Norwegian Epic to call at Southampton

Posted on 29 April, 2014 by Spacejunkie2

Norwegian Epic is to return to Southampton for the first time in five years from 2015, marking its first return to the port since its inaugural celebration in June 2010.

According to Travelmole, the ship will sail to the UK port during its two Iberian Peninsula cruises, which are scheduled for September and October next year.

First up is a six-night sailing departing from Barcelona on September 20th. Then, the first of the two cruises will depart from Southampton on September 26th, with port calls in Cartagena, Granada and Lisbon.

After that, there’s a seven-night cruise from Southampton to Barcelona on the cards, departing on October 11th. In the interim, the ship is scheduled to go into the dry dock in France.

There’s likely to be plenty more visits to the UK for Norwegian Epic once the ship relocates its home port to the Catalan city of Barcelona on a permanent basis.

At that point, it will offer year-round sailings to the Western Mediterranean and the Canary Islands and Morocco.

Norwegian features dining package in new promotion

Posted on 25 February, 2014 by Spacejunkie2

By Tom Stieghorst

Norwegian Cruise Line said it will offer free dining and beverage packages in a Wave season promotion for sailings of Norwegian Breakaway and Getaway in the second and third quarters.

Andy Stuart, the cruise line’s vice president of sales, said the promotion, dubbed “The Ultimate Freesome,” has “never been done before at Norwegian.”

The offer includes a free Ultimate Dining package for booking a balcony or mini-suite cabin on the two ships during the promotion period from Feb. 27 to March 10. Those who book a suite in the Haven will get a dining package and an Ultimate Beverage Package.

The dining package allows for complimentary dining at the extra-charge alternative restaurants on Breakaway and Getaway. The first two guests in the stateroom will get the packages in the promotion. In the suite promotion, all guests will get the beverage package, with a soda package for anyone under 21 years old.

Stuart said the point was partly to promote the sale of dining packages by travel agents.

“We really think this is a package more and more guests will enjoy,” he said.

The package, new this year, costs $119 per person for seven-day cruises.

Norwegian launched the promotion on a webinar with more than 4,000 participants, a record number Stuart said.

Attendees were eligible to win one of 50 free cabins on Getaway and Norwegian Epic, which were allotted at random to those still listening at the end.

Sheehan: NCL pricing has softened

Posted on 19 February, 2014 by Spacejunkie2

By Tom Stieghorst

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings CEO Kevin Sheehan told Wall Street analysts on Tuesday that pricing has softened some since the late fourth quarter, when it was selling 2014 inventory at double-digit increases from the year before.

At the time, Sheehan said load factors were higher for the second, third and fourth quarters and lower for the first quarter, when Norwegian has 72% of its capacity in the Caribbean.

Sheehan said he had hoped to continue pricing unchanged.

“Unfortunately, that didn’t play out. As that period progressed, we needed to adjust our pricing somewhat to get to the finish line,” he said.

In a conference call, one analyst wondered when Norwegian’s newest ships, the Norwegian Breakaway and Getaway, would be recognized as so good as to be above the competitive scrum of promotional competition.

“We are obviously waiting for that moment in time,” Sheehan said.

He said that keeping ships in Europe rather than bringing them back to the U.S. has proven to be the correct strategy for 2014.

“We’re feeling a little bit better about the Wave season as we get through each week,” Sheehan said.