News

Norwegian Cruise Line names their ships Norwegian Escape and Norwegian Bliss

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 08 October 2013 08 October 2013

Norwegian Cruise Line announced today that thanks to its Facebook fans around the globe the names of the line's two new Breakaway Plus class ships are Norwegian Escape and Norwegian Bliss. These names are the two that received the highest number of votes, out of the line's top ten name prospects, in the Norwegian's Name Their Ships contest, which asked fans in five countries to help select the names for the line's two new Breakaway Plus vessels.

The contest, which ran from September 10 through September 24, 2013, garnered more than 100,000 votes from Norwegian fans located in five different countries, including the United States, Canada (excluding Quebec), Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom.

"The response to our Norwegians Name Their Ships contest was overwhelming," said Kevin Sheehan, Norwegian's chief executive officer. "It reaffirms that we have a very engaged and passionate community of Norwegians and we are thrilled with the names they have selected for our two new Breakaway Plus Class Ships. Norwegian Escape and Norwegian Bliss are two names that truly characterize our brand, Freestyle Cruising, and the experience guests will have on board these fantastic new vessels."

All those who submitted a vote for their favorite Breakaway Plus ship names were entered into a random drawing to win a trip for two to the first Breakaway Plus ships inaugural festivities, including round-trip coach airfare for two, ground transportation, balcony stateroom accommodations (double occupancy) and on-board meals. Winners will be announced today, October 8, 2013, on Norwegians Facebook Page at www.ncl.com/Facebook.

Norwegian's new Breakaway Plus ships will be the largest in the lines fleet at approximately 163,000 gross tons and 4,200 passenger berths each and will be similar in design and innovation to the line's current Breakaway class, the first of which, Norwegian Breakaway, launched in New York in early May and the second of which, Norwegian Getaway, will launch in January and arrive in her homeport of Miami in February.

AIDA Cruises name 2015 newbuilding AIDAprima

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 08 October 2013 08 October 2013

AIDA Cruises, the German unit of Carnival Corp & plc, has decided to name first of the 125,000 gross ton newbuildings on order at Mitsubishi at Nagasaki AIDAprima.

The ship will be delivered in 2015, with a sister due in the following year.

The ship will feature:

-AIDA Beach Club under sliding roof;

-Veranda cabins on Lanai deck with pools;

-Patio deck with panorama cabins;

-Panorama lifts;

-Skywalk

The ship will operate seven night cruises to European metropoles, with the first cruise due to depart from Hamburg on 20 June. Ports of call will be London/Southhampton, Paris/Le Havre, Brüssel/Zeebrügge and Rotterdam.

It will become the first ship to operate from German ports, year-round.

Prior to this, the ship will make a delivery voyage from Japan via the Far East and the Mediterranean will depart Yokohama on 22 March and take 86 nights.

Cruise Business Insight: To shine, Star must order new tonnage

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 08 October 2013 08 October 2013

It was in 1993 that the name of Star Cruises came to public awareness after the Malaysian company had acquired two modern 40,000 gross ton cruise ferries for conversion into cruise ships for use in the Far East.

In the years that followed, the company grew rapidly, mostly through the acquisitions of second hand tonnage, but at the end of the decade, it added two 75,000 gross ton newbuildings from Meyer Werft, SuperStar Virgo and SuperStar Leo.

For quite some time, Star Cruises dominated the Far Eastern source market: other ventures were set up in the region too, but few became a success in the end. Star opted for a strategy to become global in terms of source markets at the turn of the millennium, when it acquired Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) group.

This, however, meant that the company paid fairly little attention to develop its home turf – in fact, SuperStar Leo became NCL’s Norwegian Spirit in the process of this shift of focus – so that foreign competition could start to establish itself in countries like China, Malaysia and Japan plus Australia, which also had been strongly under the Star Cruises’ radar in the early part of its history.

Today, Star Cruises has five ships, of which the SuperStar Virgo is the largest and newest: it was built in 1999. The company needs to raise its profile in the face of growing competition from the likes of Costa Crociere and Princess Cruises of the carnival group and Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL) group that all operate high quality tonnage in the region, at least seasonally.

A contract to build a 150,000 gross ton ship at Meyer Werft, which was announced on Monday, will give Star Cruises the profile lift it needs plus a vessel designed to its needs: a second hand acquisition is always a compromise. With modern design features, it can achieve lower fuel consumption and raft of other advantages, while its huge size will offer economies of scale.

In the long run, the question will probably be how many such vessels can Star Cruises, which is part of Genting Hong Kong group, afford to build. If we look at the business model of both Carnival and RCCL groups, that is based on building large ships that offer economies of scale in the ship level and by building several of these so that economies of scale can be achieved on the brand level.

Star has made a bold move that is probably right. But if competition on the Far Eastern source markets continues to intensify, which appears to be the case, it may have to raise stakes further.