Norwegian Breakaway Undocked at Meyer Werft

Norwegian Breakaway began making her first public appearance this morning just after 7:00am in Germany as the giant door to Meyer Werft's covered building dock was opened and the 146,600-ton ship was towed out into the lagoon.

Regular readers will note that the ship is coming out bow first. While Meyer's ships usually make their appearance stern first, this isn't unprecedented, as last spring AIDAmar also came out bow first.

Norwegian Breakaway is the largest ship produced to date by Meyer, but it will be eclipsed by Quantum of the Seas when it is delivered a year and a half from now.

With its Peter Max hull art, Norwegian Breakaway is one of the most colorful ships Meyer has ever delivered.

The next event for Norwegian Breakaway is its river conveyance, which is tentatively set for March 10. Delivery is scheduled for April 25.

The complete story appeared in the February 26, 2013 edition of Cruise News Daily.
Photos and video courtesy of Meyer Werft

Ready for Her Debut

Meyer Werft has set Tuesday (February 26, 2012) as the date Norwegian Breakaway will be undocked and towed out of the covered building dock at their Papenburg yard. After tests in the lagoon, the ship will remain at the finishing dock until its conveyance down the Ems River to the sea in early March.

Norwegian Breakaway is shown here in the covered drydock this week looking like she's ready for her debut.

Photo courtesy of Meyer Werft

TUI Reveals Signature Features of Mein Schiff 3

When Mein Schiff 3 launches in May 2014, one of its signature features will make it instantly recognizable. On its stern, made of almost 1,800-square-feet of glass, it will have a multi-faceted diamond structure housing four restaurants and lounges as shown in the artist's renderings below.

The complete story appeared in the February 21, 2013, edition of Cruise News Daily.

Renderings courtesy of TUI Cruises

Passengers Find Coca-Cola Freestyle Aboard Royal Caribbean Is a Gas

A little more than a year ago we told CND readers about the Coke machine of the future coming aboard a couple Royal Caribbean ships for a test beginning last summer. Coca-Cola Freestyle survived the first limited test and expanded onto six RCI ships (Allure, Oasis, Majesty, Explorer, Enchantment and Freedom of the Seas), and is being evaluated for expansion fleetwide. (Yes, it's an unfortunate choice of names from Royal Caribbean's perspective, but the machines were already in a number of restaurants.)

What Freestyle allows passengers to do is create their own custom soft drinks, most of which they'll never find on their grocer's shelves. They choose a first-level Coke product from Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Caffeine-Free Diet Coke, Sprite, Sprite Zero, Fanta, Fanta Zero, Minute Maid Lemonade, Minute Maid Light, Dasani, Dasani Sensations, Powerade, Powerade Zero, Hi-C, Barq's, Diet Barq's and Seagram's Lemon Lime Seltzer. Then there are various permutations of flavoring options, such as with lemon, cherry, lime, vanilla, etc. Of course there's more going on behind the scenes because the machine mixes the ingredients perfectly before dispensing it.

Use of the machine is included in the line's Unlimited Fountain Soda Package, so you can try out all 100+ beverages until you find your favorite. (The Freestyle machine thus makes Royal Caribbean's soda package unique, because no other cruise line has the Freestyle machines.) Just don't get addicted to Peach Sprite, because you can't get it from any other consumer channel than a Coke Freestyle machine.

AIDAstella Makes Her First Trip

The 71,000-ton AIDAstella completed its river conveyance down the Ems River on Saturday (February 9, 2012) more than twelve hours earlier than originally planned, allowing it to begin sea trials already Saturday afternoon.

AIDAstella is the the last of the series being built for AIDA by Meyer, so the completion was a cause for extra celebration. AIDAstella, therefore, departed Papenburg under a colorful fireworks display provided by the yard.

The river conveyance is always a spectacle, and as usual, local people turned out along the banks to see a giant ship going down the river backwards.

Photos and video courtesy of Meyer Werft and AIDA Cruises.