Tag Archives: Epic

Norwegian Epic Completes 15 Years of Service

Posted on by
Reply

Norwegian Epic Completes 15 Years of Service

The Norwegian Epic recently completed 15 years of service after being delivered to Norwegian Cruise Line on June 17, 2010.

The 150,000-ton vessel was built as a prototype vessel at the STX France Shipyard, currently known as the Chantiers de l’Atlantique, in St. Nazaire, France.

After leaving its building dock, the Norwegian Epic embarked on a series of pre-inaugural cruises before setting sail from Southampton, England, for a seven-night crossing to New York City.

Continuing its maiden season celebrations, the vessel was christened by entertainer Reba McEntire on July 2, 2010.

After additional celebrations in New York City and Miami, the Epic officially embarked on its inaugural season on July 10, 2010.

Sailing from PortMiami, the ship offered a series of alternating seven-night cruises to the Eastern and Western Caribbean.

Ports of call included Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Costa Maya, Mexico; Nassau, Bahamas; and Roatán, Honduras.

In 2011, the Norwegian Epic repositioned back to Europe for its first summer season in the Mediterranean, before returning to Miami ahead of the 2011-12 winter season.

Earlier this year, the 4,200-guest ship underwent a significant refit at the Chantier Naval de Marseille in France.

As part of the project, the ship debuted new venues, including an expanded Vice Beach Club and a refreshed Kids’ Aqua Park.

Other changes include the addition of eight new staterooms, as well as the debut of a new hot tub and enhanced exterior decks.

After completing its renovation, the Norwegian Epic embarked on a summer season in the Mediterranean.

Sailing from Civitavecchia, a port near Italy’s capital city of Rome, the ship is offering nine- and ten-night cruises to destinations in Greece and Malta.

Ports of call being visited include Valletta, Heraklion, Santorini, Piraeus, Katakolon, Argostoli and Mykonos.

In November, the Norwegian Epic repositions to the Southern Caribbean for itineraries departing from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Sommer: New NCLH Leadership Brings ‘Fresh Perspective and Energy’

Posted on by
Reply

“With new leadership not only in my seat but in all three of our award-winning brands and most recently for our vessel operation function, there is a possible feeling of reinvigoration and excitement about the future across the entire company,” said Harry Sommer, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH), speaking on the company’s second-quarter earnings call.

Sommer took over as president and CEO of the company earlier this year, following Frank Del Rio’s retirement.

“We are approaching every decision with fresh perspective and new energy, challenging the status quo at every level and encouraging our entire team to think outside of the box and come to the table with new ideas, however big or small,” Sommer said, noting his focus is on the future and how to refine and enhance our strategy to optimize the company’s existing fleet of high-quality assets, further differentiate the business model, build resiliency, advance efforts to drive a positive impact on society in the environment and ultimately drive more value.

“Our executive team has an average of over 20 years in the cruise industry and nearly all have been with NCLH for a decade plus,” he continued.

“I have the unlost confidence that this team is the right one to take the company to even greater heights.”

Harry Sommer: Norwegian Prima Reimagines the Cruise Industry

Posted on by
Reply

The new Norwegian Prima is helping to reimagine the cruise industry, according to Harry Sommer, president of Norwegian Cruise Line, speaking on the ship in New York City on Thursday.

“When we sat down in 2017 to decide what we wanted the next class of ship to be, we surveyed the universe and started primarily with what NCL (Norwegian Cruise Line) had in its offering at the time,” he said.

That offering ranged from 2,000-guest ships to the Jewel class at 2,400, then ships in the high 3,000-guest range and up.

“We thought there was a gap as we had nothing between the Jewel class at 2,400 and the Epic, Breakaway- and Breakaway-plus class ships. We thought this would be a perfect thing to fill out our portfolio,” Sommer said, noting the Prima was “97 per cent perfect” and the company would make some minor adjustments on the Viva when it debuts in 2023.

Of note, Sommer pointed to the largest bathrooms the company has ever put in its staterooms and the largest balcony cabins as well.

“Different ship class sizes can go to different ports. There are different customers in our base and we appeal to a wide range of guests … we also wanted to reimagine the cruise industry.”

Thus, working with President and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Frank Del Rio, the idea was to build a ship that didn’t look like a cruise ship but was more similar to a high-end hotel.

“Part of that required us not to have those larger spaces, so we have smaller intimate spaces. There are no venues where you are with 500 or 600 people,” Sommer said.

“It was a little bit of a risk as all our competition keeps getting bigger and bigger. That is okay and there is a market for that too, but we did not want to create something that looked like a large indoor shopping mall.”

With the Norwegian Prima entering service in 2022, the Viva follows in 2023 and four more sister vessels are on order for Norwegian Cruise Line at Fincantieri through 2027.