Organizers of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games found innovative accommodations for athletes competing in a remote area, the luxury cruise ship Aranui 5.
Olympic Games organizers faced a unique challenge this year: 48 surfers were scheduled to compete in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, a coastal area famous for its surf break. The French Polynesian village lies more than 9,000 miles from Paris, making it the farthest distance in the game’s history between a host city and its medal competition.
Regulations dictate that participants’ lodgings must be no further than 45 minutes from the competition venue. Planners were forced to consider limited options in the remote neighborhood. They first looked at a local hotel, but it had been shut down for 26 years and wouldn’t be ready for the July 27 to 30 surfing competition.
Tahiti Minister of Youth and Sports Nahema Temaril announced that participants will be hosted onboard Aranui 5, a Polynesian cruise vessel made in Romania. The dual-purpose passenger/freight vessel is docked at Port Vairao, less than four miles from Teahupo’o.
NBC Olympics reports the vessel has a fitness center, library, spa, pool, panoramic bar, and 103 staterooms. Instead of recyclable cardboard beds and shared cabins like the Olympic Village in Paris, guests get a private room, a balcony, and gorgeous ocean views.
In addition to the group of surfers, officials who are in Teahupo’o for the Olympics have reserved rooms inside the 7,500-ton ship.
Meanwhile, appreciative athletes like Portugal’s Camilla Kemp and Germany’s Tim Elter have shared videos of their superior accommodations. In his 24-second TikTok clip, Elter moves from his private balcony to his sleeping area. He knocks on the bed and boasts, “We don’t have cardboard beds. We actually have real aluminum bed frames.”
“So yeah, we got it better than the guys in Paris,” he adds smugly.
Not all attempts to use cruise ships as temporary lodgings have been as successful. Last June, a vessel booked for the G7 Summit was seized, and its owner was investigated because of disrepair.
