Construction starts on Pride of Hawaii 2/16/05

Papenburg, 6 February 2005 In the covered building dock of Meyer Werft in Papenburg, one of a total of 67 steel blocks of the new 93,000-gt cruise vessel "Pride of Hawaii" was put into place on the keelblocks today. Inside the dock, following an old tradition, Lim Keong Han, the son of Tan Sri Lim, CEO of Norwegian Cruise Lines parent company Star Cruises, laid the traditional "lucky penny" before the block was put down by the yard's 800-ton crane. The block weighs nearly 450 tons, is 20 m long, 25 m wide and about 9 m high.

The "Pride of Hawaii" is the second of three news ships which are being built for the cruise company Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL). It is supposed to be operated in the American cruise market, and its delivery is scheduled in the spring of 2006. The length overall will be 294.13 m, the breadth 32.2 m, and it will be able to reach a speed of more than 25 knots. 2,376 passengers will be accommodated in 1,188 cabins and will be taken care of by a crew of 1,000. Five MAN diesel engines (100,000 hp) will generate the ship's power while two 20-MW azipods will be provided for propulsion. This pod system will ensure that the ship operates at a special low-noise and low-vibration level. At the same time it will provide the ship with extremely favourable manoeuvring capabilities.

Later on, the "Pride of Hawaii" will sail under US flag under the brand name "NCL America."

Photo: The first Block of the Pride of Hawaii - in the background NCL's new ship "Norwegian Jewel" for delivery in summer 2005