100224_123639_5740 Seabourn Odyssey (Wed 24 Feb 10)
Darling Harbour, Sydney, NSW
As we know one of the objectives of this particular PAD gallery is to find something to say about the day. So what does this shot tell us about today?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nor is there any particular artistry in the shot.
I just thought that it was a very cool looking ship.
Not, of course, that you would get me on it at gunpoint, but very cool nonetheless. And indeed with the cruising prices on this particular ship, it's not likely that I'd accidentally sail on her.
The Seabourn Odyssey, owned by the Yachts of Seabourn company, is on her maiden voyage which commenced in Venice last June and is due to end in Greece in April. Hardly one of the largest ships around (198 metres long, 25 metres wide, 32,000 tonnes gross, 11 decks and a speed of only 19 knots but given what you pay you'll probably want to savour every minute anyway), her owners claim that the $USD300 million ship is one of the most luxurious. 450 passengers are served by 335 crew, and it's claimed that she offers more space per guest than any other ship in the cruise industry.
Oh, the price? A minimum of $USD53,745 ($AUD59,643) for the round the world voyage with the top suites costing about $1K per night per person.
(I think I'd rather buy my own extended range F/A18 and fly myself there, thanks; although F/A18's don't have 2 level, 1060 square metre spas on board.)
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Edit August 2023: I neglected to mention the loyal fuel tender Amorena berthed alongside. However there is another interesting fact about this. The Seabourn Odyssey is berthed on the near end of Darling Harbour. This is an area which once held working commercial docks. It was (and should still be) called The Hungry Mile because in the days of the Great Depression men would queue up there in the hope of a day's back breaking work for a pittance. And if you were injured, "tough luck, Charlie". The commercial usage had ceased by the 60s or 70s but the wharves were still used by smaller cruise ships. This shot would have been when that usage was coming to an end, before the area was redeveloped as the Barangaroo office and apartment zone, the development of which is partly documented in some of my galleries (albums) from the mid 2010s.
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Edit, May 2025: Seabourn Odyssey's parent operator was at the time Seabourne Cruise Line, which naturally specialised in luxury voyaging. The line had been established in 1986 by private investors in Norway. However by 2001 the line was a wholly owned subsidiary of Carnival Corporation because, sigh, of course it bloody was, what isn't?
Seabourn Odyssey was the first of three ships that the operator ordered from Genova's T. Mariotti shipyard in 2006, with her starting service in 2009, a mere year before this shot.
In March 2023 she was sold to Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. She finished off her existing cruises in August 2024, and was renamed Mitsui Ocean Fuji. Her scheduled itinerary out to June 2026 looks very different to what they had been as Seabourn Odyssey. She's only doing cruises starting and ending in Japan and out to destinations like South Korea, Taiwan and (rarely) Hawaii.
100224_123639_5740 Seabourn Odyssey (Wed 24 Feb 10)
Darling Harbour, Sydney, NSW
As we know one of the objectives of this particular PAD gallery is to find something to say about the day. So what does this shot tell us about today?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nor is there any particular artistry in the shot.
I just thought that it was a very cool looking ship.
Not, of course, that you would get me on it at gunpoint, but very cool nonetheless. And indeed with the cruising prices on this particular ship, it's not likely that I'd accidentally sail on her.
The Seabourn Odyssey, owned by the Yachts of Seabourn company, is on her maiden voyage which commenced in Venice last June and is due to end in Greece in April. Hardly one of the largest ships around (198 metres long, 25 metres wide, 32,000 tonnes gross, 11 decks and a speed of only 19 knots but given what you pay you'll probably want to savour every minute anyway), her owners claim that the $USD300 million ship is one of the most luxurious. 450 passengers are served by 335 crew, and it's claimed that she offers more space per guest than any other ship in the cruise industry.
Oh, the price? A minimum of $USD53,745 ($AUD59,643) for the round the world voyage with the top suites costing about $1K per night per person.
(I think I'd rather buy my own extended range F/A18 and fly myself there, thanks; although F/A18's don't have 2 level, 1060 square metre spas on board.)
-----
Edit August 2023: I neglected to mention the loyal fuel tender Amorena berthed alongside. However there is another interesting fact about this. The Seabourn Odyssey is berthed on the near end of Darling Harbour. This is an area which once held working commercial docks. It was (and should still be) called The Hungry Mile because in the days of the Great Depression men would queue up there in the hope of a day's back breaking work for a pittance. And if you were injured, "tough luck, Charlie". The commercial usage had ceased by the 60s or 70s but the wharves were still used by smaller cruise ships. This shot would have been when that usage was coming to an end, before the area was redeveloped as the Barangaroo office and apartment zone, the development of which is partly documented in some of my galleries (albums) from the mid 2010s.
-----
Edit, May 2025: Seabourn Odyssey's parent operator was at the time Seabourne Cruise Line, which naturally specialised in luxury voyaging. The line had been established in 1986 by private investors in Norway. However by 2001 the line was a wholly owned subsidiary of Carnival Corporation because, sigh, of course it bloody was, what isn't?
Seabourn Odyssey was the first of three ships that the operator ordered from Genova's T. Mariotti shipyard in 2006, with her starting service in 2009, a mere year before this shot.
In March 2023 she was sold to Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. She finished off her existing cruises in August 2024, and was renamed Mitsui Ocean Fuji. Her scheduled itinerary out to June 2026 looks very different to what they had been as Seabourn Odyssey. She's only doing cruises starting and ending in Japan and out to destinations like South Korea, Taiwan and (rarely) Hawaii.