Norwegian Cruise Line has announced the name of the first Leonardo class ship: Norwegian Prima
It has been known for several years that Norwegian Cruise Line would like to attract fleet growth again in the future with a new and spectacular construction class. This is the Leonardo class first ship Norwegian Prima, of which not too many details have been announced so far.
What is already certain is that the first ship of this class should start in August 2022, the maiden voyage should be a cruise from the port of Amsterdam. Now Norwegian Cruise Line has finally announced the name of the first newbuilding, the type ship of the Leonardo-Class will be named “Norwegian Prima”. It introduces the new construction class with its commissioning.
Originally the Leonardo-Class was planned with four cruise ships of the new class, but two more ships of the series were ordered in 2018. After the name was announced, Norwegian Cruise Line now also spoke of the Prima Class. It is therefore quite possible that the entire class name will be renamed again and that in future only the project will be referred to as Leonardo.
The new construction class follows the successful Breakaway class, consisting of Norwegian Breakaway, Norwegian Getaway, Norwegian Escape, Norwegian Joy, Norwegian Bliss and Norwegian Encore. These ships were put into service every year between 2013 and 2019; only 2016 was put out of service.
In the case of the new Prima Class, too, it is planned that the ships will be put into service every year. Thus there will be new cruise ships of the Norwegian Cruise Line in 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 and 2027 respectively. Shifts are of course not excluded at this point.
The Fincantieri shipyard in Italy was awarded the contract to manufacture the construction class, while the breakaway class ships were still being built at the Meyer shipyard in Papenburg. With the new class, however, the two companies are going separate ways for the time being.
In addition to the name, Norwegian Cruise Line has also communicated the area of operation of the upcoming Norwegian Prima, it is planned that it should start in Northern Europe, the maiden voyage will take place on August 17, 2022, and from September 23, 2022 onwards to America. The winter season 2022/2023 will complete Norwegian Prima Reisen in the western Caribbean and the Bahamas, in summer 2023 she will return to Europe.
