He shares his experiences on the fleet and what he thinks are the stand-out features. There are some ideas that will always be impossible on a ship though, such as a lazy river.Īdam Coulter, UK Managing Editor of Cruise Critic, has been on all the inaugurals for NCL in the last few years. After a lot of work and engineering, the ship figured out a way to do it. Initially he thought the go-kart race was a crazy idea. Guests are going at a max of 32 miles per hour, but it feels incredibly fast because you’re so close to the ground. He talks about the extension of the Speedway, which goes 13 feet over each side of the ship, and has a longer and wider track than the Norwegian Bliss. Simon Murray, VP of Guest Experiences and Innovation for Norwegian Cruise Line, states that safety is always the number one concern. He also explains that with a ship this size, you are limited with the ports you can enter. If you are going even one knot an hour, you can cause a lot of damage with a ship. There’s also a dynamic positioning system. If you smoke in your room, the crew will know right away. Because of that, the vessel has been engineered to shut down an engine fire very quickly. He also explains that the worst thing that can happen on a ship is a fire. It will be eliminated across the fleet by January.Ĭaptain Niklas Persson, Captain of the Norwegian Encore, speaks about automation systems needed for the larger ships. The Encore is the first ship of its size to eliminate plastic water bottles. He discusses the technology of minimizing its environmental impact. Not that many people are actually cruising compared to other sectors of the travel industry, but it is a leader in technology and innovation. He feels like the cruise industry sees disproportionate attention in travel because of the innovations. The value of opportunity on a ship continues to expand the industry. At that time, the entire capacity of the fleet was close to the capacity of this one ship, the Encore.
If the staff isn’t happy that is a sign that you might not have the best time there either.Īndy Stuart, President and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line, details his long career in the cruise industry. When he boards a ship, he looks at the staff. Then, he reveals what he looks for as an indicator of a product. He believes that this cruise ship rivals the best resorts in the world. For every 50 people booking, 49 go to resorts and only one goes to a cruise. About 30 million people cruise each year, which represents only about 2% of travelers. He comes from the travel agency world, and specifically running a travel agency only selling cruises. Harry Sommer, Incoming President of President and CEO of Norwegian, talks about how its primary source of business still comes from travel agencies. It is all designed to keep the traffic flow moving. But it also has more than two times the number of venues and supporting lounges. The theatre sits close to 900, which is small for a ship this size. One of its goals is also to try to spread people out. With certain activities like the laser tag, go-kart racing and Galaxy Pavillion VR experiences, you don’t feel like you’re on a ship. It is bringing popular things back but now bigger and better too. Silas Cook, Norwegian Encore Cruise Director, says that the “Encore” explains the ship in itself. If you had told him 31 years ago there would be steakhouses and race tracks on ships, he’d tell you that you’re crazy. It was the first cruise line with the first steakhouse and the first sushi restaurant. Norwegian has always been on the innovative forefront. Then, he discusses the technological advances, such as the Speedway - a two-story, go-kart race track. There are 30 kitchens, and each restaurant has its own kitchen. The Encore has almost 7,000 guests and crew onboard.
Klaus Lugmaier, Regional VP of Fleet Operations for Norweign Cruise Line, speaks about the evolution of Norwegian cruise ships and the growth. E-mail him at or tweet your questions to (include #AskPeter). Click here to listen to the show streaming live from 10 a.m.
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