Atlas Travel Web.com Blog

Viking river cruises recently unveiled the Viking Legend, a “green” ship with hybrid engines which are 20% more energy-efficient.  The ship will be sailing a 15 day Grand European itinerary from Amsterdam to Budapest along the Rhine, Main and Danube Rivers. The cruise visits 5 countries with 14 guided tour included in the cruise fare. The world’s largest river cruise line, Viking River Cruises was established by a Scandinavian and Dutch consortium experienced in cruising. With 25 ships, Viking River Cruises continues to expand to new destinations, and builds innovative vessels that provide all the comfort of a fine hotel with attentive Swiss management. Viking River Cruises offers European river cruises, China river cruises along the Yangtze, and Russian river cruises.

In partnership with Conservation International, Celebrity Solstice offers a venue onboard called Team Earth which is highlighted by a Globe on Deck 7.

Team Earth is an interactive exhibit onboard the new Celebrity Solstice designed to capture the interest & imagination of guest through brilliant nature photography, museum-quality exhibits and digital touch-screen displays.  Celebrity’s President & CEO Dan Hanrahan described Team Earth as ”A vivid example of our shared belief in doing all we can to preserve the earth’s fresh water, clean air, natural resources and rich beauty.”

You can read news, see short films, audio clips and learn about the world’s oceans, marine life and the environment. Guests will also have the opportunity to join the Team Earth online community to receive pertinent news & support global conservation efforts.

You can learn more about the Solstice, as well as their energy efficient features onboard the Solstice by reading my previous blogs, and you can view over 95 photos of the ship by visiting my Flickr account.

Celebrity Solstice arrived in Ft. Lauderdale Nov. 3rd. The ship will be named in formal ceremonies on Nov. 14, & will embark on its inaugural season Nov. 23 on 7-night Eastern Caribbean cruises roundtrip from Ft. Lauderdale. In the spring, the ship will sail to Europe & have 10- & 11-night Mediterranean sailings r/t from Rome.

The Solstice will offer some great new features for guests, but my focus is to discuss Celebrity’s environmental efforts. From it’s design, Celebrity focused on the hull to ensure a more fuel efficient ship. The ship will also have 80 solar panels which will provide some of the ship’s power.

Celebrity then partnered with 3M to create a window coating that will deflect the heat that comes in, reducing the amount of air conditioning needed to cool the ship. The tinting should also extend the life of the carpeting by protecting it from sun damage. Other changes include the use of LED lighting and river rocks in their buffets to keep food chilled versus ice cubes.

Celebrity Cruises’ Ocean Fund also awards marine conservation grants throughout the year.

We feel Celebrity has set the example, & consumers will be looking for cruise lines to introduce more innovations to save the environment as new ships are built.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) has been named a finalist in Condé Nast Traveler magazine’s 2008 World Savers Awards. The awards honor 38 travel companies from around the world for their leadership in social responsibility in five key areas: poverty alleviation, cultural and/or environmental preservation, education, wildlife conservation & health.

In 2007 alone, the recycling program saved 2,200 mature trees, 2,300 gallons of gas & 672,000 gallons of water. This translates to enough saved timber resources to produce more than 27.28 million sheets of newspaper; enough gasoline to drive more than 64,500 miles; & enough fresh water to meet the daily fresh water needs of more than 8,960 people.

NCL began recycling used cooking oil from its ships at the Port of Miami in early 2007. More than 15,000 gallons of used cooking oil have been offloaded & donated to an organic farmer in Vero Beach, Fla., who converted the oil to 870 gallons of usable bio-diesel for his farming equipment.