8 Vessels on order

[hallux]

57 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

I guess my point is that a perfect cruise line (to me) would be one that has separate types of ships to cater to the different preferences of their guests

This is why the 'umbrella' ownership groups of the cruise lines have other lines that DO cater to those needs.  NCLH doesn't happen to have one of those lines with as small of a ship as you want, but the Royal and Carnival corporations do.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

They're silly then. If they want to keep me as a guest (and the 98 other guests like me sailing on Flora) they will need to get one. Yes, higher returns on their money when they cram 5000+ people on one ship, but when you're charging those 100 people $20K+ it shrinks the gap a bit, no? Too lazy to do math on estimated numbers, but there's no way Celebrity is running their small expedition vessels with <100 people every single week year round and NOT making money on them despite the low passenger counts.

 

I guess my point is that a perfect cruise line (to me) would be one that has separate types of ships to cater to the different preferences of their guests. Rather than trying to keep turning these new ships into a one size fits all approach that doesn't leave anyone wowed and just leaves 5000 people with an ok experience.

 

Have a mega ship with go karts, water slides, laser tag, roller coasters, etc for those kids (big and small) that like that stuff. Have a smaller ship with a more adult/spa like focus for folks that just want to escape home and relax all day. Have a ship with the broadway caliber shows for folks that can't easily see that entertainment at home. Have the small expedition ships for folks willing to splurge a big hunk of money on their once in a lifetime bucket list trips.

 

I feel like this is going back down the realm of that thread with unlimited imagination for designing the next wave of ships, so I'll stop there. But if NCL just keeps going bigger, they'll be going without me.

Not that they are by any means small, but the Prima class ships are smaller than the preceding classes of ships, Breakaway and Epic.I do not believe either Carnival or Royal Caribbean is building anything but larger ships each time they do a new build.

[yakcruiser]

And after they build the first two behemoth class ships they will announce the behemoth+. It will sail a 7-day out of Miami that only stops at GSC & Harvest Caye and spends the rest of the time at sea. And it will likely sail at maximum occupancy most sailings.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, yakcruiser said:

And after they build the first two behemoth class ships they will announce the behemoth+. It will sail a 7-day out of Miami that only stops at GSC & Harvest Caye and spends the rest of the time at sea. And it will likely sail at maximum occupancy most sailings.

Unfortunate, but probably true. 😢

[brad0576]

The sky is falling that NCL is building 5k passenger ships lol

 

the breakaway holds over 4k and is 2/3 the size…. The newest Carnival ship is 20k tons small with a capacity much larger

 

NCL is still giving more space per passenger than any other mass-market cruise line…

[CruiseMH]

22 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

They're silly then. If they want to keep me as a guest (and the 98 other guests like me sailing on Flora) they will need to get one. Yes, higher returns on their money when they cram 5000+ people on one ship, but when you're charging those 100 people $20K+ it shrinks the gap a bit, no? Too lazy to do math on estimated numbers, but there's no way Celebrity is running their small expedition vessels with <100 people every single week year round and NOT making money on them despite the low passenger counts.

 

It is absolutely dangerous to try to have the perfect ship for every type of guest. No cruise line has that and no cruise line wants that to have. Because it is extremely difficult to offer a good service all these different types of passengers. So it is much easier to concentrate on a specific type of passenger. Of course the cruise lines try to get as many different passenger types as possible onto their ships, but not at any price. NCL has 2000 Passenger ships, 3300 passengers ships, and 4000 and in future 5000 passenger ships.

If people want to have smaller ships they can go to Oceania or regent. If they want to have expedition ships, there are other cruise lines available on the market.

 

 

[PhillyTravelBug]

10 hours ago, brad0576 said:

The sky is falling that NCL is building 5k passenger ships lol

 

the breakaway holds over 4k and is 2/3 the size…. The newest Carnival ship is 20k tons small with a capacity much larger

 

NCL is still giving more space per passenger than any other mass-market cruise line…

Well said. I will wait to judge. Breakaway plus class ships are my favorite and they were controversial also.l think it's smart what they are doing with the Aqua in this class of ships. I just prefer destinations that aren't in the Caribbean. Would be nice if one of these replaces Pride of America.

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, PhillyTravelBug said:

Well said. I will wait to judge. Breakaway plus class ships are my favorite and they were controversial also.l think it's smart what they are doing with the Aqua in this class of ships. I just prefer destinations that aren't in the Caribbean. Would be nice if one of these replaces Pride of America.

No current or future NCL ship can replace Pride of America because in order to sail POA's itinerary the ship must be built in the USA. 

[Sailing12Away]

21 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Not that they are by any means small, but the Prima class ships are smaller than the preceding classes of ships, Breakaway and Epic.I do not believe either Carnival or Royal Caribbean is building anything but larger ships each time they do a new build.

