Norwegian cruise line had already announced it was planning to compete with Royal Caribbean in the big-ship game, but details on how big the new Pinnacle class will be revealed on Wednesday .
A news release from Italian shipyard company Finacantieri said that NCL’s parent company Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Limited moved beyond the letter of intent signed last year, bringing four new ships to be delivered in 2030. We have announced that this has been done. 2032, 2034 and 2036.
The shipyard said the vessel would come in at 226,000 tons, which can sail with more than 8,300 passengers and crew. The intention to pursue a large class of ships for the NCL came in April last year along with orders for new ships from sister cruise lines Oceania and Regent Seven Sea. At the time, NCL ships, including crew, had targeted more than 5,000 passenger capacity.
“Designed to the highest standards of comfort and technology, these ships also include sustainability characteristics,” the shipyard said.
The ship will be built at the Fincantierimon Falcon shipyard near the Croatian border.
Fincantieri delivers the NCL’s latest ships, Norwegian Prima and Aqua, giving it a finishing touch to the big sister ship Norwegian Aqua Set, which debuts this year and heads towards Port Canaveral. With three more Prima Plus class ships being ordered until 2028, construction of the Pinnacle class will not begin until new ships are delivered.
Currently, only two cruise lines have a total of over 200,000 tons sailing both icon and oasis class ships and MSC cruises on both world class ships.
The world’s largest cruise ship is now the Royal Icon of the Sea, which debuted in January 2024, with a weight of 248,663 Grostons and a capacity of 5,610 guests based on its double occupancy rate with a maximum passenger capacity of nearly 7,600. It’s there. Nearly 10,000 people can board along with the crew.
The sister ship, Star of the Seas, will debut this summer and sail from Port Canaveral. It is slightly larger and is expected to take over the title of the world’s largest cruise ship.
That was the strategy that the Royal Caribbean took with the first five of the six oasis class ships. All of these held their titles before Icon of the Seas, starting with Oasis of the Seas in 2009. Groston.
MSC Cruises debuted its first world-class ship, MSC World Europa, in 2022, and this year it established its sister ship MSC World America, which will debut from Miami. Both are gross tons of over 200,000 tons, with the largest passenger capacity in the world of America at 6,762.
MSC has two more world-class ships in the order, with a fourth-named vessel set to depart from Port Canaveral in 2027.
For now, there are eight cruise ships around the world that weigh more than 200,000 tonnes, and will grow to 11 by the end of the year.
That includes Disney Adventures tied to Singapore, the Disney Cruise Line’s biggest ship. This was originally a ship built for a folded Asian cruise company.
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The Carnival Cruise Line also plans to debut a larger class in 2029 with an order built by Fincantieri, which will soon be around 230,000 tons of ships and a maximum passenger capacity of around 8,000 people.
No line surpasses the Royal Caribbean icon class, but since the debut of Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2, which debuted in 2005 with 149,215 tons, no other cruise lines have held the title of the world’s largest cruise ship .
However, it was quickly surpassed in 2006 with the debut of the Royal Caribbean’s free class vessel. All have over 155,899 total ships, sea freedom, sea freedom, sea independence all hold the title before the oasis. The sea has come online.