Norwegian Bliss Breaks Records As She Prepares to Launch

The East Coast travel community is abuzz today over the imminent launch party for Norwegian Bliss, which will take place this weekend in New York harbor. And they are not alone. Coming into a hot cruise market and sailing the year’s number-one cruise itinerary, Alaska, the ship is “the best-booked new build in Norwegian’s history,” executives said.

On the eve of the launch, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings President and CEO Frank Del Rio, took a few minutes to shout out to travel professionals for the help they have given NCL in selling its new ship.

“Norwegian Bliss is the most successful new ship launched in Norwegian’s brand history and we thank our travel partners for making that possible,” he told TMR last night. “They have been been critical in ensuring that the right guest is experiencing the right ship, which clearly is Norwegian Bliss at the moment.”

Norwegian also hosted its quarterly conference call from the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, where Del Rio noted that “in about 24 hours the fabulous new Norwegian Bliss will make her maiden call in the United States. Her delivery two weeks ago marked not just the introduction of the latest flagship of the Norwegian Cruise Line fleet, but also the culmination of the best pre-booking period for a new build in the line’s history.”

The inaugural parties, held in Southampton, England; in New York City this weekend; and in Miami, Los Angeles and Seattle in days to come, “make up the line’s most comprehensive inaugural event in our history, will further stoke demand for her sailings in Alaska, the West Coast and the Eastern Caribbean from Miami, starting this fall,” Del Rio said.

Norwegian Bliss “embodies all that our team—not just the Norwegian Cruise Line, but also those at Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises—have been working fervently to instill in our brand and message to the marketplace, that of choice, quality, value and innovative on-boarding and shoreside activities resulting in the ultimate cruise vacation experience,” he said.

When it came to selling Bliss, like all its new ships, NCL’s strategy was to offer “the absolute best value at the time voyages first open for sale, at the inception of each sailing’s booking curve,” including the most valuable choices of Free at Sea offerings. 

“Norwegian Bliss has wildly succeeded in these first three pillars,” Del Rio said, with the most attractive offering of onboard activities, amenities and venues ever seen on a Norwegian ship. But most importantly, we accomplished this with a passionate and dedicated crew that is anxiously waiting to welcome and graciously serve each and every guest.”

Bliss boasts a stylish observation lounge “perfect for viewing Alaska’s stunning natural scenery,” a full production of the Broadway hit Jersey Boys, the North American debut of a 1,000-foot Go Kart race track, and an upscale smokehouse restaurant.

Agents agree
Travel agents with whom TMR spoke agree that Bliss is hot. “I have solid bookings and multiple group requests; I get more calls about Bliss than any other new build,” said Cruise Planners franchise owner Nick Pena of Miami. “The value proposition is there with the free @ sea promotion and customers are responding favorably, particularly to the unlimited drink package.”

“Bliss is the first new Alaska family ship in a long, long time so she has been an easy sell. This ship is going to be such a destination in itself that I’ve had to remind clients they still need to book excursions to see Alaska too!” said Christy Newsom Scannell, owner of Dream Vacations Christy Scannell & Associates. “I also love how it has influenced the other cruise lines to improve their Alaska fleet for 2019 and beyond. For the last few years Alaska cruising has had a puzzling lack of ship quality (considering cost and demand) so clients are super-excited to see a brand new ship up there.”

While some noted that round-trip Seattle is not the best way to cruise the 50th state, especially on  a mega-ship, others said the combination of a great Alaska itinerary and a beautiful new entry full of fun extras is a winner. Sheila Michels, for example, noted “a family group that travels yearly but normally does not cruise, who after seeing all the fun activities on board and me explaining how it would be a great fit for them given the ages of all the children, booked multiple Haven cabins when the Bliss first came out for sale. They were so excited.”

Agency owner Pete Fanizzi agreed that “Bliss advance group bookings for 2019 are very active. New ships always work but what really has happened is NCL’s ability to create interesting news about cruising, especially for first-time cruisers. Kudos to them and very happy to show great activity with all NCL cruises. Mygoingplacestravel is benefiting from their marketing and I personally am very happy to be boarding the Bliss this Friday!”

Quarterly result
As far as overall results, meanwhile, Del Rio said NCL “entered this year’s wave season with the highest load factors and highest pricing in the company’s history.” Pricing and occupancy for the balance of 2018 and through 2019 “continue to be meaningfully ahead of same time last year levels across all major deployments and particularly in our premium price deployments of Scandinavia, the Mediterranean, Alaska, Hawaii and Cuba. Even our Caribbean and Bahamas sailings through this year’s second through fourth quarters and continuing through the first half of 2019 are showing, with very few isolated exceptions, year-over-year improvement in pricing and load.”

In mid-April Regent Seven Seas Cruises set an all-time single day booking record with its introduction of Seven Seas Splendor, whose first sailing is not until January 2020.

“I’ve always believed that market analysts and government watchdogs should consider the cruise industry’s booking curve as a leading economic indicator because of the extended timeframe and future visibility of consumer confidence that cruise sales represent,” Del Rio concluded. “Today we want to confidently tell you that we do not see any evidence of recessionary pressures on demand or on pricing as a result of global or domestic macroeconomic conditions or that the increase in supply growth coming online over the next few years is causing any disruptions in the marketplace.”