NCL Corp. President and CEO Colin Veitch shared some intriguing hints about the two 150,000-ton, 4,200-passenger F3 vessels under construction at Aker Yards in St. Nazaire, France. Speaking at a press conference during the Seatrade Cruise Shipping Convention, Veitch offered a few comments, not about what the ships will feature, but what they won't. The two ships, code-named F3 for the Third Generation of Freestyle Cruising, are due out in March and October 2010. "The ship will have no main dining room, no main theater, no Lido café, and will be without any traditional cruise ship cabins," Veitch said. "They will be revolutionary ships."

Veitch did say that the F3 vessels will be "a natural, logical progression" of the current Freestyle ships. "They'll be more flexible and further deconstruct the traditional cruise product." NCL assembled a team of top executives to begin planning and marketing for the launch of the F3 ships. "It's a huge expansion for us," Veitch said. "In six months in 2010, we'll add 8,400 lower berths. So the next two years are our time to get ready for this." He also said NCL will also "get its back house in order" to make sure agents find the company easy to work with before the launch of the F3 ships. That effort, now under way, is called Partnership 2.0 (see related item below). For more information, call 866-234-0292 or visit www.ncl.com.