NCL Orders Next Generation of Cruise Ships

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) has ordered its next generation of ships from Fincantieri. Four ships are on order for delivery in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, with an option for two additional ships to be delivered in 2026 and 2027. 

The four 140,000 gross ton ships will be almost 300 meters (984 feet) long and will each accommodate approximately 3,300 guests. The new class of ships will be a development of the brand’s most recent Breakaway-Plus Class ships. A priority of the prototype design is energy efficiency, with the aim of optimizing fuel consumption and reducing the impact on the environment. 

The contract price for each of the four vessels is approximately €800 million ($854 million) per ship. The company has obtained export credit financing with favorable terms to fund 80 percent of the contract price of each ship delivered through 2025, subject to certain conditions.

Frank Del Rio, president and chief executive officer of NCL said: “This order continues to highlight our disciplined newbuild program, extends our growth trajectory well into the future, enhances our already attractive earnings profile and drives expected long-term returns for our shareholders.”

NCL announced last year that its next new vessel, named Norwegian Bliss, will be the first cruise ship custom built for Alaskan cruising. The third ship in the line’s Breakaway-Plus class, Norwegian Bliss is approximately 167,800 gross tons and accommodates 4,000 guests. It will be built at Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany, and is scheduled for delivery in Spring 2018.

Also last year, NCL announced cruises to Cuba which are anticipated to start in March 2017.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings is one of the top cruise companies in the world. Besides NCL, it operates the Oceania Cruises and the Regent Seven Seas Cruises brand, to which Fincantieri delivered the ultra-luxury ship Seven Seas Explorer in 2016 and is now building a sister ship with delivery expected in 2020.