Norwegian Epic Completes 15 Years of Service

Norwegian Epic Completes 15 Years of Service

The Norwegian Epic recently completed 15 years of service after being delivered to Norwegian Cruise Line on June 17, 2010.

The 150,000-ton vessel was built as a prototype vessel at the STX France Shipyard, currently known as the Chantiers de l’Atlantique, in St. Nazaire, France.

After leaving its building dock, the Norwegian Epic embarked on a series of pre-inaugural cruises before setting sail from Southampton, England, for a seven-night crossing to New York City.

Continuing its maiden season celebrations, the vessel was christened by entertainer Reba McEntire on July 2, 2010.

After additional celebrations in New York City and Miami, the Epic officially embarked on its inaugural season on July 10, 2010.

Sailing from PortMiami, the ship offered a series of alternating seven-night cruises to the Eastern and Western Caribbean.

Ports of call included Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Costa Maya, Mexico; Nassau, Bahamas; and Roatán, Honduras.

In 2011, the Norwegian Epic repositioned back to Europe for its first summer season in the Mediterranean, before returning to Miami ahead of the 2011-12 winter season.

Earlier this year, the 4,200-guest ship underwent a significant refit at the Chantier Naval de Marseille in France.

As part of the project, the ship debuted new venues, including an expanded Vice Beach Club and a refreshed Kids’ Aqua Park.

Other changes include the addition of eight new staterooms, as well as the debut of a new hot tub and enhanced exterior decks.

After completing its renovation, the Norwegian Epic embarked on a summer season in the Mediterranean.

Sailing from Civitavecchia, a port near Italy’s capital city of Rome, the ship is offering nine- and ten-night cruises to destinations in Greece and Malta.

Ports of call being visited include Valletta, Heraklion, Santorini, Piraeus, Katakolon, Argostoli and Mykonos.

In November, the Norwegian Epic repositions to the Southern Caribbean for itineraries departing from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Sommer: New NCLH Leadership Brings ‘Fresh Perspective and Energy’

Sommer: New NCLH Leadership Brings ‘Fresh Perspective and Energy’

“With new leadership not only in my seat but in all three of our award-winning brands and most recently for our vessel operation function, there is a possible feeling of reinvigoration and excitement about the future across the entire company,” said Harry Sommer, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH), speaking on the company’s second-quarter earnings call.

Sommer took over as president and CEO of the company earlier this year, following Frank Del Rio’s retirement.

“We are approaching every decision with fresh perspective and new energy, challenging the status quo at every level and encouraging our entire team to think outside of the box and come to the table with new ideas, however big or small,” Sommer said, noting his focus is on the future and how to refine and enhance our strategy to optimize the company’s existing fleet of high-quality assets, further differentiate the business model, build resiliency, advance efforts to drive a positive impact on society in the environment and ultimately drive more value.

“Our executive team has an average of over 20 years in the cruise industry and nearly all have been with NCLH for a decade plus,” he continued.

“I have the unlost confidence that this team is the right one to take the company to even greater heights.”

Harry Sommer: Norwegian Prima Reimagines the Cruise Industry

Harry Sommer: Norwegian Prima Reimagines the Cruise Industry

The new Norwegian Prima is helping to reimagine the cruise industry, according to Harry Sommer, president of Norwegian Cruise Line, speaking on the ship in New York City on Thursday.

“When we sat down in 2017 to decide what we wanted the next class of ship to be, we surveyed the universe and started primarily with what NCL (Norwegian Cruise Line) had in its offering at the time,” he said.

That offering ranged from 2,000-guest ships to the Jewel class at 2,400, then ships in the high 3,000-guest range and up.

“We thought there was a gap as we had nothing between the Jewel class at 2,400 and the Epic, Breakaway- and Breakaway-plus class ships. We thought this would be a perfect thing to fill out our portfolio,” Sommer said, noting the Prima was “97 per cent perfect” and the company would make some minor adjustments on the Viva when it debuts in 2023.