We didn't like our Prima experience at all. Had such high hopes for it that we booked one of the infamous hot tub owner suites the day after bookings opened up. That trip cost us more than our upcoming Galapagos trip on Flora. So either we didn't pay enough attention to what NCL was trying to do, or misunderstood - but we thought we would be getting a slightly fancier looking ship, slightly bigger in size, but with less passengers. That's not what we felt at all (outside of the fancy and new factor, it was pretty, despite being non-functional).

 

12 hours ago, brad0576 said:

NCL is still giving more space per passenger than any other mass-market cruise line…

And yet Prima was one of the most crowded feeling ships I've ever been on...

 

Itinerary and weather play a huge part in the crowded feeling on a ship when it's got a ton of outdoor space that isn't useable on cold or rainy trips. They can't claim more space per passenger on a ship with no outdoor heaters or coverings over outdoor dining options and then send the ship up north in the cold weather months.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, njhorseman said:

No current or future NCL ship can replace Pride of America because in order to sail POA's itinerary the ship must be built in the USA. 

Or get a waiver to the PVSA, and that is not going to happen.

[PhillyTravelBug]

5 hours ago, njhorseman said:

No current or future NCL ship can replace Pride of America because in order to sail POA's itinerary the ship must be built in the USA. 

I’m aware.

[BrianLo]

NCL needs to figure out in the next 3-5 years if Star/Dawn, Sky/Sun are getting a final kick at the can. They need a hard goods full refurbishment on the scale of Spirit. That buys them perhaps a final 10-15 years in the fleet.

 

Even still that only carries the small end of the fleet through the 2036 build plans. Will NCL go small-er subsequently?

 

I actually think the 5000 vessels are smart though, NCL covered their bases with a really nice variety of ships.

 

I'd love to see a couple small-mid 'cold weather' vessels though as their next push. More intimate Alaska, Patagonia, Antartica, Iceland, Norway, Greenland options. Get the Prima out of there where it doesn't belong. Especially something to sail Stars currently itineraries. Something with purpose built tenders... honestly like Celebrity Edge Class or a tad smaller.

[ChiefMateJRK]

1 hour ago, BrianLo said:

NCL needs to figure out in the next 3-5 years if Star/Dawn, Sky/Sun are getting a final kick at the can. They need a hard goods full refurbishment on the scale of Spirit.

I was on both the Sun and Sky last year, and they both are in great shape.

[brad0576]

12 hours ago, njhorseman said:

No current or future NCL ship can replace Pride of America because in order to sail POA's itinerary the ship must be built in the USA. 

I would love to see NCL offer round trip LA - Hawaii like Princess and others do…. I would love to visit Hawaii but have zero interest in POA

[ChiefMateJRK]

2 minutes ago, brad0576 said:

I would love to see NCL offer round trip LA - Hawaii like Princess and others do…. I would love to visit Hawaii but have zero interest in POA

Why do you have zero interest in POA?  We sailed her once and found her to be an enjoyable, lower cost way to see Hawaii than land vacations.  That said, while it's great to visit Hawaii once in a while (we're returning soon), it's not my "go to" destination.  That would be Alaska.  POA is an easy seven day cruise that gets you to multiple islands without any hassles.  Expensive?  Yes.  US crew?  Yes (the reader can decide what that means to them).  Limited on board amenities? Yes.  But most of that shouldn't matter much to somebody who would just love to visit Hawaii.  I'm not sure how much would change if NCL could swap in another ship.  

[BrianLo]

3 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I was on both the Sun and Sky last year, and they both are in great shape.

Should have clarified I didn’t mean they need it now. But that they need to decide in 3-5 years what the long term fleet vision is. If those ships are going to last 20 more years, they’ll need another major investment cycle. First and foremost Dawn and Star. Sun/Sky already got the partial treatment that culminated in Spirit.

[DingL]

On 4/14/2024 at 10:25 AM, BrianLo said:

Should have clarified I didn’t mean they need it now. But that they need to decide in 3-5 years what the long term fleet vision is. If those ships are going to last 20 more years, they’ll need another major investment cycle. First and foremost Dawn and Star. Sun/Sky already got the partial treatment that culminated in Spirit.

 

I agree, and as much as I love the Dawn class, I'm starting to wonder if NCLH might have doubts about the financial viability of building and operating a similar-sized ship under the NCL brand. They've ordered a pair of ships for their subsidiary Oceania Cruises where they can charge a premium and get more $ per berth. Those ships at 88,000 GRT are getting close in size to the ~90,000 GRT Dawn/Star, so it looks to me that they might've decided going forward to point those who want to cruise on a ship that size in the direction of Oceania. 

Edited April 28 by DingL