easyCruise has acquired a second ship, to be named easyCruise Life, which will join the fleet with new seven-day cruises to the Greek Islands and Turkey starting in April 2008. The soon-to-be “Life” was built in 1981 and is currently known as Farah operated by Arab Ship Management out of Egypt. easyCruise Life will have capacity of around 500 lower berths compared to easyCruiseOne’s 232. The line will take delivery of the ship in October after which it will enter dry-dock to undergo extensive refurbishments.

The new vessel acquisition could not have come at a better time for easyCruise. Last month, the company was forced to cancel sailings by its easyCruiseTwo riverboat operating between Amsterdam and Brussels. easyCruiseTwo was owned and operated on a franchise basis by a separate company called Boonstra Riverline. easyCruise was informed by Boonstra Riverline that due to their financial situation, they would no longer be able to operate cruises.

Norwegian Coastal Voyage becomes Hurtigruten

Yesterday, Norwegian Coastal Voyage announced its name change to Hurtigruten (Her-Te-Grew-Ten), adopting the official name of the parent company as it’s known throughout the world.  Hurtigruten operates 16 ships.  In addition to the Norwegian coast, itineraries include Spitsbergen in the Arctic Circle along with Greenland and Antarctica.  Two months ago Hurtigruten introduced its new polar expedition vessel, Fram.

Is it me or does Hurtigruten sound like “farfignugen” from those old Volkswagen commercials? The German term “farfignugen” means the experience between car and driver, maybe Hurtingruten means a better experience between cruise and cruiser…?