Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) has ordered two new Freestyle Cruising ships for delivery in 2005/2006, continuing its expansion programme and ground breaking Freestyle Cruising concept. The ships are being built at Meyer Werft in Germany, the 200-year-old shipyard that also built the Norwegian Star and Norwegian Dawn. The addition of these two new ships will take NCL’s fleet to thirteen.

NCL is committed to adding at least one new ship a year to its fleet. With the two new ships, NCL will have increased its capacity by nearly 13,500 berths since 2000, all on new, state-of-the-art ships, which have broken the mould of traditional cruising and are designed to appeal to a new generation of cruisers, as well as existing cruise lovers.

The new design will continue many of the features that have proven to be so successful on Norwegian Dawn and Norwegian Star:
• Ten different restaurants including a steak house, an Asian restaurant/sushi bar/teppanyaki room, Italian, French, Spanish restaurants and two main dining rooms
• A coffee shop/casual eatery located in the centre of the atrium
• Health, fitness, and spa facilities
• Children and teen areas with a dedicated children's outdoor pool area
• A 1000+ seat opera-style theatre
• A high-energy top-of-the-ship nightclub
• Karaoke facilities and private karaoke rooms
• A state-of-the-art casino with player tracking and the highest table limits at sea
• A department store-style shopping area
• Extensive meeting and conference facilities

Modifications from Norwegian Dawn include several new public areas on which details will be released closer to delivery.

"Freestyle Cruising and our break with traditional cruise ship design has changed the face of cruising," said Colin Veitch, President and CEO of NCL. "These ships will be the largest we have ever built, and will enable us to continue the expansion of our popular cruise programme along both coasts of North America. Already we are selling regularly scheduled cruises out of fourteen North American ports and our ambition is to bring a modern cruise ship to every major North American port, offering a huge range of itineraries to suit all tastes.”

The new ships will also feature the very latest in environmental and safety management systems, and each ship will have a CCTV surveillance system with over 1000 cameras monitoring all areas of the ship to assist the officers and crew in their safe and efficient management of operations.

Construction will commence on the first ship at the end of September and Meyer Werft expects to deliver the first vessel in a record 22 months from contract signing.

"We have been refining the design and negotiating the contracts on these ships continuously since the delivery of Norwegian Dawn last year," Veitch said. "The new design is truly an advance on what we have already done with Meyer Werft, and reflects the excellent working relationship we have with this yard where creativity and mould-breaking ideas can be turned into attractive and commercially realistic ship designs."

INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITY:
If you would like to speak to Stephen Parks of NCL London, please give Sophy or Camilla a call on the number below.

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September 22, 2003