Post by tekmac on Aug 9, 2005 9:38:18 GMT -5
DUBAI (7 Aug 2005) -- Presumably having exhausted all the exotic possibilities on Earth, high-end hoteliers are now experimenting with the life aquatic.
In April, Hilton introduced what it says is the first undersea restaurant in the world. Fish can watch you eat their cousins -- and the menu is heavy on seafood -- at the aquarium-style dining room that seats just 14, five metres deep in the Maldives (a series of low-lying island off southern India).
Part of a $5-million renovation of the luxurious Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa, the restaurant is encased in arching acrylic walls, giving diners a 270-degree view of the marine life all around. Only the floor is opaque.
"It's absolutely beautiful," says Gail Palmer, a London, England public relations specialist who recently visited the resort.
Diners start with a drink on the deck of another restaurant at the resort, then descend a sealed spiral staircase for their undersea dinner. The tasting menu, which runs the gamut from raw yellow fin tuna to curried red snapper and Maldavian lobster, is $200 per person.
Elsewhere in the world -- in Dubai and the Bahamas -- whole underwater hotels are under construction. Each of the new projects has boasted about being the first underwater hotel in the world. Both are racing to open late in 2006.
In fact, there already is an underwater hotel, Jules' Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, Fla., but it's in a converted research lab and you have to be a qualified scuba diver to take the eight-metre plunge to get to it.
The $500-million underwater Dubai resort is to be called the Hydropolis Hotel and include 220 bubble-shaped suites, as well as a ballroom and a spa. Work is now underway on an underwater tunnel to transport goods and guests by pressurized rail cars.
The Bahamas project is somewhat more modest, if a $40-million budget and rates of nearly $2,000 a night can be considered in any sense modest. The hotel is being built 15 metres deep, off the Bahamian island of Eleuthra, by entrepreneur Bruce Jones, who has 17 years' experience designing, retrofitting and selling submarines. Guests will get to the hotel through two tunnels and an escalator. Each suite will have large acrylic walls facing coral gardens that will be illuminated at night.
"Guests will enjoy five-star luxury accommodation, all with stunning views of the underwater world," promises Jones.
While other plans for underwater complexes have foundered, Jones has said he's confident his Poseidon Resort will be a success.
"Everybody who comes off a tourist submarine loves the experience. There's a tremendous amount of interest in the subsea world -- it's growing all the time."
SOURCE - Vancouver Sun
In April, Hilton introduced what it says is the first undersea restaurant in the world. Fish can watch you eat their cousins -- and the menu is heavy on seafood -- at the aquarium-style dining room that seats just 14, five metres deep in the Maldives (a series of low-lying island off southern India).
Part of a $5-million renovation of the luxurious Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa, the restaurant is encased in arching acrylic walls, giving diners a 270-degree view of the marine life all around. Only the floor is opaque.
"It's absolutely beautiful," says Gail Palmer, a London, England public relations specialist who recently visited the resort.
Diners start with a drink on the deck of another restaurant at the resort, then descend a sealed spiral staircase for their undersea dinner. The tasting menu, which runs the gamut from raw yellow fin tuna to curried red snapper and Maldavian lobster, is $200 per person.
Elsewhere in the world -- in Dubai and the Bahamas -- whole underwater hotels are under construction. Each of the new projects has boasted about being the first underwater hotel in the world. Both are racing to open late in 2006.
In fact, there already is an underwater hotel, Jules' Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, Fla., but it's in a converted research lab and you have to be a qualified scuba diver to take the eight-metre plunge to get to it.
The $500-million underwater Dubai resort is to be called the Hydropolis Hotel and include 220 bubble-shaped suites, as well as a ballroom and a spa. Work is now underway on an underwater tunnel to transport goods and guests by pressurized rail cars.
The Bahamas project is somewhat more modest, if a $40-million budget and rates of nearly $2,000 a night can be considered in any sense modest. The hotel is being built 15 metres deep, off the Bahamian island of Eleuthra, by entrepreneur Bruce Jones, who has 17 years' experience designing, retrofitting and selling submarines. Guests will get to the hotel through two tunnels and an escalator. Each suite will have large acrylic walls facing coral gardens that will be illuminated at night.
"Guests will enjoy five-star luxury accommodation, all with stunning views of the underwater world," promises Jones.
While other plans for underwater complexes have foundered, Jones has said he's confident his Poseidon Resort will be a success.
"Everybody who comes off a tourist submarine loves the experience. There's a tremendous amount of interest in the subsea world -- it's growing all the time."
SOURCE - Vancouver Sun