Norwegian Epic Cruise Line

The Norwegian Epic Cruise Line launched under the project F3 has the third largest cruise ship in the world. It is owned by the Miami based NCL (Norwegian Cruise Line) and has been built by the STX Europe Chantiers de l’Antique ship yard located in Saint-Nazaire, France. Two ships of this class were ordered first by the NCL in the year 2006, with an optional third vessel which was not initiated. However extenuating circumstances have resulted in a single ship.

However the Norwegian Epic cruise is not only magnificent but now one of a kind as well. The Epic was handed over to NCL on June 17th 2010, while her maiden voyage took place on June 24th 2010, from Southampton to New York. She arrived to New York on July 1st and became the largest ship ever to dock in the New York Passenger Ship Terminal.

Norwegian Epic Over view:

The Norwegian Epic surpasses the Jewel-class which was NCL’s largest vessel by nearly 60,000-GT. It represents the third generation of free style cruising vessels. It is the mega-class ship that NCL can boast of being on par with and in most cases excelling against its competition. The key features of Norwegian Epic view are:

4100 passenger berths
Balconies in all the outer cabins.
60% more passenger space than NCL’s largest ships.

However the biggest features of all the Norwegian Epic has are truly one of a kind. It has:

The only one sea tube and bowl water slide as part of its aqua park.
A rappelling wall
Two three-lane bowling alleys
17-degree ice bar.

On April 13, 2010 NCL CEO Kevin Sheehan together with Macy's, Inc CEO Terry J. Lundgren and NBC CEO Jeff Zucker announced that the Macy's 34th Annual 4th of July Fireworks would take place on the Norwegian Epic (The fireworks were off on another Ship) The NBC One-Hour Telecast of the Event was broadcast from the Norwegian Epic.

Concept and design of Norwegian Epic Cruise Line:

There are several innovative features that are part of the marvelous grandeur of the Norwegian Epic. It uses a diesel-electric hybrid set up with six long stroke MaK engines that provide a total of 79.8 MW for ship propulsion and on- board electric supply. The engines consequently drive high torque density induction motors which turn two conventional screws (Non-Azipod).

There was a dispute between Norwegian Cruise Line and STX France regarding the price when the vessel was about 25 percent complete. The sale with Apollo getting involved also resulted in the vessel’s design undergoing many changes giving rise to the dispute which were later solved and what we have today is sheer magnificence.

Norwegian Epic began its sea trial in February 10th 2010, and this took place for four days. 300 technicians and engineers from Aker Yards France, along with 30 NCL representatives checked the ship for more than 60 performance related aspects during the trials. This was done by running the trials for ship’s maneuverability, hydrodynamics, propulsion and speed in the Atlantic Ocean. The aspects of the ship were finalized with the second round of sea trials that were conducted on June 11, 2010.