Four new generation Norwegian cruise ships are currently set to be delivered in the next five years. Norwegian Cruise Line is definitely bringing on the tonnage and is planning to add four cruise ships of record for NCL size to its fleet. Each of the four 164,600 gross tons ships of the new Breakaway- Plus class will start at 4,200-passenger berths.

The company already had two ships of Breakaway- Plus class under construction: Norwegian Escape, scheduled to be delivered in 2015, and Norwegian Bliss, in 2017.

An agreement was reached between Norwegian Cruise Line and the German ship builder Meyer Werft that two more Breakaway Plus cruise ships will be built and debut in 2018 and 2019, announced Norwegian Line officials a week ago. The two new ships have not yet been named and the contract prize for both is approximately €1,6 billion.

The line presently has two Breakaway cruise ships in service both sailing to the Bahamas: Norwegian Epic, debuted in June 2010 and homeported in New York City and Norwegian Getaway, launched in May 2013 and homeported in Miami. The new class ships are similar in basic floor plans to the current Breakaway Norwegian ships. However, the Breakaway-Plus ships are around 19,000 tons larger and include an additional expanded Promenade deck named “The Waterfront”.

The new class cruise ships will continue the Freestyle Cruising concept that the company pioneered in 2010 with the introduction of 4,100-passenger Norwegian Epic. In many ways, it has served as a framework for the new class cruise ships. The newer ships have several improvements over the unique Epic design, notably in the basic stateroom design and the overall profile of the vessel.