Norwegian Cruise Lines’s M/S Norwegian
Majesty Resumes Cruise Service Following $53.3 Million Lengthening
And Refurbishment
Ship Begins Six-Month Series of Weekly
Boston to Bermuda Cruises
MIAMI, Fla., April 12, 1999 – Norwegian Cruise Line’s
M/S Norwegian Majesty resumed cruise service yesterday in
Boston, MA following a 14-week, $53.3 million lengthening
and refurbishment project. A pre-fabricated, 112-foot midsection
was inserted at the Lloyd Werft shipyard in Bremerhaven, Germany,
increasing the ship’s length from 568 to 680 ft. and
its tonnage from 32,400 tons to 40,876 GRT.
The new midsection increases the ship’s double occupancy
by 40% from 1,056 to 1,462 guests, adding 203 new staterooms
and 132 new crew members. The new midsection contains a second
pool, second dining room, a new casino, another outdoor bar,
NCL’s hallmark Le Bistro restaurant, a coffee bar, and
substantially more deck space. In addition, existing spaces
have been reconditioned and enhanced.
New Public Rooms and Accommodations
Lengthening of the Norwegian Majesty has provided
extra space for the following new accommodations and public
rooms:
203 New Staterooms: Accommodations in the deluxe outside,
standard outside and standard inside categories have been
added. Each room features soothing decorative schemes of beige,
rose, green, or blue and is modeled after the colors used
aboard the Norwegian Wind and Norwegian Dream. With the addition
of the new staterooms, Norwegian Majesty now has a total of
731.
New Monte Carlo Casino: Located on the Majesty Deck, the
ship features an all-new casino with a stylish Art Deco atmosphere.
Plenty of excitement will prevail in the Monte Carlo Casino
with six blackjack tables, one Caribbean Stud Poker table,
one American roulette table, one dice table, one Let it Ride
table and 133 slot machines.
The Four Seasons Dining Room: Located mid-ship on the Atlantic
Deck, the new 266-seat Four Seasons Dining Room offers panoramic
sea views through floor-to-ceiling windows.
Le Bistro Restaurant: Located on the Atlantic Deck, the
new 56-seat Le Bistro restaurant, a hallmark feature of NCL
which pioneered the alternative dining concept over a decade
ago, is located next to the Four Seasons Dining Room. Offering
flexible dining hours, Le Bistro serves light Italian and
Continental cuisine with an NCL flair. A new galley serves
both new restaurants.
The Coffee Bar/Lounge: Located on the Atlantic Deck, an
intimate new Coffee Bar and Lounge seats 40 guests and has
full bar service, a selection of coffee and coffee-flavored
drinks, "flaming" specialty drinks, teas, cappuccino
and espresso.
New Swimming Pool and Topsider’s Bar: The top of Norwegian
Majesty has undergone a remarkable transformation which has
added a second swimming pool measuring 25 feet long by 16
feet wide as well as a second open-air bar, the 10-seat Topsider’s
Bar, for tropical libations. Both are located on the newly
lengthened Sun Deck
New Sky Deck: An entirely new space, the Sky Deck has been
added above the lengthened Sun Deck. The Sky Deck provides
substantially more sunning area and creates a ring of cozy
shaded areas around the two pools and two whirlpools on Sun
Deck, directly below. Nearly five times larger than the deck
it replaces, Sky Deck has been outfitted with comfortable
lounge chairs, convenient new restrooms and showers.
More crew accommodations have also been added, increasing
the number of crew members from 438 to 570. In addition, two
new elevators have been added to the existing four elevators
and a third stair tower has been incorporated in the new midsection
to provide easier guest access to the expanded amenities and
public spaces. Most ships the size of the Norwegian Majesty
provide only two stair towers.
Refurbishment of Existing Public Rooms
In addition to the new staterooms and public rooms,
the ship underwent a multi-million dollar refurbishment to
existing areas. For example, the existing 636-seat Seven Seas
Dining Room, formerly known as the Epicurean Restaurant, has
been updated with new chairs and carpeting in soothing shades
of blue.
The ship features newly carpeted corridors and stair towers.
All decks have been renamed to better reflect NCL’s system,
which alludes to the company’s Norwegian heritage as
well as its exotic ports.
Several of the ship’s lounges and bars have been modified
with additional seating. On the Sun Deck, the existing Cafe
Royale and Piazza San Marco will continue to serve lighter,
casual buffet-style meals. The Royal Observatory on Norway
Deck, offers panoramic views. The Palace Theatre, the venue
for Broadway-caliber entertainment, has been enhanced with
improved seating. The Treasured Moments Photo Gallery has
been improved to make it easier to locate guest photos.
Hidden Engineering and Economic Benefits of Ship’s
Lengthening
Lengthening has several other hidden benefits. For
example, Norwegian Majesty now sports a more sleek and hydrodynamic
profile, allowing the ship to maintain its 21-knot speed with
the same power plant despite the ship’s added size and
amenities. That means time in port will not be diminished.
The extra buoyancy provided by the new midsection will slightly
reduce the ship’s draft to 20 feet so that the ship can
continue to call on all its existing ports of call and might
even add a few that were previously inaccessible due to shallower
waters.
In addition, lengthening minimizes the amount of time a ship
is removed from service and costs two-thirds the price, per
berth, of a new ship while lowering the operating costs per
guest. Norwegian Majesty’s lengthening has taken only
three months rather than the two to three years needed to
build a new ship. The ship was out of service from January
4 until April 11, 1999.
Construction on the ship’s pre-fab midsection began
to take shape about a year ago. Upon the vessel’s arrival
at the shipyard in late January, the lower decks were sealed
and the ship sliced in two. The fore and aft sections were
floated apart and the new midsection fitted into position.
The three sections were welded together and then internally
joined with electrical wires and plumbing. After the final
interior fitting of the new section and refurbishment of the
existing areas, Norwegian Majesty has become a much-enhanced
ship, ready to provide guests with a memorable cruise vacation.
This is the third such lengthening of an NCL vessel at Lloyd
Werft, following the highly successful "stretching"
of two other vessels, sister ships, Norwegian Wind and Norwegian
Dream in March and May 1998 respectively.
Norwegian Majesty Returned to Service on April 11,
1999
On April 11, Norwegian Majesty began offering a series
of 30 weekly cruises from Boston to Bermuda which will be
followed by a 10-day voyage from Boston to San Juan on October
24, 1999. The ship will offer a winter schedule of 10- and
11-day Panama Canal cruises between San Juan and Acapulco
from November 3, 1999 to January 6, 2000.
Beginning January 7, 2000, the ship will offer three- and
four-day cruises round-trip from Miami. The three-day cruises
(with the exception of January 28 and April 7) will sail to
Nassau and Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas, while the four-day
sailings will visit Key West, Florida and Cozumel, Mexico.
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