A new three-masted full-rigged cruiseship Sea Cloud Spirit next month is to be christened in the Port of Palma de Mallorca by Infanta Elena of Spain, the sister of King Felipe VI.

The third luxury five-star windjammer from Sea Cloud Cruises was built at the Metalships & Docks shipyard in Vigo, Galicia in north-west Spain.

Sea Cloud Spirit is the modern interpretation of the Sea Cloud ship, the flagship of Sea Cloud Cruises. Like the 90-year-old original, and the 2001 built Sea Cloud II (see Port of Cork 'pictorial'), the new tall ship has the character of a private yacht.

Immediately after the first contact with Sea Cloud Cruises, and aware of what the construction of the Sea Cloud Spirit meant for Spanish shipping and its uniqueness, Doña Elena agreed to christen the new tall ship.

For the naming ceremony on 3rd September, a champagne bottle will as maritime tradition goes be used to smash against the hull. The champagne, which the godmother will christen the Sea Cloud Spirit with, has been blessed after a pilgrimage of almost 120 kms in Santiago de Compostela.

The Spanish shipping lawyer and legal representative of Sea Cloud Cruises, Javier Arias-Camisón, kept a promise he made at the beginning of the ship's construction. After the successful and happy completion of the extraordinary tall ship, he personally brought the champagne for the christening on foot to Santiago de Compostela and had it blessed there.

With two champagne bottles in his backpack, Arias-Camisón carried twice the luggage of a normal pilgrim on his back during the five-day pilgrimage.

On his tour, the lawyer did not let himself be stopped, even by painful blisters on his feet. At each pilgrimage stop along the way, the bottles received the obligatory stamp for devout walkers, on the specially made label of the champagne bottles.

As alluded, one of the two bottles will be traditionally shattered on the hull of the Sea Cloud Spirit during the christening. The other bottle will be auctioned off for charity on the maiden voyage from Rome, Italy on 14 September and will include calls in Livorno, Portoferraio, Sardinia, Sicily, Salerno and Naples.

Sea Cloud Spirit will welcome a maximum of 136 guests on board, and will have 85 crew members. Like the newbuild's fleetmates, the Sea Cloud Spirit is traditionally sailed by hand and follows the principles of soft tourism.