Scheduled for delivery in the springs of 2013 and 2014, the contract price for the two ships is approximately 1.2 billion euros (about $1.7 billion at today’s exchange rate).
NCL CEO Kevin Sheehan said the decision to build the ships reflected the "significant progress we have made in improving our operating performance and repositioning the company over the last several years, as well as the strong market demand we are seeing for Norwegian Epic and our other ships."
The 4,100-passenger Norwegian Epic entered service in June.
Sheehan would not release any details about the ships’ features, except to say that they would have "all the best attributes of the Epic, with the different dining options and the entertainment. Those features will move to the new ship."
Sheehan hinted that the design of the Wave cabins, with the bathroom components (sink, toilet and shower) separated, won’t be on the new ships.
"We have some learnings from the Epic," he said. "It is a fantastic ship but we have some learnings and will build on that knowledge."
The studio cabins geared toward solo passengers will definitely be on the new ships.
"That’s a strategy that makes sense," Sheehan said. "It is an underserved group of people and our brand meets that need."
The two new ships will be the eighth and ninth NCL vessels built by Meyer Weft, a shipyard in Papenburg, Germany.
Sheehan said he was very comfortable with the idea of working with Meyer Werft, the yard that has built so many NCL ships, most recently the Jewel-class ships: the Norwegian Gem, Pearl, Jade and Jewel.
Sheehan said that NCL took advantage of some of the best shipbuilding prices in recent memory.
0 comments:
Post a Comment