Jacques Hardelay, general manaer, Aker Yards Andy Stuart, NCL's executive vice president of marketing, sales and passenger services,hold the first piece of steel for NCL's first F3 class ship.
It’s a pretty auspicious occasion when a cruise line takes delivery of its next ship and cuts the first steel for another on the same day. And
Norwegian Cruise Line has just celebrated that special occasion in Europe with its Elite President Club members.
The day began early with Andy Stuart presiding over the first steel cutting of the next generation of NCL ships… F3. However today represented another industry first (Terri Burke’s revolutionary idea), as two agents were invited to share the button pushing honor with Andy Stuart;
Tom Coiro of Direct Line Cruises & Brad Anderson of America’s Vacation Center. Not only are these agents Elite, but they also represent the highest incremental growth of any other Elite member. After the steel cutting the group had the opportunity to individually sign a piece of steel that will be built into the vessel. Followed by a tour of the yard and lunch.
The entire group is now en route from St. Nazaire to Nantes to catch a flight to Groningen and ultimately arrive Eemshaven, where President’s Club will be the very first guests aboard
Norwegian Gem.
“Today’s steel cutting marks a major milestone in NCL’s history as we begin the construction of our first F3 ship in conjunction with Aker Yards,” said Colin Veitch, president and CEO of
NCL Corporation. “Travel partners have been instrumental to our success over the past 40 years, so we invited our President’s Club members to join us in this historic event. We are pleased that they could be in attendance to witness the beginnings of the first ship which will further signify NCL’s progressive dismantling of the structure, regimentation and constraints of the traditional cruise experience.”
The F3 ships are the next phase in NCL’s unique Freestyle Cruising, which offers vacationers a less structured, more relaxed, more resort-style experience than traditional cruising and is characterized by no fixed dining times, no formal dress codes and up to 10 different restaurants.
The 150,000-ton ships will each total 4,200 passenger berths, representing the largest ships in NCL’s fleet. The first ship is scheduled for delivery in January 2010.
The new ship design will offer 60 percent more guest space than NCL’s largest ships to date, which will be used to provide guests an even wider range of on-board activities, amenities and stateroom options. The ships’ cabin mix will be the richest of any
NCL ship with 100 percent of outside staterooms featuring private balconies. In total, each ship will have 1,415 balcony staterooms. Details of the ships’ design will be released closer to delivery.
