First ship registered for easyCruise venture

Easyjet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou has bought the first ship for his latest venture easycruise.

Easygroup is negotiating with Singapore shipyards to have the ship refurbished to carry 180 passengers.

This refit will take about a year and the ship will start sailing in the summer of 2005.

EasyCruise will start accepting bookings for that season sometime in 2004.

The ship, Neptune 2 has been registered under the Cypriot flag, in Malaysia.

Cabin prices are set to start at £29 (€43) a night.

With more flexibility and attractive pricing easyCruise will appeal to a much wider customer base than existing cruise liners.