| NCL sizes up what passengers want

RETURN on experience and space per passenger will continue to govern Norwegian Cruise Line’s (NCL) newbuild strategy, rather than the size of other ships in the market, the company’s President David Herrera (pictured) said.

NCL’s next class of ship – ordered from Fincantieri last year as part of a major group-wide fleet enhancement (CW 09 Apr 2024) – is set to carry 5,100 passengers each and will be by far the largest in the line’s history.

The new vessels will bring NCL into more direct competition alongside other plus-sized lines such as Royal Caribbean International and MSC Cruises.

However, this does not mean NCL will sacrifice any of its brand identity to compete with megaship operators, Herrera said.

“Our ships are able to deliver the guest experience with the high personal space ratios that we do, we’re proud of that [and] we’re not wishing we were something else.”

Speaking in a panel discussion on board Norwegian Aqua this week, Herrera said the mix of guest experience and usable area dictated many of the changes made against its second Prima-class ship, Norwegian Viva, which entered service two years ago.

“We listen to our guests…what do they want more of and where would we benefit from adding space,” he said.

One particular change, Herrera noted, involved removing the popular go-kart circuit to free up space on the top deck.

NCL’s current Prima-class ships are the smallest it has built since the 2,400-passenger Norwegian Gem debuted in 2007.

The class will top out with its final two ships, due in 2027 and 2028, each of which will be able to carry 3,650 guests.

The arrival of NCL’s first 5,000-plus pax ships in 2030 will then give the cruise line a larger diversity of vessel sizes, allowing it to offer a broad itinerary mix.

“Managing your fleet deployment based on capacity is something that we’ve learned is the right way to [direct] your fleet,” Herrera noted.

“There’s certain limitations and restrictions…if all of your ships are huge, you can only go to a few places, and our goal is to give our guests more options and more variety, so that’s why we continue to build a different mix in the size of our ships.” MS