NEW SHIPS WILL BE ECO-FRIENDLY

Cruising conjures images of five-star dining and exotic ports of call. But scrubbers? Not so much. While they may not be top-of-mind, they play and important role behind the scenes, making the world a greener, cleaner place. To that end, Norwegian Cruise Line announced its two new Breakaway Plus class ships "will be the first new builds in the cruise industry to feature innovative scrubber technology developed by Green Tech Marine (GTM), a world leading marine scrubber supplier."

Quoting from the release:

“Norwegian Cruise Line has a history of innovation along with a commitment to utilizing green technology whenever possible,” said Kevin Sheehan, Norwegian Cruise Line’s chief executive officer. “Installing scrubbers from Green Tech Marine on our new Breakaway Plus vessels is a smart decision and one that will ensure these ships are as eco-friendly as possible.”

Also: "GTM has previously delivered scrubbers to Norwegian’s Pride of America which sails year-round in Hawaii. The scrubbers were installed during the ship’s dry dock refurbishment in March and are scheduled to be fully operational later this year." Learn more in this video from GTM"

SECOND 'BREAKAWAY PLUS' SHIP ON ORDER

Credit: Norwegian

Norwegian's newest ship, Breakaway, is a runaway hit with cruisers. So much so the cruise line now has two more ships in the new "Breakaway Plus" class on order. Here are the details from Norwegian:

"Norwegian Cruise Line announced Tuesday that it has confirmed an order for a second 'Breakaway Plus' cruise ship with MEYER WERFT GMBH of Papenburg, Germany for delivery in spring 2017. Along with the first Breakaway Plus ship, which is scheduled for delivery in October 2015, these two new vessels will be the largest in the line’s fleet at approximately 163,000 gross tons and 4,200 passenger berths each and will be similar in design and innovation to the line’s current Breakaway class, the first of which, Norwegian Breakaway, launched in New York in early May.