Norwegian Cruise Lines has taken delivery of its newest vessel and the second in NCL’s Prima class, Norwegian Viva, in Italy, as the ship prepares to depart on its maiden voyage from Venice on Thursday (10 August).
To mark the momentous occasion the cruise line held an intimate but glitzy, Euro-inspired event in Sydney, where NCL Asia Pacific managing director Ben Angell talked up the launch of the vessel and the cruise line’s ambition to “dominate” European cruising within the Australian market.
“The thing that I love most is the outdoor space and it literally is unrivalled. No other cruise line in this class has the amount of outdoor space,” he told guests at the event.
“My particular favourite is Ocean Boulevard. It’s perfect for sailing somewhere like the Med. There is literally so much space, so many amazing venues to go and enjoy all that’s going past you as you sail through the Med.”
Angell also flagged the food and beverage proposition onboard the ship, in particular the open air Indulge Food Hall with its “11 dining concepts”.
“It’s literally an opportunity to sit down and just have a course after course and all sorts of different cuisines brought to your table – it’s phenomenal,” he said.
Cruising outlook
On cruising generally, Angell, who is also chair of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Australasia, said that the “glory days of 2019 are being surpassed in 2023”.
“Not just locally but globally,” he added.
“2023 is going to be a record year for cruise, and my guess is 24 will be a record year and so will 25, 26 and so on.
“All of the research points to the fact that people want to cruise more now than they ever have before which is fantastic.”
NCL’s Sydney event also celebrated European cruising more broadly, which Angell says is “an absolute favourite” among Aussies.
“It’s not surprising we’re seeing a really nice uplift in bookings for Europe next year,” he said.
“So we focused really hard on becoming the cruise line of choice for Europe. And I think we’ve made some massive inroads. And many of our trade partners, many cruise considers in this part of the world now think of our brand first when they’re thinking of going to Europe.”
With 10 ships in Europe to December 2023 offering a combined 132 itineraries, Angell hailed NCL’s “huge fleet commitment” to the continent.
“And it just shows that we really do want to dominate in that part of the world,” he said.
“And we as a brand have focused on longer port-rich, immersive itineraries and excursions, like our Go-Local gourmet tours.”
‘Dominating’ cruising
Beyond Europe, Angell said, “Hawaii remains incredibly popular for our brand and for guests from this part of the world”.
“The cruise that we operate round trip every week of the year is unique – no one else does it. Four islands in seven days, two overnight stays and more than 100 hours ashore. It really is the best value way to see Hawaii,” he remarked.
Elsewhere, “Alaska continues to be a really hot bucket list destination”.
“We’re actually selling more Alaska than we’ve ever sold before,” said Angell.
“Perhaps not surprisingly, because we’ve got seven ships and six departure ports. So we are dominating Alaska as we’re dominating Hawaii, as we’re dominating Europe.
The cruise is also “imminently returning to Asia after a three-year hiatus”.
“Asia and Asia-Pacific is an incredibly important part of our business today and will become an ever more important part of our business going forward,” Angell said.
“So we’ve got Norwegian Jewel. She’s kicking off in Tokyo in October 2023. We all know Japan is hot with Australians and our Kiwi cousins. And the only problem we’ve got is it’s selling so fast that the prices keep going up. So anyone who wants to go to Japan, get in early,” he warned.
Lastly, Angell talked to the Norwegian Spirit, which sails in Australian and New Zealand waters.
“She is a fantastic vessel. She was refurbed – it was the most extensive refurb in the history of our fleet – and I can’t tell you the true number that we spent on that but it was a lot more than the published number.”
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