“Attention all crew and passengers! Please bring your suntan lotion, oil, aloe vera gel and moisturizing creams to the top deck just in case. Thank you!”
No, nobody really made that announcement and those products weren’t needed.
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But it was close.
A 24,344 gross ton, 640-foot long, 74-foot wide cruise liner made history earlier this month when it passed through the historic Corinth Canal, notoriously known for its tight squeeze where, at one point, it is only 78 feet wide at its narrowest point.
The 929 guests aboard Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ MS Braemar had a literal up-close view of the feat as it became the largest vessel ever to pass through the four-mile-long Canal.
“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,” Clare Ward, director of product and customer service at the cruise line, said in a statement. “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.”
The Braemer had set sail from Southampton, England, and was en route to Italy for the company’s 25-night “Corinth Canal & Greek Islands” cruise.
The Corinth Canal joins the Gulf of Corinth in northwest Greece with the Saronic Gulf in the southeast. Work on the canal began in 1882, and it opened in 1893. Its width varies from a minimum of 69 feet at the bottom to a maximum of 82 feet at the water’s surface.
