This issue has been all about The Black Lake. Fascinating creatures exist in water, and there are many artists who make a living painting the ocean and the creatures who live in the sea (some even taking on a fictional portrayal). I thought about discussing one of these amazing artists, but then I thought nah. The paintings are SMALL. I want to go BIG for this article.
But what is big in this context?
Cruise Ships!
More precisely, Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) cruise ships.
Even more precise, NCL's Breakaway and Breakaway Plus Class ships.
But what makes these ships so special? I'm getting there.
Most cruise lines have the same image on the hull of all their ships. For those not familiar with the term hull, it's essentially the outside of a boat, ship or another vessel on the water. In this context, we will specifically look at the front of the hull. NCL has never been content with this, always choosing some intricate design that goes with the ship name. For example, their Norwegian Gem has a bunch of... well, gems painted on the hull of their ships.
As if that wasn't amazing enough, they decided they needed to go even further for their Breakaway and Breakaway Plus ships by hiring famous artists to paint the hulls of their ships (obviously, the hull is too big for any one artist to paint the full team so these artists would make the design and a team would help execute it on the ship. There are six ships in these two categories, each painted by a different artist. We will discuss four of these ships.
The first artist to get this honor was the legendary Peter Max. He was asked to design the hull for the original ship in the series, the Norwegian Breakaway. The Breakaway first set sail in 2013 and is a massive ship holding 3,959 guests at double occupancy. This ship has a home port of New York, and it only made sense to ask the man who made a living out of painting the Statue of Liberty to paint the hull of a ship that would call its home New York. On this hull, you can see the skyline of New York City and of course, one of Peter Max's famous Liberty Heads.
The next ship to join the fleet was the Getaway. The hull of this ship was designed by David "Lebo" Le Batard. The Getaway is the sister ship to the Breakaway and sales out of Miami. Since Lebo is an artist raised in Florida, it made sense to give him the honor of painting this ship because of the ties to the location and his popularity. This ship first set sail in 2014 and carries 3963 passengers at double occupancy. In this motif, Lebo created a whimsical mural that included palm trees, pelicans, and a mermaid.
The third ship, which received the honor of having a famous artist paint the hull, is also the first ship to be launched in the Breakaway Plus category. This ship was the Escape. It was painted by an ocean conservationist and marine wildlife artist, Guy Harvey. This ship first set sail in 2015 and holds 4266 passengers at double occupancy. Besides creating the art for this ship, NCL also partnered with Harvey's Foundation in support of its commitment to ocean and environment conservation.
Norwegian Bliss is the third ship in the Breakaway Plus Class and set sail in Alaska starting in 2018. This hull was painted by another renowned marine artist, Wyland. This ship holds 4004 passengers at double occupancy, and the hull features an image of a humpback whale and her calf along with other sea creatures.
So what do you think of these ships? Do you think working with famous artists to paint the hull is something that Norwegian Cruise Lines should continue?
See you all in the next issue!