommodate for 540 pax. The ship would be fitted with four fully automatic wing sails and would use solar energy and fuel cells as a power source. On top of this, it would provide wind energy as an interchangeable source of energy.

When the vessel is anchored it will feature a tower that can be lifted, as well as an observatory under water where passengers can watch ocean life float by as they cruise.

A concept from Florida-based Freedom Ship International presents a slightly different perspective of what the future of cruises could look like. Its aim is to create a cruising city. The ship would be too big to enter harbors, but would anchor outside major cities. Never staying for too long, the floating city would take a cruise all the way around the world every 2 years.

Onboard this colossal cruise would be schools, hospitals, parks, art galleries, shops, and even a casino. Measuring a mile long and accommodating for up to 50,000 residents and 30,000 visitors, the Freedom Ship can literally be considered as a city on water.

It even has its own airport with a runway serving small commercial and private airplanes. The energy would be supplied by solar and wave harvesting.

Whilst the cruise ships are today are impressive in their own right, it’s possible that in the decades to come they could be of a whole different nature.