I guess this should put to rest any speculation about NCL ordering Radiance Class vessels, but as someone else mentioned, I bet these were the slots held by RCI. I guess we can also assume that RCI is not taking up the option on the two Radiance Class ships and will probably move forward with the "Ultra-Voyager".

What does all this spell for poor NORWAY? Who knows, but it seem a bit counterproductive to spend money on a 40 year old liner when funds are tied up with newbuilds. I hope I'm proved wrong, but I have the sinking feeling we will not see NORWAY back in service.

NCL has a proven design, so no need to spend money on something entirely new.

Zwei neue Kreuzfahrtschiffe bis 2006

Meyer Werft Auftraggeber ist mit der ostasiatischen Reederei "Star Cruises" ein Stammkunde

Mit den Neubau-Aufträgen hat die Werft Arbeit für knapp 2000 Leute. Probleme gibt es im ersten Halbjahr 2004.

Papenburg SR/FW/DB - Einige technische Details sind noch zu klären. Auch gibt es noch offene Fragen bei der Finanzierung. Aber bis Ende September sollen die bereits unterschriebenen Aufträge für zwei neue Kreuzfahrtschiffe endgültig unter Dach und Fach sein. Das betonte der Sprecher der Meyer Werft, Günter Kolbe, am Mittwoch. Betriebsratsmitglied Helmut Ploeger glaubt an die baldige Realisierung: "Die Reederei und die Werft sind sich einig. Ich gehe zu 95 Prozent davon aus, dass es zum Vertragsabschluss kommt." Die Aufträge kommen von der südostasiatischen Reederei "Star Cruises". Es handelt sich dabei um Nachbauten des bei Meyer gebauten Kreuzfahrtschiffs "Norwegian Dawn". Die Schiffe sollen 2005 und 2006 abgeliefert werden.

Problematisch wird es auf der Werft im ersten Halbjahr 2004. "Dann geht uns nämlich langsam die Arbeit aus", sagte Plöger. Im Februar wird Meyer die Kreuzfahrtfähre "Pont Aven" für die französische Reederei Brittany Ferries abliefern, im Juli den Luxusliner "Jewel of the Seas" für die US-Reederei Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCI). Außerdem baut Meyer im Jahr 2004 noch eine Fähre für Indonesien. Weil die Arbeit an den beiden neuen Luxuslinern aber erst Mitte 2004 richtig beginnt, "haben wir vorher eine Delle", meint Plöger. Der Betriebsrat verhandelt mit der Werftleitung darüber, wie Unterbeschäftigung in dieser Zeit verhindert werden kann. Nach Angaben der Werft sichern die neuen Aufträge gerade einmal die Auslastung der Werft für knapp 2000 Mitarbeiter. Es bleibt daher, wie geplant, bei einer dritten Entlassungswelle zu Beginn nächsten Jahres. Trotzdem ist man auf der Werft etwas optimistischer geworden. Zwei Nachbauten der "Jewel of the Seas" für RCI sind im Gespräch, beim Auftrag für zwei weitere Indonesien-Fähren ist die Werft gut im Rennen.
Außerdem bemüht sich Meyer um weitere Projekte. Bei einer Informationsveranstaltung wurden die Mitarbeiter gestern über die Entwicklungen informiert.

Die Meyer Werft lieferte in guten Zeiten pro Jahr zwei Luxusliner aus und machte einen Umsatz von 850 bis 900 Millionen Euro. In diesem Jahr wurde nur noch ein Schiff fertig: Anfang August wurde die 294 Meter lange "Serenade of the Seas" an Royal Caribbean übergeben. Werftchef Bernard Meyer hatte bereits im Frühjahr die Schwäche auf dem Kreuzfahrtmarkt mit den Terroranschlägen vom 11. September 2001, einer schlecht laufenden Konjunktur und Währungsproblemen durch einen schwachen Dollar begründet.

Die von Meyer gebaute "Norwegian Dawn" ist Vorbild für die beiden Neubauten, die jetzt in Papenburg bestellt worden sind.Bild: Archiv

GA / 18.09.2003

Source

Two new cruise ships until 2006 To Meyer threw clients is with the East Asian shipping company "star Cruises" a regular customer With the orders for new building threw work for scarcely 2000 people has. There are problems in the first half-year 2004.

Papenburg SR/FW/DB - some technical details are to be still clarified. Also there are still open questions with the financing. But to at the end of Septembers should be final the orders for two new cruise ships, already signed, signed and sealed.

The stressed speaker of the Meyer threw, to Guenter Kolbe, on Wednesday. Work council member Helmut Ploeger believes in the imminent realization: "the shipping company and warped are united. I assume to 95 per cent it comes to the conclusion of a contract." The orders come from the Southeast Asiatic shipping company "star Cruises". It concerns thereby reproductions of the cruise ship "Norwegian Dawn" built with Meyer. The ships are to be delivered 2005 and 2006.

