More new cruise ships are in the works for Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line.
On Thursday, parent company Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings announced it signed an order agreement with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for four “next generation” ships for the cruise brand for delivery between 2022 and 2025.
The four 140,000 gross-ton cruise ships will each accommodate about 3,300 passengers. They will also sport energy-efficient designs and build upon features that have been successful on Norwegian’s new Breakaway-Plus class of ships, Norwegian Escape, Norwegian Joy and Norwegian Bliss.
The parent company said it had options for two more of the ships for delivery in 2026 and 2027.
Norwegian Escape debuted in October 2015 and now sails from Miami to the Caribbean, while China-bound Norwegian Joy launches this spring and Alaska-bound Norwegian Bliss in early 2018.
More details of the four ships will be announced later.
“This order continues to highlight our disciplined newbuild program, extends our growth trajectory well into the future, enhances our already attractive earnings profile, and drives expected long-term returns for our shareholders,” said Frank Del Rio, president and chief executive officer of parent company.
Each of the four new vessels will cost approximately 800 million euros (or $853 million based on today’s exchange rate), Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings said. The majority of funding for the ships will come from export credit financing.
As a cruise brand, Norwegian turned 50 years in 2016. It began operations on Dec. 19, 1966 as Norwegian Caribbean Lines, sailing the M/S Sunward to the Caribbean from Miami.
Today the cruise line has grown to 14 ships in its fleet.
In South Florida, Norwegian deploys ships only from PortMiami, and does not split operations with Port Everglades as rivals Royal Caribbean and Carnival have done.
asatchell@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4209 or Twitter@TheSatchreport
