JEDDAH, 28 January 2003 — The most luxurious and technologically advanced floating hotel in the world will sail to the port of Piraeus, Greece in August 2004, in time for the Olympic Games. The chartering contract for the cruise ship, Queen Mary II, was signed recently between the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games and the ship’s owner, Cunard line, Olympic Airways’ Jeddah-based Area Manager George Meintanis told Arab News. "The cruise ship will offer a large number of rooms for the Athens 2004 hospitality program. Piraeus will host 13,000 select guests in 11 cruise ships, which will be moored there during the games," he said, adding that the hospitality program in floating hotels was the largest in the history of the Olympic Games. Work to upgrade the port of Piraeus is already underway so that the area will be ready to receive the ships. Work will include the restoration of older buildings, the planting of trees and general improvements to the areas that will be used for the servicing of vessels. Other work on upgrading the infrastructure will also be carried out. In a move to protect the environment, certain measures will be applied, such as a ban on the use of the ships’ furnaces while in port. Queen Mary II is being built at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyards in Saint-Nazaire, France. She will be launched in the first half of 2003 and her virgin trip will take place from Southampton to New York in January 2004. "We’ll be initiating a program to attract Saudis and their families to the Olympic Games," said Afzal Hakeem, marketing manager of the airline that operates weekly two flights from Jeddah to Athens. The airline is offering special fares until March-end as part of its low-season promotion. "Our offers from Jeddah include SR3,099 plus taxes to Canada and SR2,055 plus taxes to London. Our one-way London fare is SR1,455," he added. (KSR)
