Last Thursday, Norwegian Cruise Line laid the keel of the first of its upcoming F3-class ships at Aker Yards France in St. Nazaire. While most details of the new 150,000 GT, 4,200-berth ships remain under wraps, NCL finally unveiled the very first renderings of the ship. NCL CEO Colin Veitch already promised earlier this year that the ship would be without any “traditional” cruise ship cabins, and NCL made good on its promise with its New Wave cabin design, which uses curved walls and a totally new bathroom concept to create what could be the biggest cabin innovation to hit the cruise industry since the affordable balcony, first introduced by Princess Cruises in 1984 on Royal Princess (now P&O Cruises‘ Artemis and not to be confused with the current ship of the same name).
So what makes F3’s cabins so special? The most obvious change is the interlocking cabin design with curved walls featured in balcony and deluxe balcony cabins. Interlocking cabins are nothing new — though Celebrity Cruises has spent a lot of time hyping its own, far more conventional interlocking cabin design on the upcoming Celebrity Solstice-class ships — but curved cabin walls are a genuine innovation that have virtually never been seen before, and certainly not in a modern modular cabin design. (Today’s standard cruise ship cabins are modularly built on land and then slipped into place as finished units.) The curved walls not only allow better space utilization like most cabin designs, they help avoid the “box-like” feel of so many cabins. The modern feel imparted by the curves will be accentuated by the decor, featuring earth tones “with a splash of color” and dark wood cabinetry and trim, plus sophisticated LED lighting and a domed ceiling that brings to mind the original first-class cabins on QE2. It all gives a very modern, boutique-hotel look that should appeal to the first-time cruisers NCL targets. (Inside cabins won’t feature the curved walls of their balcony counterparts, but will offer all the other New Wave features.)
But beyond the cosmetics, the biggest new feature of these cabins will be the bathroom design: NCL has literally been thinking outside the box, eliminating the typical bathroom cubicle or “wet room” in favor of a separate toilet cubicle and bath or shower cubicle each opening directly onto the main cabin, and moving the wash basin and vanity into the main cabin proper. This is bound to be a rather controversial design, but if NCL and its long-time interior designers Tillberg Design have thought it out properly, it could prove a popular new feature. (It’s worth noting that “unconventional” bathroom designs have been appearing in design-conscious hotels for a while now.) And either way, after years of cabins that, frankly, all look and feel the same (I know, I’ve stayed in enough of them!), it’s great to see someone doing something truly different.
For more information and renderings of the cabins, be sure to check out NCL’s dedicated F3 web site. You’ll also want to take a look at the coverage of the keel-laying ceremony from my good friend and intrepid cruise writer Peter Knego here.