Of note, Sommer pointed to the largest bathrooms the company has ever put in its staterooms and the largest balcony cabins as well.

“Different ship class sizes can go to different ports. There are different customers in our base and we appeal to a wide range of guests … we also wanted to reimagine the cruise industry.”

Thus, working with President and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Frank Del Rio, the idea was to build a ship that didn’t look like a cruise ship but was more similar to a high-end hotel.

“Part of that required us not to have those larger spaces, so we have smaller intimate spaces. There are no venues where you are with 500 or 600 people,” Sommer said.

“It was a little bit of a risk as all our competition keeps getting bigger and bigger. That is okay and there is a market for that too, but we did not want to create something that looked like a large indoor shopping mall.”

With the Norwegian Prima entering service in 2022, the Viva follows in 2023 and four more sister vessels are on order for Norwegian Cruise Line at Fincantieri through 2027.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Opens Shareholder Q&A Platform

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Opens Shareholder Q&A Platform

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings announced its new shareholder Q&A and engagement platform is now open for questions ahead of its investor and analyst event on Thursday, October 6th at 10 a.m. Eastern Time.

Starting earlier this week, all NCLH shareholders can submit and upvote questions by visiting: the NCLH Investor Event Q&A link.

The Q&A platform will remain open until October 4, at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

Management will address a selection of top-ranked, appropriate, questions relating to business and financial results or strategic priorities during the upcoming event. Attendance at the live investor event is by invitation only. The event will be live streamed to all interested parties via the Company’s Investor Relations

website https://www.nclhltd.com/investors. A replay of the event, including the related slide presentations, will be available here on the Company’s website for 30 days following the event.

Norwegian to auction cabin upgrades

Haven Suite photo by Dave Jones

Borrowing a page from Priceline, Norwegian Cruise Line said it will allow select passengers to bid on cabin upgrades prior to sailing but after making final payment.

The process would let passengers upgrade one or two meta-categories. So for example, a guest in an ocean view cabin could bid to move to a balcony or mini-suite, but not a suite. 

Norwegian said passengers eligible would be notified by email, as will their travel sellers. Selection is based on a variety of criteria including but not limited to what guests already paid and the type of cabins available on their sailing. 

After bidding a "nominal" amount, guests will be notified with an immediate confirmation email of a winning bid. If a bid has not been accepted, guests can improve it or cancel it up to 48 hours prior to departure.

Travel agents are only notified of winning bids, and are eligible for additional commission on the upgraded fare. They will get incremental commission due in a separate commission payment, Norwegian said.

Norwegian is not taking bids on identifiable cabins or specific categories, but only at the meta-category level. Guests eligible to bid on suites or The Haven will be able to bid on each separately.

Norwegian did not say if minimum bids would be set.

The program, called Upgrade Advantage, is scheduled to start Feb. 8 on the Norwegian Escape, Getaway, Breakaway, Epic and Pride of America, with the remaining fleet set to begin participating in the second quarter.

Agencies are allowed to opt out of eligibility by sending an e-mail to NCL sales. 

In a note to agents, Norwegian senior vice president of sales Camille Olivere said a pilot program tested very well with guests and agents.

"I highly recommend that you participate in this program," Olivere wrote. "Upgrade Advantage is a great way for you to enhance the guest experience and earn more commission with very minimal effort."

Currently, Norwegian offers upgrades through an Upsell Department, which identifies sailings with potential for upgrades and emails guests, who can then call in and bid on upgrades.

"This new system will be completely automated and allow for a level playing field where all guests can easily bid for an upgrade simply by clicking through," Norwegian spokeswoman Christina Baez said. "It also notifies the travel partner who made the booking and automatically provides them with the commission on the higher fare if their bid is accepted."

Many Asian restaurants on Norwegian ships become complementary

The Jasmine Garden restaurant on Norwegian Jade.

Norwegian Cruise Line said Asian restaurants across its fleet of ships will become complimentary as part of an investment in enhancing the dining experience.

