''Le Dumont-d'Urville'' is the fourth ship of the of

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...

s operated by Ponant. Each member of the class has been allocated the name of a famous French explorer. Initially, the fourth ship in the class was to have been named ''Le Kerguelen'', after

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

and

naval officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent ...

Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec Rear-Admiral Yves Joseph Marie de Kerguelen-Trémarec (13 February 1734 – 3 March 1797) was a French Navy officer. He discovered the Kerguelen Islands in 1772 during his first expedition to the southern Indian Ocean. Welcomed as a hero after h ...

. However, before entering service she was renamed ''Le Dumont-d'Urville'', after

Jules Dumont d'Urville Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (; 23 May 1790 – 8 May 1842) was a French List of explorers, explorer and French Navy, naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica. As a botanist an ...

, another explorer and naval officer. Built by

VARD Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

, ''Le Dumont-d'Urville'' had her hull constructed in VARD's

Tulcea Tulcea (; also known by #Names, alternative names) is a city in Northern Dobruja, Romania. It is the administrative center of Tulcea County, and had a population of 65,624 . One village, Tudor Vladimirescu, is administered by the city. It is one ...

yard in Romania. She was then transferred to the builder's Søviknes facility in

Ålesund Ålesund () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of Ålesund Municipality. The centre of the town of Ålesund lies on the islands of Hessa, Aspøya, Ålesund, Asp� ...

, Norway, for final outfitting. ''Le Dumont-d'Urville'' was delivered to Ponant in Norway on 14 June 2019, and was due to begin her maiden voyage on 7 August 2019.

References

External links

Compagnie du Ponant official site page about the ship
2019 ships Ships built in Norway Ships built in Romania Ships of Compagnie du Ponant {{Cruise-ship-stub