New cruise ship to offer 3-level go-kart track and freefall slide

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• Royal Caribbean Announces Cancellation of All Cruise Stops to Private Island
• Norwegian Cruise Ship Emerges From Dry Dock with New Cabins, Thermal Suite, and More
• New cruise ship to offer twist on tried-and-true fun with 3-level go-kart track and freefall slide
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Helmets are required and everyone is given a clean open-faced ski mask to wear beneath the helmet. Because the racecars are electric, there is little sound from the race track; however, the noise of a speeding race car is piped into the helmet to give drivers the full sense of being on a race track. Guests' racing laps are also timed, which is a fun feature that makes the experience feel even more like a real race track. Guests are able to see their final lap times after they are done driving. When Norwegian Cruise Lines debuted the first racetrack at sea with go-karts, it made big news.

Royal Caribbean Announces Cancellation of All Cruise Stops to Private Island

Craziest cruise activities from boomerang slides to go karting - Business Insider

Craziest cruise activities from boomerang slides to go karting.

Posted: Mon, 08 May 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

The height requirements are a minimum of 55 inches (1.40 meters) and a maximum of 82 inches (2.08 meters). Alternatively, you can purchase an Unlimited Pass for 199.95$. The one on Norwegian Viva is also 1,375 feet long (about 420 meters) and has many descents and ascents since it extends over 3 decks. It has now become a massive three-deck, 1,375-foot-long go-kart track with 14 turns, named the Prima Speedway. Norwegian Prima was the first of a new class of NCL ships namely the “Prima Class“.

Norwegian Cruise Ship Emerges From Dry Dock with New Cabins, Thermal Suite, and More

The track is Eighteen decks above the Ocean, and around 166 feet above sea level. The Go Karts can go up to 40 miles per hour, but Norwegian limits speed to 27 mph during group races. Norwegian Cruise Line provides a helmet with a visor, as well as a balaclava to all racer. The helmet sock fits over your head like a ski mask and prevents the helmet from touching your bare head. Not only is this more hygenic, but it’s also much more comfortable.

New cruise ship to offer twist on tried-and-true fun with 3-level go-kart track and freefall slide

Another cool thing about these go-karts is that they are fully electric. They’re extremely quiet but they do feature authentic engine sound effects to make you feel like you are going much faster than you actually are. With a top speed of up to 30 mph, you’re able to race at decent speeds, considering you’re on top of a cruise ship. While the race track is 18 feet (5.5 m) wide, overtaking can be challenging in certain areas, so you’ll have to factor that in. However, this also makes the overall experience more fun and challenging.

Go-Karts on Norwegian Cruise Line

The track has a minimum height restriction of 55 inches and a maximum weight restriction of 300 pounds. The racing "heats" on the tracks inevitably sell out when the rides are open. The first three go-kart tracks at sea, unveiled in 2017, 2018 and 2019 on Norwegian's Norwegian Joy, Norwegian Bliss and Norwegian Encore, respectively, have been huge hits. Drivers must be a minimum of 48 inches (4 feet) to drive and no taller than 79 inches (6.5 feet). Norwegian Viva will offer eight-, nine-, and 10-day trips beginning June 15, 2023. Rates start at $2,099 per person for the ship's first departure, a nine-day trip from Lisbon to Civitavecchia, Italy, near Rome.

Norwegian Prima

The cars can hit speeds of up to 32 miles per hour on the track, making for quite the exhilarating experience. They could have gone even faster — up to 50 miles per hour, Murray said — but Norwegian has restricted them a bit for safety. If you want to have the experience of driving go-karts on top of a cruise ship, you can do that for $15 per race.

Cruise Line Cancels at Least 20 Sailings in 2025, Cites Several Reason

When you choose to apply (and are approved) for a new credit card through our site, we may receive compensation from our partners, and this may impact how or where these products appear. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information. With cruise ships trying to more “green” you might be wondering about fuel for the go-karts. They are actually electric and don’t emit exhaust as they zoom around the track.

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As I'm seeing this week during a sneak peek at the ship in advance of its first sailing with paying passengers, Norwegian Prima has a go-kart track so big it verges on the ridiculous. Almost every new ship the line has added since the debut of Norwegian Joy in 2017 has had a go-kart track bigger than the last — including the line's newest vessel, Norwegian Prima. In all, Viva will have more than 20 dining venues, Sommer indicated.

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For safety reasons, the seed is limited to 27 mph (about 44 km/h) but I can guarantee you that it’s still a very fun track. Norwegian Viva is a sister ship to Norwegian Prima so the go-kart tracks are basically identical on these two ships. I also think that someone who could be sensitive to abrupt jolting or sudden movements, should not participate in this activity. It is likely that the go-karts could hit each other, or bump into the walls. No serious injuries can come from this, however, I do think guests should keep this in mind before choosing to race, should that have any health risks.

There's only one waterslide, and the main lounge and pool area has been downsized. You'll just spend all your sea days zooming around and around on curvy roads in miniature race cars. Ten laps around the track on both Norwegian Joy and Norwegian Bliss costs $15.

If there is one complaint about the racetrack on Norwegian, it’s that you can get stuck behind slow drivers. Given the turns and the width of the track, finding a spot to pass can be tough. If someone is going slow around the track, you could be going at a turtle’s pace behind them until things open up for passing. For $15, that’s not very long, but it is still a fun time. To be honest, racing any longer than that and the minimum wait would be unbearable.

There are unlimited passes available that allow you to go the entire length of your trip. We’ve seen prices quoted around $200 for a week-long cruise. In fact, most indoor karting arenas feature similar prices, although the length of a race may be a little longer. Of course, it will be an extremely awesome and thrilling experience. Not only will you be able to get the thrill of racing go-karts but you’ll also have the thrill of that with the ocean right in front of you.

Even now a few years later, the speedways continue to be one of the more popular attractions on a cruise ship. They are also a perfect example of the kind of strides that today’s ships are making in entertainment while at sea. If you’re going on a cruise, it’s great to do whatever you can to make memories that will last a lifetime. New for Norwegian Prima, the line also is adding a "You And The Track" single-rider experience where you get to zoom around the speedway for three laps with no one else on the course.

Norwegian Joy, the world’s first cruise ship with a go-kart track, will arrive in the U.S. for the first time next week after Norwegian Cruise Line gave the vessel a $50 million renovation. Christened Norwegian Viva, the liner will built by renowned Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri and will mirror the upscale design of sister ship Norwegian Prima. The Norwegian Prima takes go-karting at sea to a whole other level—literally.

Norwegian Encore, the cruise ship with the longest go-kart track at sea, has begun sailing cruises from Miami to the Caribbean. As is true with every cruise line activity, safety is the top priority. These go-kart-like vehicles are not bumper cars, and any guest that intentionally hits another car, or the walls of the Speedway, will be removed from the experience and not permitted to race further. During our sailing, the Speedway was open everyday from about 5pm to 9pm each day. This means that guests have the opportunity to race during both sunset, during the later part of the afternoon, and at night. We chose to race during the earlier reservations, but we did check out the Speedway during the nighttime and it looked really fun to race at night as well.

The cars do move rather fast, however controlling the cars is also very easy. To slow down or stop, drivers only need to let up on the go pedal or take their foot off the pedal all together. This means that the crew members are able to slow down or stop all of the cars on the track at any point should they need to. In our personal experience, we found the reservation process to be very easy. We visited the Speedway on the first day of our cruise, at around 5pm, and asked if we could have a reservation on the second-to-last day of the sailing for two people in two separate cars.