The restaurants affected by the move include Shanghai’s Noodle Bar aboard Norwegian’s Breakaway Class ships and Norwegian Epic, Jasmine Garden aboard Norwegian Jade, and Chin Chin aboard Norwegian Jewel.

The changes also apply to Orchid Garden on Norwegian Gem, Lotus Garden on Norwegian Pearl, Giza on Norwegian Star, Shogun on Norwegian Spirit, Bamboo on Norwegian Dawn and East Meets West on Pride of America.

All previously had cover charges or items priced ala carte on their menus.

Norwegian said its Teppanyaki restaurants will continue to carry a per-guest cover charge, and sushi venues across the fleet will retain nominal a la carte pricing.

Norwegian Epic to call at Southampton

Norwegian Epic to call at Southampton

Norwegian Epic is to return to Southampton for the first time in five years from 2015, marking its first return to the port since its inaugural celebration in June 2010.

According to Travelmole, the ship will sail to the UK port during its two Iberian Peninsula cruises, which are scheduled for September and October next year.

First up is a six-night sailing departing from Barcelona on September 20th. Then, the first of the two cruises will depart from Southampton on September 26th, with port calls in Cartagena, Granada and Lisbon.

After that, there’s a seven-night cruise from Southampton to Barcelona on the cards, departing on October 11th. In the interim, the ship is scheduled to go into the dry dock in France.

There’s likely to be plenty more visits to the UK for Norwegian Epic once the ship relocates its home port to the Catalan city of Barcelona on a permanent basis.

At that point, it will offer year-round sailings to the Western Mediterranean and the Canary Islands and Morocco.

In keynote, Norwegian's Sheehan to share success strategies

Kevin Sheehan, CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, has accomplished a lot in the relatively short time that he has held that title, and creating and executing a business strategy will be the focus of his address when he gives the keynote speech at Travel Weekly's CruiseWorld on Nov. 8 in Fort Lauderdale.

Putting plans into action is the theme for that day, the final day of the three-day conference, and Sheehan will share not only what he had to do at Norwegian, but also the lessons he learned that apply to businesses of any size, from a one-person, home-based operation to an agency with tens of millions of dollars in annual sales.

When he arrived at the cruise line in 2007, "We had the right assets and proposition, but we didn't communicate well, and we didn't execute well," he said in a recent interview at his office at Norwegian's Miami headquarters. "We put in the right management team that could really demonstrate what the brand stood for. And what it didn't."
In his keynote, Sheehan will stress the importance of relationships in execution, including the importance of team building and nurturing supplier/retailer relations.

"When the recession hit, we held onto every single employee," he continued. "We rode through it together. Getting the team behind the culture with passion and the belief that they can get things done is critical.

"I'm not the guy who makes it happen, but I'm on ships every month, connecting with the crew. We have all-hands meetings, and we talk about what we're doing. I meet with senior officers and then with all the officers. And we follow that with a series of meetings with crew that officers aren't allowed to attend and discuss what's good, bad and what can improve."

Sheehan also focused on relations with travel agents, initiating the Partners First program.

"At the end of the day, [relationships] are why we have best-in-class margins and return on investor capital," he said. "We had none of that before."

Following the address, Sheehan will sit down onstage for an interview with Travel Weekly Editor in Chief Arnie Weissmann. The two will explore the decision-making processes in business and look at why, for instance, Norwegian, unlike its competitors, has so far stuck with a single brand. They will also look at what opportunities are ahead for the line and for agents.

Sheehan is one of three top cruise line executives who will be addressing agents. On Nov. 6, delegates will hear from Carnival Corp. CEO Arnold Donald, and on Nov. 7, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Chairman Richard Fain will address attendees.

Each will also sit for an onstage interview with Weissmann.

The conference, which also features seminars, a trade show and networking opportunities, will be held at the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center Nov. 6 through 8; ship inspections of vessels such as the Royal Princess, the Carnival Breeze, the Oasis of the Seas, the Nieuw Amsterdam and the Norwegian Epic will bookend the show on Nov. 5 and Nov. 9 and 10. Registration for ship inspections closes Oct. 18.