Norwegian Epic timeline
September 2006: NCL Corp. orders two 150,000-ton, 4,200-passenger, $2.8 billion cruise ships, with an option for a third, from Aker Yards SA (now STX Europe). The project is called F3, a reference to it being the third generation of the line's "Freestyle Cruising" ships.
August 2007: New York-based private equity group Apollo Management takes 50% of the line with a $1 billion stake in NCL Corp., sharing ownership with Malaysia-based Star Cruises.
March 2008: First details about the Epic emerge: The ship will have no main dining rooms or main theaters or Lido deck cafes and will feature "New Wave" cabins with curved walls and bathrooms with separate shower, sink and toilet areas.
April 2008: During a ceremony at Aker Yards in St. Nazaire, France, the keel is laid for the first of the F3 ships.
August 2008: South Korean shipbuilder STX takes control of Norway's Aker Yards, soon renames it STX Europe.
August 2008: NCL splits top executive posts, naming former Cendant executive Kevin Sheehan president and keeping on Colin Veitch as CEO.
September 2008: STX Europe France confirms that it is involved in a dispute with NCL Corp. over construction costs of the first of the two F3 ships.
November 2008: Veitch steps down as CEO of NCL.
December 2008: NCL and STX agree to downsize the F3 ship order from two to one.
January 2009: NCL names the F3 ship the Norwegian Epic and says it will offer alternating eastern and western Caribbean cruises from Miami.
The Norwegian Epic set its course for New York last week to make a grand U.S. entrance over Independence Day weekend, with country star Reba McEntire slated to name the ship two days before it served as the launching pad for the city's annual July 4 fireworks spectacle.
It seemed fitting for the much-ballyhooed ship, which has made headlines for features such as expansive, brand-name entertainment like Blue Man Group; revolutionary accommodations such as single-occupancy studios; and a massive water park.
With so much hype, it's easy to forget that at one point the fate of the Epic was up in the air, and the ship came dangerously close to being scrapped entirely.
The Epic was ordered from Norwegian shipbuilder Aker Yards in 2006, under Norwegian Cruise Line's former CEO, Colin Veitch. Originally known as the F3 project, the ship order was for at least two and up to three vessels, priced at about $1 billion each, for delivery between 2009 and 2011.
"This is now the third generation," Veitch said at the time the project was announced. "We will take the Freestyle Cruising product and develop it further."
A change in plans
According to the original timeline, the second F3 ship would have been recently delivered, with the first already in operation.
But things did not go as planned.
Two major ownership changes affected the F3's fate, as both NCL Corp., and Aker Yards were acquired by other companies.
The F3 contract was cemented in December 2006, with Aker's shipyard in St. Nazaire, France.
NCL quickly divulged that the F3 would break cruise design standards, as much for what it would have ("New Wave" cabins with curved walls and bathrooms with separate shower, sink and toilet areas) as for what it wouldn't have (a main dining room, main theater or Lido deck cafe).
New York-based private equity group Apollo Management shook the industry with a $1 billion equity investment in NCL Corp., which gave it co-ownership with Star Cruises.
The deal was finalized in January 2008, shortly before the keel was laid on the first of the F3 ships in St. Nazaire.
Under Apollo, Veitch's days were numbered. As head of NCL since 2000, his tenure was blemished by the company's money-losing venture to bring U.S.-flagged cruising back to Hawaii.
In August of that year, former Cendant executive Kevin Sheehan came out of corporate retirement to assume first the CFO position at NCL and then Veitch's presidency. Veitch would retain his CEO title for a few months before leaving the company, and Sheehan became CEO.
It was around that time that issues began to brew at the shipyard.
South Korean shipbuilder STX took control of Aker Yards in August 2008, soon after renaming the company STX Europe.
The shipbuilder and the cruise line soon fell into dispute over F3 construction costs, and STX instructed its subcontractors to halt the supply chain for the second F3 ship.
Rumors abounded that the entire order could be canceled, with the change in ownership at both entities weakening their ability to come to terms.
Wall Street analysts even weighed in on the possibility, with a UBS equity analyst saying that scrapping the deal would benefit the cruise industry by limiting 2010 cruise industry capacity growth.
Shortly after Veitch left, NCL and STX agreed to downsize the F3 ship order from two to one, a decision that cost NCL Corp. $128.8 million in cancellation fees.
The ship was completed last month, though not without further drama. A small fire in May threatened to delay the ship's delivery to NCL. Even so, the Epic was delivered on time and was set to sail into New York Harbor last week.
"Norwegian Epic represents the next level of Freestyle Cruising," Sheehan said in a statement. "Following more than four years of development and construction, we are pleased to take ownership of this beautiful ship and introduce her to the world."
This report appeared in the July 5 issue of Travel Weekly.
To read Johanna Jainchill's dispatches from the Norwegian Epic, click here. In addition, you can view a slideshow and video from the event here.