NCL bets on the Med

Genoa - The launch of a new ship is an opportunity for every company to show off the best of its brand, and for us insiders, it’s a good chance to suss out a company’s development strategies. This was the case at the mini-launch of the cruise ship Norwegian Getaway, built by Meyer Werft in record time for Norwegian Cruise Line. The U.S. company made a surprise announcement that it had decided to strengthen its presence in the Mediterranean by placing its largest ship, the Norwegian Epic (a giant that carries 5,186 passengers) in the Mediterranean for all of the 2015/2016 winter season. A brave move, since for 2014 NCL’s U.S. competitors have decided either to cut their capacity in half (Royal Caribbean International) or to abandon the Mediterranean entirely (Carnival Cruise Lines). Royal Caribbean is already planning a dramatic comeback for 2015 by sending the largest ship in the world, the Allure of the Seas, to the Mediterranean for the entire summer season, while NCL has kept its programs constant throughout 2014 with three ships calling regularly at Italian ports, and with Civitavecchia and Venice playing the role of home ports.

In any event, further details about the winter season plans for the Epic, and its ports of call in particular, will be revealed in March. Since the ship was designed for warmer climates, it will be interesting to see which route will be chosen to allow passengers to fully enjoy all its outdoor bathing facilities. But as far as Italian ports are concerned, NCL’s managers, Jürgen Stille (Director of Business Development for Continental Europe) and Francesco Paradisi (Senior manager business development for Italy) have been asked if their company is considering replacing the Norwegian Epic’s Livorno stop with La Spezia, as Royal Caribbean did with Liberty of the Seas. The response was that NCL is very happy with Livorno, both for logistics, and as a base from which to make excursions, so for the moment they have no intention of leaving the Tuscan port.

But the launch of the Getaway is not the end of NCL’s development plans; in fact, the company’s plan to expand its fleet will continue for the next few years. NCL has already commissioned two even larger ships based on the Breakaway prototype from Meyer Werft: Norwegian Escape, and Norwegian Bliss, which will be ready in 2015 and 2017, respectively. So the expansion of the fleet continues, which is a sign that “freestyle cruising”, NCL’s distinctive trademark, works, and that the cruise market appreciates this original and unconstrained approach to a vacation on the seas with no fixed hours. After inaugural events in Rotterdam and Southampton, the Getaway will leave Europe for the United States, where inaugural celebrations will be held again in Miami on February 7th. In fact, Miami will be the home port of this new cruise ship all year round. The ship was designed with this in mind, and offers its passengers a bit of the spirit of its home city. Finally, here are the numbers for this cruise liner: 145,655 tonnes in gross tonnage, 325.65 meters in overall length, and 39.73 meters in width. There are 2,014 cabins for passengers for a total capacity of 4,500 guests, and 1,640 crew members.