QuirkyCruise had an e-chat about X-Bow hull design with Niels-Erik Lund, president and CEO of SunStone Ships Inc., a Miami Florida-based tonnage provider. (X-Bow, by the way, is pronounced “crossbow.”) SunStone is building a fleet of new expedition-style cruise ships — called the INFINITY series — in China (by China Merchants Heavy Industry, near Shanghai), with the design, equipment and management supplied by Norway’s Ulstein Design & Solutions. As the ship owner, SunStone will engage in negotiations of long-term charters with existing clients such as Quark Expeditions, Aurora Expeditions and Poseidon Expeditions, as well as other travel companies within the expedition segment. SunStone also specializes in commercial management of existing passenger ships, and the buying, selling and chartering of its managed fleet.
Read our round-up of the new expedition ships in the pipeline for 2018-2020.
QC: What are the benefits of the X-Bow hull design for expedition ships?
Niels-Erik Lund: The benefits are clearly the more comfortable ride for the passengers.
QC: Is the X-Bow hull design the most effective way to reduce pitching, and possibly make seasick-prone passengers more comfortable.
Niels-Erik Lund: For bad weather it is the best bow arrangement and combined with the Zero Speed stabilizers, we are of the opinion that we have optimized the comfort for the passengers.
QC: The bulbous bow was designed to reduce drag as water flowed along the hull. Most large cruise ship use this design. Are there other positive effects?
Niels-Erik Lund: The bulbous bow reduces fuel consumption, and in perfect seas, is most likely slightly better from a fuel efficiency point of view. However, in normal or bad seas, you will have some slamming on a conventional bow, which from a noise, vibration and fuel efficiency point of view, is less attractive compared to the X-Bow. Expedition vessels are relatively small, and operating in many areas of the world where the weather is not always perfect, so we believe this is a very good solution.
QC: What are the drawbacks of the X-Bow hull design?
Niels-Erik Lund: I am not aware of any drawbacks. However, we have received some comments from people in the cruise industry who do not like the design, but this is from a pure aesthetic point of view.
QC: Battleships decades ago used an inverted bow. How effective was it and why was it abandoned?
Niels-Erik Lund: I do not know.
SunStone’s INFINITY Series with X-Bow hull design. * Rendering: SunStone
QC: Is Lindblad’s newly announced polar build a Sunstone vessel, as it has the same X-Bow hull design?
Niels-Erik Lund: No SunStone is not involved in the Lindblad vessel, however, the hull and X-Bow are designed by Ulstein like the SunStone new buildings.
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