Page 33 - Clipper Cruise Book

Romancing With The Wind
B
oarding the Royal Clipper is like stepping

into the past, to a time when wind in the
sails moved ships across the seas.

With boxy floating hotel cruise ships cluttering the world’s
ports, the Royal Clipper is a sight that brings everyone on those
ships a breathtaking moment of cruise envy.

Five masts hold 42 sails that span 56,000 square feet controlled
entirely by the crew without the aid of computers. She is a one-
of-a-kind ship, the largest true sail vessel afloat anywhere today.
The SPV (Sail Power Vessel) Royal Clipper is the largest and only
five-masted full-rigged sailing ship built since her predecessor,

the tall ship Preussen, was launched at the beginning of the last
century.

Unlike the other cruise ships, passengers mingle among the 20
sailors of the 106 crewmembers during breaks from their duties
on deck, and stay clear of them as they raise, trim and lower the
sails, navigate the ship with traditional and modern skills, and
carefully bring a 439-foot sailing ship into and out of ports.
Operating this ship is definitely not hidden from the passengers
as on the typical cruise ship.

At sea, Royal Clipper is always under sail except when weather
requires power from the twin 2,500 horsepower diesel engines.

From the dining room, marina, spa, and lounge on the lowest
deck Commodore, to the pools and lounge chairs on the top Sun
deck, this ship has many places for the 227 passengers to
explore, flop in and unwind.

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