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NCL orders two 150,000gt ships from Aker Yards
7/9/2006
NCL Corp. has signed a contract with Aker Yards to build two 150,000gt cruise vessels with an option for a third. The total value of the two vessels is €1.5bn and the ships will be built at Aker’s recently acquired yard in Saint Nazaire for delivery in 2009 and 2010.
This is the first contract announced since Aker Yards became the owner of the French yard. The vessels will have 2,100 passenger cabins and carry up to 6,400 people including crew. All outside rooms will sport balconies. In total, the ship will offer more than 1,470 balcony staterooms and suites.

The ships will be 325mtr long and 40mtr wide. Facilities, restaurants and entertainment will be in line with NCL’s Freestyle Cruising concept. There is an option for a third sister for delivery in the first quarter of 2011.

The contract price for each of the first two ships is €735m, and for the optional third ship is €700m. At today’s exchange rate, the cost of the two firm ships translates to approximately $224,000 per lower berth.

The contracts are being placed in euros, equivalent to €175,000 per lower berth. The option ship is priced at €166,667 per berth, or approximately $213,000 per berth at today’s exchange rate.

Yrjö Julin, president of Cruise & Ferries, Aker Yards, comments: ‘We are very proud to be able to contribute to the bold expansion of NCL's fleet with these new type of cruise ships. The contract was made possible by using best practices from our French and Finnish yards, which currently are undergoing a rigorous integration process. Without the envisaged synergies, this contract would not have been attainable for either of the yards individually.’

The contract between NCL and Aker Yards S.A. is subject to financing, completion of the design specification and Star Cruises shareholder approval.

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NCL order spurs fleet transformation
7/9/2006
If NCL Corp. firms the third newbuild in today’s two plus one option order with Aker France, the company will add 12,600 new berths by 2011. That year, the fleet could total approximately 35,000 lower berths, counting expected withdrawals of older ships.
NCL’s current capacity of more than 24,000 berths represents about a 10% chunk of the North American cruise fleet. Norwegian Pearl, coming this November, and Norwegian Gem, arriving one year from now, will add nearly 5,000 berths. About 7,000 older berths are expected to be withdrawn, including the 2007 transfers of Norwegian Crown to Fred. Olsen and Norwegian Wind to Star Cruises and the likely, but not yet scheduled, eventual removal of Norwegian Majesty, Norwegian Dream and Marco Polo from the NCL fleet.

So, by 2011, NCL’s oldest ship would be the 1998-built Norwegian Spirit, bringing the average age of the fleet to just under 6.5 years.

Today’s order is a bold step in NCL’s ongoing fleet renewal strategy, and NCL president and ceo Colin Veitch called it a strong statement of confidence in the North American cruise industry and NCL's stature in it.

‘Our U.S.-flag start-up costs have obscured, for the past two years, the attractive financial returns on the international fleet of ships that we have built since Star Cruises bought NCL,’ Veitch said. ‘All our growth from now on will be in this strongly profitable sector of our fleet, and will take us well past the goal we set ourselves of having the youngest fleet in the industry and a transformed financial profile by 2010.’

NCL said that by 2010, its average ship size will be more than 2,500 lower berths, and more than half of its rooms fleetwide will offer balconies. The newbuilds ordered today represent the richest cabin mix of any NCL ship, with all outside rooms sporting balconies for a per-vessel total of 1,415 balcony staterooms and suites. The 150,000gt ships also will offer 60% more passenger space than the largest built by NCL so far.

Tan Sri K T Lim, chairman of NCL and Star Cruises, said: ‘This order, placed in NCL’s 40th anniversary year, marks the culmination of our plans to transform this great company. By 2010 there will be almost nothing left of the NCL we bought in 2000 except the name and the people, and in place of the old, mixed fleet we inherited, there will be the youngest, most innovative and exciting fleet in the industry.’

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[ 09-07-2006: Message edited by: Maasdam ]

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Originally posted by Patsy:
Removing smaller vessels. Just like I always said. The Big U will have no place in their fleet because she's smaller tonnage which they're getting rid of.

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Personally, I should think that with the vast number of complaints NCL receives, their top priority should be tackling the problems they currently have. Introducing two new, giant ships when they can't even properly operate the ones they currently have makes no sense.

I wonder if they will just be overblown versions of ships like N. Dawn, Pearl, Jewel, etc.,....

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Originally posted by linerguy:
Personally, I should think that with the vast number of complaints NCL receives,

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? what vast number of complaints or are you referring purely to NCL America?

It is NCL America which has picked up the majority of complaints, lately. It's not the destination or the ships, but the food and service. The fact that passengers pay a premium price for this destination, probably does not help.

[ 09-08-2006: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

And, yes, it's the food and service, not the actual ships, that the complaints center around. I should have been more specific,...

Thanks.

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Originally posted by Carlos Fernandez:
While reading RCI's financial reports I found out that Mediterranean Shipping Company owns of course MSC and Disney Cruise Lines.

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Originally posted by Pascal:

Disney Cruise Line ????

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Pascal me to "MCS owned disney Cruises ???????????????????""

I like the hardware of NCL i think they owned a verry nice fleet of ships. Both inside and out. Maybe they cane leave out the hull art. I don't no about there service. you hear lot of good reports and even much negativ reports about theme. I think there reputation is somewhat spoiled the last several months by the handling of the Norway, United states and Indenpandence....... and NCL America service problems......

I believe an take over by MCS would be good thene the power of Carnival and RCCL would be litlebit less powerfull whene there is nother major player around........

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Originally posted by Carlos Fernandez:
Yes, it is in page 2 of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (Form 10-K) for Royal Caribbean Cruise LTD.

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Carlos,

this is merely a statement in which they identify their competitors within the industry.

'We compete with a number of cruise lines; however, our principal competitors are Carnival Corporation & plc, which owns, among others, Carnival Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Costa Cruises, P&O Cruises, and Cunard Line; Star Cruises, which owns, among others, Star Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line; Mediterranean Shipping Company, which owns MSC Cruises; and Disney Cruise Line. We compete principally on the basis of quality of ships, quality of service, variety of itineraries and price.'

Notice there is a semi-colon ";" between MSC and Disney just as their is between NCL and MSC, etc.

--Tim

[ 09-10-2006: Message edited by: Tim in 'Lauderdale ]

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Originally posted by linerguy:
And, yes, it's the food and service, not the actual ships, that the complaints center around. I should have been more specific,...

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Congrats at getting into the college which 'side' did you choose to go? I think you were asking about Deck or ??something else a long while back.. memory gone

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
So is their any connection between MSC's proposed 150k ships and NCL's, such as hull design?

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Malcolm,

if I were a betting man, I'd bet the ship is somewhat of a hybrid between the Voyager-Class and the new 150K MSC ships. NCL had been working closely with Aker in Finland and I do believe the only reason the ship is being built in France is because Aker now owns the yard and NCL could secure a better financing package by using the French yard.

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Originally posted by Pascal:
I was wondering what the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission were smoking when they wrote this report. Thanks for correcting, Tim.

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The US SEC didn't write it. Royal Carribean did in their filing to the SEC.

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Originally posted by PamM:
Gosh I hope that is not the general overall attitude Waynaro. I have however seen the [very] occasional passenger who would deserve such 'non-attention' though.

Congrats at getting into the college which 'side' did you choose to go? I think you were asking about Deck or ??something else a long while back.. memory gone

Pam

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