Photo: David Goldman/Associated Press

The accommodations in the Olympic Village in Rio de Janeiro, where most of the Summer Olympics athletes are staying during the games, have received mixed reviews. Australian athletes refused to move into the buildings because of significant plumbing and electrical issues. Argentina’s athletes are renting apartments outside of the village until it can be proven safe. The US basketball teams, however, have no complaints so far as they are being put up aboard the luxury cruise ship Silver Cloud, owned by Silversea Cruises. The ship has accommodations for 296 people. The teams also stayed aboard ship, Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, at the Athens 2004 games. As reported by the NY Times, U.S.A. Basketball, the organization that oversees the national men’s and women’s teams, has shunned the athletes’ village since 1992.

Jerry Colangelo, the director of U.S.A. Basketball, said keeping the basketball players in seclusion was a matter of security.  “Our players are probably the most recognizable athletes in the world,” he said, explaining the “extra precaution” being taken. “We have our own idea of how to do that,” Colangelo said. “We can’t just throw them in with — once the International Olympic Committee decided they wanted pro players, to allow pro players to play, we have to protect them. They’re very valuable assets.”

Also serving as a floating hotel and entertainment center at the Rio Olympics is the 4,000 passenger Norwegian Getaway.  The ship is docked in Rio’s Pier Maua from August 4 to 22 to house members of the International Olympic Federation, National Organizing Committees and corporate sponsors.

During the 2014 SuperBowl in New York and New Jersey, the Norwegian Getaway was chartered as the “Bud Light Hotel” and was docked on the Hudson alongside the Intrepid Air and Space Museum.