It becomes problematic on threw in the first half-year 2004. "then slowly the work goes to us out", said Ploeger. In February Meyer will deliver the cruise ferry "Pont Aven" for the French shipping company Brittany Ferries, in July the luxury liner "Jewel OF the Seas" for the US shipping company Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCI).

In addition Meyer builds ferry for Indonesia in the year 2004 still another. Because the work on the two new luxury liners correctly begins however only in the middle of 2004, "we have before a depression", mean Ploeger. The work council negotiates with the throwing line about how underemployment can be prevented in this time.

According to data threw secure the new orders straight once extent of utilization threw for scarcely 2000 coworkers. Therefore, like with a third dismissal wave at the beginning next yearly remains planned. Nevertheless one is on threw become somewhat more optimistic. Two reproductions of the "Jewel OF the Seas" for RCI are in the discussion, in the case of the order for two further Indonesia ferries are threw well in running.

In addition Meyer strives for further projects. During an information meeting the coworkers were informed yesterday about the developments. The Meyer threw delivered in good times per year two luxury liners and made a conversion from 850 to 900 million euro. In this year only a ship became finished: At the beginning of of August was handed over the 294 meters for a long time to "Serenade OF the Seas" at Royal Caribbean. Throwing boss Berne pool of broadcasting corporations Meyer had already justified the weakness in the spring on the cruise market with the terrorist attacks from 11 September 2001, a badly running economic situation and currency problems by a weak dollar.

Miami, September 19, 2003 -- Star Cruises announced today that it has finalized orders earlier this week for two new Freestyle Cruising ships for its Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) brand for delivery in Fall 2005 and Spring 2006, continuing an expansion and renewal program that has seen a new ship added every year since Star Cruises acquired the long-established brand.

The two ships will be built at Meyer Werft in Germany, continuing a relationship that has seen the building by that 200 year-old family-owned yard of four ships for the Star/NCL group: Superstar Leo, Superstar Virgo, Norwegian Star and Norwegian Dawn.

“Star Cruises is committed to the North American market and to completely renewing the NCL fleet by adding at least one new ship a year,” said Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, Chairman and CEO of Star Cruises Group. “In just three and a half short years, we have committed almost $2.5 billion to new ships for NCL with half of that investment already being in service and the other half under construction. With the introduction of these latest two ships in 2005 and 2006, we will have increased NCL’s capacity by nearly 13,500 berths since 2000, all on new, state-of-the-art ships.”

The two vessels, known currently as hull S.667 and S.668, will be based in large part on the highly successful Norwegian Dawn/Norwegian Star design, with modifications in both technical and passenger areas. Both ships will be capable of the same high 24-25 knot speeds as their recent sister ships. Gross tonnage will be slightly higher than Norwegian Dawn at an estimated 93,000 GRT and the passenger capacity of each will be 2,400 lower berths.

The first contract is in dollars and the second in Euro. The two ships together will cost approximately Euro 703 million or $790 million at today’s exchange rates, including allowances for owner-supplied items.

“Freestyle Cruising and our break with traditional cruise ship design have clearly changed the face of cruising," said Colin Veitch, President and CEO of NCL, “and at an estimated all-in cost of less than $170,000 per berth these additional 4,800 berths will be a huge boost to the financial success we are already having with our new Freestyle Cruising ships. These ships will be the largest we have ever built, and will enable us to continue the expansion of our popular Homeland Cruising deployment around the coast of North America.“

Already we are selling regularly scheduled cruises out of 14 North American home ports and our ambition is to bring a modern cruise ship to every major coastal population center in North America,” Veitch continued.

The new design will continue many of the features that have proven so popular and successful on Norwegian Dawn and Norwegian Star, with 10 different restaurants including a steak house, an Asian restaurant/sushi bar/teppanyaki room (now with two tables versus the current one), Italian, French, and Spanish restaurants, two main dining rooms, and a coffee shop/casual eatery located in the center of the atrium; enormous health, fitness, and spa facilities; generous 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, and extensive meeting and conference facilities.

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

The new ships will also feature the very latest in environmental and safety management systems, including advanced wastewater treatment plants for the treatment of all gray and black water streams, sterilizing and drying plants for various solid wastes, additional incineration units and additional water making capacity; water-emulsion injection systems for reduction of NOX emissions from the diesel engines, and shore side discharge pumping systems for closed-system waste disposal to licensed shore side facilities. 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 this month and Meyer Werft, one of the most advanced shipbuilding yards in the world, expects to deliver the first vessel in a record 22 months from contract signing.
Commenting on the order, Bernard Meyer, CEO of Meyer Werft, said: “We are extremely pleased to have reached this agreement with NCL and are proud that our previous two ships for Star/NCL have had such a revolutionary impact on the US market that our customer has come back to us for more ships.”

