US Basketball Teams Opt for Luxury Cruise Ship Over Olympic Village

Team USA’s men’s and women’s basketball stars will be living a life of luxury during this month’s 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

While many American athletes will be staying at the oft-criticized Olympic Village this summer, America’s best ballers will be laying their heads inside of Silversea Cruises’ Silver Cloud cruise ship.

The Chicago Tribune reported the players arrived on the 296-guest ship Wednesday.

The Silver Cloud, which is the oldest ship in Silversea’s main fleet, is anchored at Rio’s Pier Maua in the Guanabara Bay.

Inside the ship, highlights include generous-sized beds (ideal for basketball players), a spa, a pool, multiple dining options and even a cigar lounge.

Outside, security will be extremely tight. According to the Daily Mail, there’s only one entrance to the ship and it will be manned by security equipped with a scanner. Bulletproof glass will surround the ship and police boats will patrol the nearby waters.

READ MORE: Norwegian Getaway to Become Floating Hotel for 2016 Olympics in Rio

The reason for booking the Silver Cloud is simple, according to USA Basketball spokesman Craig Miller, who told the Associated Press earlier this year that “we don’t stay in the village because we don’t feel it’s the best way to prepare for competition.”

“The players have a long professional season, and they want to spend as much time as possible with family and friends,” added Miller.

While staying outside of the Olympic Village is nothing new for USA Basketball — the last time being the 1988 Summer Games — this summer will be the first time in 12 years that the teams have stayed on a cruise ship.

The teams stayed on the Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2 during the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises orders fifth ship


Regent Seven Seas New Builds

 

Regent Seven Seas Cruises said it has ordered a version of its 750-passenger Seven Seas Explorer, which will add a fifth ship to its fleet.  

The line said it reached an agreement with the Italian shipyard Fincantieri to deliver the ship in 2020 at a price of about $480 million.

The Seven Seas Explorer, due in July, has had record-breaking pre-delivery sales.

“We expect that the positive impact on earnings and impressive return on investment from Seven Seas Explorer will be significant. and that her sister vessel will make a similar contribution,” said Frank Del Rio, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Regent’s parent company.

Regent’s three other ships are Seven Seas Voyager, Navigator and Mariner.

Several luxury cruise lines have new ships on order, including Seabourn (launching the Seabourn Encore at the end of the year), Silversea Cruises (gaining the Silver Muse next year), and Crystal Cruises (building a trio of ships for delivery starting in 2018). 

Silversea ship to join its expedition fleet

The Silver Cloud will be converted into an ice-class ship.

Silversea Cruises said it will shift its Silver Cloud vessel to expedition itineraries starting in November 2017.

The 296-passenger Silver Cloud will be converted into an ice-class ship during an extensive refurbishment scheduled to start in August 2017.

Silversea is scheduled to take delivery of a new ship, the 596-passenger Silver Muse, for its luxury fleet in April 2017.

The Silver Cloud, which entered service in 1994, is Silversea’s oldest ship. After conversion to an expedition ship, it will carry 260 passengers at double occupancy, and will be limited to 200 in polar regions. It will still be three times as large as the biggest expedition ship now in Silversea’s fleet.

Silversea currently has three ships in expedition service and five in luxury service.