Norwegian Cruise Line Welcomes Norwegian Prima to Fleet

Norwegian Cruise Line welcomed Norwegian Prima, the much-anticipated first vessel in its new Prima class, to the fleet at a ceremony in Reykjavik, Iceland this past weekend. Some 900 travel partners, 200 media and other guests watched from venues spread across the ship.

“It is such an honor to be here as we celebrate the beginning of a new era and step into an exciting new future,” Harry Sommer, president and CEO of NCL told the small group of attendees watching live in the theater. “A future that will exceed all of our expectations. Tonight, we celebrate our fortitude, our tenacity, our unwavering spirit as a company and as an industry… Tonight, we celebrate together Norwegian Prima, the first in a new class of ship. We welcome her in style, we don’t know any other way.”

And style there was aplenty, ranging from the quirky stylings of Icelandic singer Dadi Freyr (who represented the country in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest) to the pop stylings of superstar godmother Katy Perry, who appeared first in a stunning blue sequined gown and then red pleather for her full-length concert.  

“We are here to launch an extraordinary new class of ship together and it’s pretty fancy and, believe you me, I’ve seen fancy,” Perry said, adding that while she knows it’s a tradition to be called godmother, she’d rather be known as “the cool auntie that jacks up all your kids up and then drops them off at your house and lets you deal with it.”

Perry joined Sommer, NCL Holdings president and CEO Frank Del Rio and Norwegian Bliss godfather Elvis to trigger the ceremonial breaking of Champagne bottle on the ship’s hull. (It broke the first time.)

“It was so much fun to sprinkle some fairy dust on Norwegian Prima and send her on her way to sail the high seas,” she said afterwards.

Norwegian Prima, which Sommer called the “pinnacle of everything our 55-year-history has been preparing for,” is the first of six ships planned for the Prima Class, which builds upon the success of the line’s Breakaway and Breakaway Plus classes. At 965-feet-long and carrying 3,099 passengers at double occupancy, the ship is a bit smaller than the original Breakaway-class ships and boasts some of the largest space-to-guest ratio in the contemporary cruising space.

“With her stunning design and unique offerings, Norwegian Prima is in a league of her own,” said Frank Del Rio, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Ltd.

Highlights include the three-level Prima Speedway; The Rush and The Drop slides; the largest variety of suites in the NCL fleet; the 44,000-square-foot Ocean Boulevard, which wraps around the entire ship; and Indulge Food Hall, an upscale food court with a variety of ethnic cuisine stations, all of which are complimentary.