A 22.5m wide passenger cruise ship, the Braemar, squeezed through the rock-face walls of Greece’s Corinth Canal, which measures 25m at the waterline – to become the largest boat to ever do so, says cruise line company Fred Olsen.
There were 929 passengers on board as the 24,3 tonne, 196-metre-long, 22.5-metre-wide Braemar broke the existing record making its way through the narrow canal on Wednesday 9th October.
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The Corinth Canal connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf and separates the Peloponnese peninsula from mainland Greece. At 6,3km long, the canal shortens the route from Italian ports to the port of Athens.
Clare Ward, Director of Product and Customer Service for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, said:
“This is such an exciting sailing and tremendous milestone in Fred Olsen’s 171-year history, and we are thrilled to have been able to share it with our guests. At Fred Olsen, we strive to create memories that last a lifetime, and with guests on board Braemar able to get so close to the edges of the Corinth Canal that they could almost touch the sides, we know that this will be a holiday that they will never forget.”
“We have already had exceptionally high interest in our second Corinth Canal cruise, in Spring 2021, and we can’t wait to do it all over again!”
