Norwegian Cruise Line Confirms Contracts with Aker Yards for New Third Generation Freestyle Cruising Ships
Miami - novembre 01, 2006 --- NCL Corporation Ltd. announced today that it has confirmed the contracts with Aker Yards S.A. of France to build two new third generation Freestyle Cruising cruise ships, with an option for a third, by lifting all subjects in the contracts, including financing, completion of the design specification, and Star Cruises shareholder approval.
The vessels will be delivered from Aker Yards in Saint Nazaire, France in 2009 and 2010, with the optional third sister ship for delivery in the first quarter of 2011.
As announced on September 7, 2006, the contract price, comprising two firm ships and one option, is €2.17 billion, or approximately $2.8 billion at today’s exchange rate. The ships, totaling 12,600 berths, will be built for the company’s Norwegian Cruise Line brand (NCL) and will each be approximately 150,000 Gross Tons and 4,200 passenger berths.
The contract price for each of the first two ships is €735 million, and for the optional third ship is €700 million. Commenting on the confirmation of the contracts, NCL’s President and CEO Colin Veitch said, "With the confirmation of the contracts with Aker Yards, we are one step closer to our vision of introducing the new third generation of Freestyle Cruising ships and to satisfying our goal of having the youngest, most modern fleet in the industry by 2010.”
With the project name “F3”, the new ships will incorporate a world of new features and will represent NCL’s third generation of Freestyle Cruising ships, a further evolution of NCL’s progressive dismantling of the structure, regimentation, and constraints of the traditional cruise experience. Details of the ship’s design will be released closer to delivery.
The cabin mix will be the richest of any NCL ship to date, and will include the feature that 100% of outside staterooms will have private balconies. In total, the ship will have 1,415 balcony staterooms and suites.
NCL’s unique Freestyle Cruising offers vacationers a less structured, more relaxed, more resort-style experience than traditional cruising. It is characterized, in particular, by having no fixed dining times, no formal dress codes, up to ten different restaurants and even more lounges, bars, theatres and other entertainment and activity options.
The new ship design will offer 60% more passenger space than the largest ships built so far by NCL, and will use that space to introduce a major leap forward in the flexibility and variety of the cruise experience, entirely in keeping with the Freestyle Cruising philosophy already established. The unique use of space on these new ships is designed for optimal cost efficiency per capacity day, as well as being highly attractive in terms of cabin revenue mix and onboard revenue generation.
The design is a unique blend of cruise industry best practice, offering both an exciting, high quality product, and a space efficient, cost efficient framework in which to deliver that product. NCL Corp. Ltd. ("NCL") is an innovative cruise company headquartered in Miami, Florida, with a fleet of 15 ships in service and under construction.
The corporation oversees the operations of Norwegian Cruise Line, NCL America, and Orient Lines. The company is currently building two ships, Norwegian Pearl for delivery in November of 2006 and Norwegian Gem for delivery in October of 2007. In addition, NCL plans to build up to three new third generation Freestyle Cruising ships for delivery between 2009 and 2011. NCL is on target to have the youngest fleet in the industry by 2010, providing guests the opportunity to enjoy the flexibility of Freestyle Cruising on the newest, most contemporary ships at sea.
(NCL)