On April 10, President No 7, a high-class luxury cruise liner constructed by Yangtze River Cruise Liner (Hubei) Co with a huge investment, set sail in the Yangtze River for the first time, heading to Yichang from Chongqing, with a full load of over 460 passengers. Its peer, President No 8, will have its virgin voyage on April 26.

President No 7 and President No 8 have similar designs. They have the same hull specifications and internal facilities. The two liners boast 17,000 tons of water displacement. They have a hull length of 146.8 meters and hull width of 20.2 meters.

With their hull size reaching the maximum permitted level in the sailing channel of the Three Changjiang River Gorges, these two liners have seating capacities as high as 580. They are the new record holder for seating capacity of cruise liners (inland rivers) in the world.

They have been dubbed "Mr. Big" among cruise liners. The giant ships have 230 luxury hotel rooms, a dining hall that can accommodate 600 persons, and a multi-function hall that can hold 800 persons. In addition, a library, cigar bar, wine bar, fitness center, indoor constant-temperature swimming pool and golf training room round out the list of recreational and entertainment facilities.

Qin Hanqiao, the board chairman of Yangtze River Cruise Liner Co, said that due to the technological improvements in ship building, new-generation luxurious cruise liners can now realize larger size, better security, luxury characteristics and more economical efficiency on the basis of lower energy consumption.