NCL’s Aqua Park
Norwegian Cruise Line’s next ship will feature the largest aqua park at sea and include four water slides. Scheduled to debut in October, the 4,200-passenger Norwegian Escape will also have the largest ropes course at sea, a miniature golf course, a full-size basketball court, baby nursery and a bocce ball court — a first for the line. The 163,000-ton vessel is an expanded version of Norwegian’s recently unveiled Norwegian Getaway and Norwegian Breakaway and will be the line’s largest ship to date. Aqua Park will boast a dedicated Kids’ Aqua Park, two pools and four hot tubs. The water slides will include Aqua Racer, a tandem slide where competitors can race side-by-side on tubes, and Free Fall, a side-by-side set of slides where you will free fall into a loop as the floor drops from underneath them. There also will be a more relaxing, family-friendly open-flume body slide. The ropes course will be three stories high and feature 99 elements including two walkable planks extending over the side of the ship and zip tracks that allow guests to soar through the air. The ship will have the line’s first dedicated nursery for young cruisers two and under. It will sail the Caribbean year-round from Miami. Next in line is the Norwegian Bliss, due in 2017.