CORRECTION: While there will be a Ponant ship visiting San Diego in 2018, it will not be one of the new ships with Blue Eye.
Shortly after Ponant announced that it would be building another four new expedition ships at Seatrade Cruise Global 2016, a video emerged previewing a very distinct onboard feature: an underwater observation lounge.
Now the cruise line has officially dubbed it "Blue Eye", and it has the potential to be one of the greatest cruise ship venues of all time.
A new video-released by Ponant this time around and hosted at my Popular Cruising YouTube channel-reveals even more details.
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For one, its location will be midship with two whale eye-shaped glass portholes, presumably one looking out from either side of the submerged hull. Mind you, this has never been done before and is quite the innovation for taking the observation lounge concept and literally flipping it on its head.
Classic observation lounges sit at the very front and top of the ship, with windows looking out over the bow and up towards the stars. This new variety is instead located at the very bottom of the vessel, below the surface with sights fixed under the sea and towards the inhabitants therein.
In fact, the entire room will take inspiration from the ocean.
The venue is being designed by French architect Jacques Rougerie who specializes in underwater habitats. The moody space will also be multi-sensory, complete with live digital projections from three underwater cameras augmenting the porthole views, sound design by contemporary music composer Michel Redolfi and repeated exterior hydrophone audio captured from a three-mile radius.
Plus, so-called "Body Listening Sofas" will vibrate in tandem with the room's streaming sounds.
[READMORE]READ MORE: Ponant's First-Ever Underwater Lounge and Other New Ship Details[/READMORE]
The video also goes on to discuss the influence of Jules Verne and his Nautilus as well as architecture inspired by biomimetics-all things sure to capture the imagination of travelers onboard. What's more, a bar is showcased in the renderings, which makes the Blue Eye the all around perfect place to spend a prolonged period of time resting and relaxing on board.
It looks like the actual portholes will be smaller, with larger expanses devoted perhaps to projections, but that's entirely understandable.
As it is, glass does not usually comprise any portion of a cruise ship's impenetrable hull, and safety must remain of paramount importance. If there was as much transparent surface down below as a traditional observation lounge, the structural integrity would be swiftly nullified. The key, however, will be in keeping the glass that is there as clean as possible, a task I'm sure that divers will be expected to perform frequently.
The Blue Eye lounge will make its way onto four sister-ships in total-collectively named the Ponant Explorers. The Le Laperouse and Le Champlain pair will launch in summer 2018, with the Le Bougainville and Le Dumont-d'Urville in summer 2019.
[READMORE]READ MORE: Ponant Brings French Sophistication to Cruising[/READMORE]
Looking at the deck plans of the new ships shows that the presence of an underwater lounge will not preclude the presence of a regular observation lounge. To the great delight of the explorers this new fleet will soon carry, each ship will feature both.
Taking into account the ships' infinity pool and marina, this all rounds out a set of enticing features sure to make them fine expedition ships with luxurious flair.
Initial itineraries that those observation windows and underwater portholes will be passing along are intriguing too: Le Laperouse will head to Iceland while Le Champlain will set out for the Amalfi Coast to Malta.
There's an impressive 60 or so routes available to the entire Ponant fleet in the summer of 2018 alone.
As a native resident of America's Finest City, I'm particularly attracted to one showcased in collaboration with Christie's dedicated to art exploration between Vancouver and my homeport of San Diego. Admittedly, I am most interested in the natural art that will be uniquely viewable below the newest ships' waterline.
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