Royal Olympia Cruises: Olympia Explorer: the company's latest speedster is the concorde of cruise liners - Ship of the Month

Cruise Travel, Sept-Oct, 2003 by Theodore W. Scull

Grasping at the aft rail, a rush of exhilaration wells up inside as

the Olympia Explorer clears the breakwater at Bari, Italy, and begins the 24-hour high-speed run to Istanbul. As she increases her speed to 29 knots, the prop wash piles up astern into an arcing jet stream then fans out into a broad trailing wake. By sunset we have overtaken the far larger CostaAtlantica, no slouch in the speed department, which had left Bari a couple of hours before we did. It is more than satisfying to watch our ship slide by, glimpse the pleased expressions on the faces of fellow passengers, then wonder what the balcony dwellers over on the Costa ship are thinking.

Of course, cruising is not about speed, but rather leisure travel to intriguing ports. However, why not design a faster ship to create more far-ranging itineraries? Royal Olympia Cruises is all about port-intensive cruises (as were its two predecessor companies, Epirotiki and Sun Line), especially in the Greek-owned line's front yard, the Eastern Mediterranean.

With an older fleet of second-hand ships, some dating from ocean-liner days, it was high time for ROC to build something new and innovative to maintain the company's elevated position as the line of choice, operating Greek-registered ships to explore ancient and modern Greece and further afield to Italy, Turkey, and the Middle East, often packaged into a one-week cruise.

ROC has two such high-speed ships, called Fast Monohulls. Both were built at Blohm Voss in Hamburg, the venerable German yard that produced some of the great pre-war ocean liners, such as North German Lloyd's Blue Riband winner Europa. The Olympia Voyager appeared in the summer of 2000 and sister Olympia Explorer nearly two years later--the gap due to a dispute between the line and the shipyard.

The Olympia Explorer derives her impressive speed from an advanced hull design and unique placing of two oversized propellers. Shaped much like a torpedo, the ship's radical Fast Monohull design minimizes wave-making on the surface, creating less water resistance and allowing the ship to go faster with less energy.

Viewed from astern, the curved nature of the ship's hull at the waterline hints at a more unconventional design below. The hull looks as if it has been carved out on both sides by two large ice-cream scoops rather than being gradually sloped, like a typical hull. This shape allows extra room for the twin propellers to be oversized and hence push more water per revolution. Normally the wash from one propeller interferes with the water flow into the other, but the Olympia Explorer has them placed so close to one another that they act almost as one. Ultimately, the vessel uses 25 percent less power than a ship with a conventional hull at similar speeds.

Measuring 25,000 gross register tons and 590 feet in length, the Olympia Explorer has a passenger capacity of 836 and a crew numbering 360, including 47 Greeks, mostly officers and dining-room stewards, plus an international mix of Eastern Europeans and Filipinos. The Greeks manning the main restaurant lend a flavor of ethnic authenticity to the surroundings, especially during the European summer season.

The passenger mix varies widely depending on the cruising region. In the Mediterranean, Americans are in the minority, averaging about 25 percent of the total, while Europeans--especially Italians, Spanish, and French--predominate (there are usually additional Spanish-speaking nationals from Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America). Embarkations take place at Venice, Piraeus (Athens), and Istanbul for ports in Italy, Croatia, Greece, and Turkey, so there are passengers boarding and leaving all week long. Your tablemates may change, as did mine, but all were English-speaking from the U.S., England, Australia, and Greece. Multi-lingual announcements are a necessity, but the line keeps the number to a minimum.

In the Western Hemisphere cruising season, Americans come out way on top, and the onboard atmosphere is altogether different. Here passengers comprise mainly an older crowd drawn to the longer cruises front Fort Lauderdale through the Panama Canal, from California to Hawaii and back, and a highly ambitious circumnavigation of South America. The two cruising regions are linked by fall and spring trans-Atlantic crossings, again attracting predominantly Americans.

Top enrichment programs, often hosted by notable speakers on history, culture, politics, wine, food, astronomy, and exploration, are a major feature of the line. Personal biographies are listed in the brochures, and lecturers get more exposure on longer cruises with days at sea than during the port-intensive Mediterranean season.

With a purplish-blue hull, pronounced bow, sleek lines, and swept-back masts and funnel, the Olympia Explorer presents a striking appearance. And when making 28-29 knots (approximately 33 mph), she sails by like a giant speedboat. Within she exudes a Greek modern design, European sophistication, and sensible simplicity. The public spaces are cherry-wood paneled, with the smooth surfaces giving off a rich soft glow. A curvy center corridor links the public rooms that range along Apollon Deck.