''Le Soléal'' is a

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 ...

operated by

Compagnie du Ponant Ponant (officially, ''Compagnie du Ponant'' ''(CDP)''; "Ponant Company") is a French cruise ship operator. It was founded in April 1988 by Philippe Videau, Jean-Emmanuel Sauvé, and other officers of the French Merchant Navy and launched the fi ...

History

The ship was built at the Fincantieri shipyard in

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, and was launched on the 6 December 2012, being christened by Kiki Tauck Mahar. The vessel started its maiden voyage on 1 July 2013. ''Le Soléal'' became the first French commercial shipping vessel to traverse the

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea lane between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, near the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Arctic Archipelago of Canada. The eastern route along the Arctic ...

. The vessel left

Kangerlussuaq Kangerlussuaq (; ; ) is a settlement in western Greenland in the Qeqqata municipalities of Greenland, municipality located at the head of the Kangerlussuaq Fjord, fjord of the same name. It was Greenland's main air transport hub and the site of G ...

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

on August 26, 2013, and arrived in

Anadyr Anadyr may refer to: *Anadyr (town), a town and the administrative center of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia * Anadyr District * Anadyr Estuary * Anadyr (river), a river in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia * Anadyr Highlands * Anadyr Lowlands * A ...

, in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

on September 16, 2013.

References

External links

Compagnie du Ponant official site page about the ship
{{DEFAULTSORT:Le Soleal Ships built in Ancona Ships built by Fincantieri Ships of Compagnie du Ponant 2012 ships