“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 mold-breaking ideas can be turned into attractive and commercially realistic ship designs.”

Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line is an industry innovator. NCL recently announced its new brand, NCL America, under which its US flagged ships will operate. The company is currently building its first US Flagged ship, Pride of America, which begins inter-island Hawaii cruises on July 4, 2004.

Together, with Pride of America next year, and Norwegian Crown transferred this month after undergoing extensive refurbishment, the two new orders bring to 7,950 the number of new berths scheduled to join the NCL fleet between now and 2006, a 50 percent increase over today’s capacity.

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The new design will continue many of the features that have proven so popular and successful on Norwegian Dawn and Norwegian Star, with 10 different restaurants including a steak house, an Asian restaurant/sushi bar/teppanyaki room (now with two tables versus the current one), Italian, French, and Spanish restaurants, two main dining rooms, and a coffee shop/casual eatery located in the center of the atrium; enormous health, fitness, and spa facilities; generous 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, and extensive meeting and conference facilities.

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Sounds an awful lot like the mall being built in our area here near Philly. "Awful" is the operative word!

Would I sail on her, probably yes.

Just make certain that there is plenty of deck space for lounging about and a 360 degree promenade for leisurely strolls in good and bad weather.

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lebelty said:
how similar will her exterior design be to the Star and Dawn? Does anyone have an idea will the might sail, or would like them to sail?

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Originally posted by KenH:
... what is troubling to me is the fact that on these huge ships the pax is more and more disconnected to the sea.

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It does depend on the design!

For example, RCI's Radience class ships (90,000 Tons) have more connection with the sea than some ships one third of there size. There is so much glass that you get a sea view, just about everywhere, even when taking the elevators! You also have the panoramic viking crown. In comparison, the QE2 is seriously short of Sea views, in my opinion.

[ 09-21-2003: Message edited by: KenH ]

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Originally posted by lebelty:
I wonder what kind of artwork they will have? Any ideas?

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Yes, tasteless!

Joking aside, I don't mind Norwegian Dawn's hull paint work*

After all she is not trying to be an Ocean Liner, is she? She's a modern cruise ship. I think it's kind of 'fun', or is that a registered trade mark?

Delivery in 2005 and 2006

Papenburg, 22.09.2003 - The cruise operator Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), a subsidiary of Star Cruises (Malaysia), has signed two contracts with Meyer Werft for new cruise liners. The contracts are supposed to be implemented by the end of September 2003. The approx. 93,000-gt ships are advanced repeat vessels of Norwegian Star and Norwegian Dawn which were delivered to NCL in 2001 and 2002. Delivery of the new ships will take place in mid 2005 and mid 2006.

The two panmax newbuildings have a length overall of 294 metres and a moulded breadth of 32.2 metres. 2,669 passengers can be accommodated in 1,188 cabins. Over and above this, the vessels will feature many technical innovations, new interior designs and also new design aspects in the outer appearance. These new-generation vessels will perform a speed of 25 knots, and will be equipped with state-of-the-art azipod propulsion systems.

The shipyard has invested plenty of work and enormous efforts in order to present the customer first-rate designs and conditions. "The contracts for the two newbuildings have a signalling effect both on the yard and on the market," as Bernard Meyer puts it.

However, these new contracts do not avoid the planned personnel reduction at the shipyard; an adjustment of personnel capacity remains indispensable. Still the new orders will be a significant help for cutting back the underemployment of the remaining staff of roughly 2,000.

Meanwhile Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (USA) has announced that it will not place contracts for vessels number five and six of the Radiance class. This has certainly caused regrets in Papenburg that the ships will presently not be built for Royal Caribbean. On the other hand, the way is paved now for the NCL ships and for other newbuilding projects.

She doesnt sound too bad now
WHat do you think?

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I'm writing an angry letter to Colin Vetich. Enclosed are all of our ideas, (Onno, Mine, Barryboat). It will say that if he dosen't start plans for rrefirbishing the SS United States and SS Independence, then we will tell the American COngress, and say that if NCL America doesn't use existing US-Flagged ships, they will be prohibited to operate.

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Joe, NCL bought the Big U and Indy on their own terms, the PA vessels got to keep their US registry b/c NCL asked our congress, with out saying that they will operate 2 US (already) registired vessels. So their is no need for NCL to keep them, hey bought them so then they wont have compitition.

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Originally posted by lebelty:
So their is no need for NCL to keep them, hey bought them so then they wont have compitition.

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As I've said before, to buy a national treasure, the SS United States, and scrap her, would generate extremely bad publicity, even hate!

NCL would not dare do this, after clearly saying she would become a state-of-the-art cruise ship. Likewise scraping the Norway would be foolish after saying otherwise.

NCL has certainly elevated themselves from being a mediocre operation, to become one of the most imaginative of the major cruise lines!

[ 09-24-2003: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]