Norwegian Cruise Line has entered into a contract with Aker
Yards S.A. of France to build up to three new cruise ships,
totaling 12,600 berths, for delivery between 2009 and 2011. The new
ship order is the largest in the company’s 40-year history.
The ships will each be approximately 150,000 Gross Tons, with
4,200 passenger berths. Two ships are set for delivery in the
fourth quarter of 2009 and the second quarter of 2010,
respectively; and there is an option for a third sister ship for
delivery in the first quarter of 2011. At today's exchange rate,
the contract price on the two firm ships translates to
approximately $224,000 per passenger lower berth.
The new ships, with the project name "F3,” represent NCL's third
generation of Freestyle Cruising ships, and details of the ship's
design will be released closer to delivery. The cabin mix will be
the richest of any NCL ship to date, and every outside stateroom
will have a private balcony. The new ship design will offer 60
percent more passenger space than the largest ships built so far by
NCL and will use that space to introduce major advances in the
line’s Freestyle Cruising experience.
When the new orders are delivered the combined Norwegian Cruise
Line and NCL America fleets will be the youngest by far of the
major North American lines, with an average ship size, fleetwide,
of over 2,500 passenger lower berths, and with over 50 percent of
all staterooms fleet wide offering balconies.
www.ncl.com
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