Norwegian Brand Banks On Italian-Built Series

Testament to continuity in a traditional Venetian industry, Fincantieri’s Marghera shipyard has completed the first of an imposing new generation for Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL).

Almost 300m in length, and offering a minimum passenger capacity of 3,215, the 143,535gt Norwegian Prima leads a series of six ordered by Miami-headquartered NCL from the Italian shipbuilding group.

Implemented in 2017 as the Leonardo project, the programme of diesel-electric newbuilds marries Fincantieri design with NCL’s experience from successive investment stages culminating in the latest Breakaway-Plus ships constructed in Germany. The new vessels are dubbed the Prima class, and are expected to form the backbone of the future NCL fleet. Norwegian Prima will initially be deployed in the European market, sailing from Reykjavik, Iceland, on August 27, before making her Caribbean debut in October.

Second-of-class Norwegian Viva was floated-out of the Marghera building dock on August 2, and is scheduled for handover next year. The subsequent vessels are due to follow in 2024, 2025, 2026 and 2027, respectively. The deal struck by NCL with Fincantieri entailed a per-ship price in the region of EUR 800m, currently equating to some $830m.

Norwegian Prima provides a new showcase for ABB’s Azipod technology, by way of two units of the AO-type, each rated at 16.5MW. For the main generator drives, Wartsila 460mm-bore main machinery has been adopted. Each shipset of five gensets is made up of three aggregates based on the eight-cylinder, in-line model of the 46-series engine, plus two incorporating the 12-cylinder, vee-form model.

The main engine installation fosters an equivalent number of exhaust gas boilers, or economisers, from the Alfa Laval Aalborg range, complemented by two thermal boilers.

To ensure the requisite manoeuvrability and regular independence from tug assistance, a troika of Brunvoll FU115 tunnel thrusters are fitted in the foreship section.

NCL claims that Norwegian Prima has the highest space ratio (for passengers) of any new ship in the contemporary and premium cruise category, and the the largest outdoor deck area. The interiors and the vessel’s styling are the product of a wide input including that from Italian designer Piero Lissoni and architectural specialists such as Rockwell Group, SMC Design, Tillberg Design, YSA Design, and Miami-domiciled Studio Dado. Although decorative artwork on the hull is an established feature of the NCL marque, this has been extended in the new series to the ship’s forward superstructure.

NCL’s preceding investment stage entailed the completion of the four-ship Breakaway-Plus series between 2015 and 2019. The 165,000gt-plus design was an enhanced version of the Breakaway-class, comprising two sisters commissioned in /2014, the entire programme of six vessels having been assigned to Meyer Werft at Papenburg.

While employing a similar diesel-electric concept and arrangement to the Prima generation, including Azipod AO propulsors, the main generators in the German-built vessels were specified with powerful, wide-bore MAN medium-speed diesel machinery.

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Norwegian Prima

Length overall299.0m