French hotelier Accor is to enter the cruise sector with a pair of ultra-deluxe cruise ships that will be built by Chantiers de l’Atlantique.
The pair of 220-metre, 90-passenger vessels will be operated by Accor's newly launched cruise arm Orient Express Silenseas, which falls under the auspices of the hospitality giant’s Orient Express luxury train brand.
Accor revealed on Thursday that it had signed a letter of intent with the Saint Nazaire-based shipbuilder for the two ships, with the first tentatively scheduled for delivery in 2026.
Accor and Chantiers de l’Atlantique went to great lengths to highlight the credentials of these vessels in media statements. They will be equipped with SolidSails — three rigid sails with a surface area of 1,500 meters each that will be hoisted on a balestron rig, with three tilting masts reaching more than 100 metres high.
The ships will also be fitted with “state-of-the-art” engines that will run on LNG.
“This concept, born in our design offices in 2018, is the quintessence of our savoir-faire in the fields of naval architecture, the construction of sophisticated hulls, as well as the design of luxurious spaces,” said Laurent Castain, Chantiers de l’Atlantique’s managing director.
Accor said the design of the ships will be “inspired by the Golden age of the French Riviera, with Nantes-based Stirling Design International responsible for the exterior architecture and Maxime d’Angeac Architecte designing the interior layout and décor.
Chantiers de l’Atlantique is one of the most prolific builders of cruise ships and currently has confirmed orders for eight ranging between 37,000-gt and 231,000-gt. Its biggest customers are Royal Caribbean Group and MSC Cruises.
With 40 different hotel brands across the budget to luxury spectrum, Accor is the largest hospitality company in Europe, and the sixth largest hospitality company worldwide. It owns, manages and franchises hotels, resorts and vacation properties in over 1,500 locations in 110 countries.
Accor is no stranger to the cruise sector. It owned a 50% stake in French cruise company Paquet until merging it with Costa Cruises in 1993 in exchange for a 12% stake in the Italian company, which was later sold to Carnival Corp.
More recently, in June 2022, Accor took over the management and operations of the 70,300-gt Queen Elizabeth 2 (built 1968), a former Cunard transatlantic liner and cruise ship that is now a floating hotel in Dubai.
