''Norwegian Bliss'' is a cruise ship for

Norwegian Cruise Line Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), also known in short as Norwegian, is an American cruise line founded in 1966, incorporated in Bermuda and headquartered in Miami. It is the fourth-largest cruise line in the world by passengers, controlling about 8.6 ...

, which entered service on 21 April 2018. The ship was built by Meyer Werft in

Papenburg Papenburg (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Papenbörg'') is a city in the district of Emsland, Lower Saxony, Germany, situated at the river Ems. It is known for its large shipyard, the Meyer-Werft, which specializes in building cruise liners. Geog ...

, Germany. The ship had a schedule of debuting in Alaska, United States in June 2018, and is designed for improved energy efficiency to meet Alaska's environmental regulations.

History

Norwegian Cruise Line placed an order for a third ''Breakaway'' Plus cruise ship in July 2014. Construction started with steel cutting on 28 October 2016. ''Norwegian Bliss'' is the

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

to , , and . On 29 November 2017, nationally syndicated radio and digital personality

Elvis Duran Elvis Duran (born Barry Brian Cope; August 5, 1964) is an American radio personality. He is the host of the daily morning radio program ''Elvis Duran and the Morning Show'' in New York on Z100 and in syndication on Premiere Networks. Before h ...

was announced as her sponsor. Duran hosts the morning talk radio show, '' Elvis Duran and the Morning Show''. On-air, Duran also made the entire morning show (along with himself) "godparents" of the ship. Duran is the third godfather to any Norwegian vessel, only behind

Pitbull Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...

and Wang Leehom, who sponsored sister ships ''Norwegian Escape'' and ''Norwegian Joy''. ''Norwegian Bliss'' float-out was on 17 February 2018. The ship was towed from the building dock and berth at the outfitting pier to get her funnel. The ship was delivered to NCL on 21 April 2018 when the CEO of NCL, Andy Stuart, signed the ship documents where Norwegian Cruise Lines Holdings Limited took possession of the ship and started her inaugural voyage later on in the day. She reached North America, approaching New York in the overnight hours of 3 May 2018. The next day, a remote broadcast of Elvis Duran and his morning show took place. While sailing to Seattle, Washington from New York, ''Norwegian Bliss'' passed through the Panama Canal and became the largest cruise ship to ever transit it. The ship arrived in Seattle on 30 May 2018, and was officially christened later that same day.

Design

''Norwegian Bliss'' has an overall length of , moulded beam , and maximum draft . The ship has

gross tonnage Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weigh ...

of and deadweight of . ''Norwegian Bliss'' has 20 decks and 2,220 cabins, and can carry 4,000 passengers. The hull art for ''Norwegian Bliss'' was designed by marine wildlife artist Robert Wyland. Wyland is best known for his "Whaling Wall" murals, in which he painted life-sized whales on 100 buildings all over the world. ''Norwegian Bliss'' sailed on her inaugural cruise on 21 April 2018. ''Norwegian Bliss'' sailed on Mexican Riviera cruises from Los Angeles, California and cruises from Miami, Florida for her 2018 winter/spring season. For her 2019–2020 winter season, ''Norwegian Bliss'' sailed out from Manhattan, New York replacing her sister ship, ''Norwegian Escape'', which moved back to Miami. ''Norwegian Bliss'' will sail to the Bahamas and eastern Florida, as well as longer cruises to the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

, before repositioning to Seattle to resume cruising around Alaska in the summer of 2020. ''Norwegian Bliss'' has five main engines with total output power of . The vessel has two MAN B&W 14V48/60CR, each with power of and three MAN B&W 12V48/60CR, each with power of . The propulsion system is two ABB Azipod XO units with total power of 40 MW, which allows service speed of , while the maximum speed during trials exceeds . The engines are equipped with scrubbers and a heat recovery systems for improved energy efficiency.

Ship amenities

''Norwegian Bliss'' has various themed dining areas and bars. The Tony Award winning musical, '' Jersey Boys,'' Along with ''Icons'' currently play in repertory on the ship. The Bliss and the Encore each have an electric go-kart track.

Route

Following the christening, she sailed Alaska cruises with the first departure occurring on 2 June 2018, then at New York. On 24 October 2018, on a Diverted Baja Peninsular (Originally Mexican Rivera) cruise, she visited San Diego for the first time. Upon docking, she became the largest ship to dock at the port's facilities in terms of passenger capacity and length, superseding the 2013 docking of . The vessel began sailing in November 2018 from Miami.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Norwegian Cruise Line 2018 ships Ships built in Papenburg Ships of Norwegian Cruise Line