Metamorphosis - Cruise Ship Portal

Dining remains a key part of the Freestyle Cruising concept.
the organisation, through open forums,
steering committees and regular update
reports – “it’s been a real team effort,”
says Martinoli. As the end looms into
sight, however, the COO can start making
concrete plans as to what his early role in
its launch will be.
“I’ll certainly be spending plenty of
time on the ship at the beginning,” he
says excitedly. “It’s far preferable to being
on the phone five hours a day. I’ll attend
Insight > Shipbuilding, maintenance & repair
the first few cruises and keep an eye on
things, but the team we’ve assembled is
highly focused and motivated – they
don’t really need my help.”
After all the work that has been put in
already, no one would resent Martinoli
taking a break. With initial problems
overcome and everything on track for
delivery, it is also a good time to reflect
on the knowledge gained from NCL’s first
experiences of a mega-class project.
“The core lesson is that these builds
are extremely tight in terms of timing,”
he says. “It is imperative that you have
fast and efficient decision processes in
place. Sometimes, it can even be better to
make a bad decision than do nothing at
all. Time is your enemy when building a
big ship and regular contact is key:
you don’t want anybody being surprised
by anything.”
Fingers crossed, but the general sense
of optimism emanating from NCL these
days would suggest that any nasty
surprises are well behind them. It looks
as though Freestyle Cruising is about to
become bigger than ever. �
Vital Statistics
■ Gross register tonnage: 153,000
■ Overall length: 1,080ft/329.5m
■ Draft: 28.5ft/8.7m
■ Engines: diesel electric
■ Cruise speed: 22kt
■ Guests: 4,200 (double occupancy)
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Metamorphosis
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The The changing changing face face of of shipbuilding shipbuilding in in 2010 2010
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