Meyer Werft lays Norwegian Gem keel

**Ally** · 06-19-2006, 10:45 AM

On Saturday, the first of 67 steel blocks that will comprise the 93,500gt Norwegian Gem was laid at Meyer Werft.

Loui Keong Hui, son of Tan Sri KT Lim, chairman of Norwegian Cruise Line, laid the traditional lucky penny before the block was put down by the yard’s 800-ton crane. The first block weighs more than 350 tons, is 20 metres long, 27 meters wide and about nine meters high.

Norwegian Gem is the seventh ship built by Meyer Werft for NCL. Delivery is due in autumn 2007.

The ship’s length overall will be 294.13 meters, and the beam is 32.2 meters. Norwegian Gem will be able to reach a speed of more than 25 knots. The ship will accommodate 2,384 passengers in 1,188 cabins, with a crew of more than 1,000.

Also on hand for the keel-laying were Tan Sri Lim, NCL Corp. president and ceo Colin Veitch and Meyer Werft md Bernard Meyer.

**Ally** · 11-09-2006, 04:47 AM

Norwegian Gem, currently under construction at Meyer Werft, Papenburg

**Ally** · 12-11-2006, 02:51 PM

New photo of Gem under construction. She is due to take her maiden cruise from Dover to Rome on October 8th 2007, after a similar delivery cruise from Rotterdam to Dover which was recently completed by Pearl.