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Stelios: easyCruiseOne is “not a ferry”
Serial entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou has defended his inaugural “floating hotel” from claims that it resembles nothing more than a giant orange ferry, as he showed off easyCruiseOne for the first time.
The Guardian today carries a large photo of the bright orange ship, which will offer accommodation starting at £29 per night, along with a cartoon – perhaps unkind – suggesting that passengers on the ship will have to row it themselves.
The vessel will officially be launched in May, with a route through the Mediterranean from St Tropez to Genoa, as reported.
The Guardian quotes Bill Gibbons, of the Passenger Shipping Association, as saying that easyCruise represented a new way to attract younger cruise passengers, adding: “I can see it growing to become a substantial niche player in the cruise industry.”
The newspaper reports that “virtually everything on board” is orange, and that Stelios has admitted that “there was a risk of overdoing the orange”, but added that his aim was to ensure the easyCruise logo appears in as many holiday photos as possible.
However, Stelios was reportedly less pleased with suggestions that the boat resembled a ferry: “The ship is a floating hotel. It might be a chic hotel, it might be a tacky hotel – you can call it what you like but it is not a ferry.”
He is reported as wanting to develop a fleet of between five and seven ships by 2010.
Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad
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