This Week in Cruise - Norwegian and Compagnie du Ponant Commission New Ships

Another week drifts by in the cruise industry and another big ship is ordered. Norwegian Cruise Line confirmed its most recent order for a second “Breakaway Plus” cruise ship with Meyer Werft of Papenburg, Germany, for delivery in spring 2017. This order comes before the first Breakaway Plus ship finishes delivery in October 2015, and both new vessels will be the largest in the line’s fleet at approximately 163,000 gross tons and 4,200 passenger berths each. The ships will be similar in design to the line’s current Breakaway class, the first of which, Norwegian Breakaway, launched in New York in early May. 

The combined contract cost for the two Breakaway Plus class ships is approximately $1.84 billion. Meyer Werft is scheduled to deliver Norwegian Getaway in mid-January 2014.

Compagnie du Ponant also commissioned a new vessel, with a yacht scheduled for delivery from the Italian Fincantieri shipyard in spring 2015. This vessel joins a fleet of four boutique cruise yachts all flying the French flag: Le Ponant (32 staterooms), Le Boreal, L’Austral and Le Soleal (132 staterooms and suites). The yacht will be cruising the shores of Alaska in the summer and Australia and New Zealand in winter.

Silversea Cruises opened the books on its two Grand Voyages for 2015. The line's Silver Shadow will depart Jan. 7 on a 62-day "Circle South America" roundtrip voyage from Fort Lauderdale with calls in Key West, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Falkland Islands, Uruguay, Brazil, French Guiana, Barbados, Grenada, Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire, Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas.

The Silver Spirit will set sail Jan. 22 on a 64-day "Southern Cross" roundtrip voyage from Los Angeles to explore a collection of 32 exotic and marquee destinations mostly in the South Pacific, including the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia, Cook Islands, New Zealand, Australia, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji Islands, Samoa, Kiribati and Hawaii.