Behind the scenes of how cruise ships are built

VENICE, Italy – Lights flashed inside a theater on Norwegian Cruise Line’s newest ship.
But they weren’t part of a stage show. A worker was welding on the second level of what will eventually be the vessel’s Aqua Theater & Club, part of Norwegian Aqua’s active construction site.
USA TODAY was among a group of media who got a peek at the shipbuilding process at a Fincantieri shipyard in Venice, Italy, earlier this month. The ship is undergoing final work ahead of its launch next year.
Here’s what goes into getting a ship ready to sail:
Most cruise ships are built in Europe – 98% according to industry trade organization Cruise Lines International Association – including by Chantiers de l’Atlantique in France, Meyer Werft in Germany and Meyer Turku in Finland.
Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri is building Norwegian Aqua in its Marghera shipyard, around 5 miles from St. Mark’s Square. Other ships built by Fincantieri include Princess Cruises’ Discovery Princess, Holland America Line’s Rotterdam and MSC Cruises’ MSC Seascape.
The shipbuilding process takes years, according to Patrik Dahlgren, Executive Vice President Chief, Vessel Operations and Newbuild Officer at the line’s parent company, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings.
The company is in the “concept stage” for a new class of ship, the first of which will be delivered in 2030. That can start even earlier, though. “(It) depends on how many different pieces you have,” he said.
Construction typically takes between two and three years. 
Dahlgren said that the process is “well underway” for the line’s Norwegian Luna ship, set to begin sailing in 2026, and has started for the first of its final two Prima Plus Class ships. That vessel will join the fleet in 2027.
Norwegian began working on the Prima Class in 2015. “With Norwegian Prima and Norwegian Viva in service over the past two years, we have learned so much from our guests and crew and we have taken this feedback to create a truly magical product for the Norwegian Aqua,” Dahlgren said.
The process begins with that concept stage when Dahlgren said the line reviews what worked well on previous ships and considers the broader state of the industry. 
“Before you even approach a shipyard, you have built up an ideation and a concept of what you want to kind of accomplish as an end result,” he said. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has an internal team of 100 people focused on new builds and also works with an outside naval architecture company.
Building off Prima and Viva, the architecture team worked with the brand and executives to create Aqua, from its color palette – think contemporary interiors in cabins accented by shades of blue that bring the sea to mind, for example – to onboard activities. The line aimed to bring a “modern touch” to the ship while staying true to the brand’s identity.
“Ultimately, our goal is to tell a cohesive story through design, where every space contributes to an immersive, extraordinary guest experience,” Dahlgren said.
The company then looks at shipbuilders’ availability. “And it’s highly competitive between the different cruise companies to get those slots,” he added.
Until about 20 years ago, Dahlgren said all the parts of a ship were built on-site, but today they are built individually in warehouses. “It’s like a Lego, so you’re putting together the different pieces,” he said.
While he recalled crews standing on ladders “and working on the ceiling” when he started, the components are now built upside down and later flipped, slotted into place via crane and welded together.
“And when they’ve done the basic hull and machinery part of the vessel, then you flood the dry dock where she’s in, because she’s obviously built dry, and then she hopefully floats,” he said.
The rest of the process is completed in a wet dock.
That’s where “the real work begins” for the construction teams, according to Dahlgren. That includes installing pipes, fitting air ducts and adding electrical cables.
“In parallel to the technical ship development, thousands of workers are deeply involved in the outfitting of the vessel to bring to life what the architects designed months in advance, like restaurants, lounges, bars, the theater, shops, staterooms, and more,” he said.
The elaborate amenities found on many modern cruise ships can still be a big undertaking, even for expert shipbuilders.
For instance, Emanuele Truant, vice president of NCL Project at Fincantieri, called the Aqua Slidecoaster – a combo waterslide and roller coaster – an “engineering challenge,” during a panel following the shipyard tour. While ships typically have lighter structures at higher points, the ride uses around 40 tons of water moving at high speed on top of the vessel.
“It wasn’t a total surprise,” Truant said of learning about plans for the slide. “But I thought it would be much more small.”
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Norwegian’s in-house architects work with outside firms to craft the ship’s aesthetic. 
Much of the furniture they use is custom-made, and the ocean environment dictates certain criteria. Items that are outdoors, for example, “have to be so sturdy” and able to withstand the elements, Dahlgren said.
Stateroom furniture, for its part, arrives on board alongside the cabins. Those are built separately and later added to the ship entirely outfitted.
The final steps generally consist of testing the vessel’s various systems both at the shipyard, known as the commissioning phase, and at sea, known as sea trials. The latter typically happens around four months before a ship is delivered, giving the shipyard time to fix any problems that might come up.
During the shipyard tour of Aqua, the vessel looked less finished than one might expect roughly six months before its maiden voyage. Saws buzzed as the group traversed the decks with exposed HVAC equipment and cables hanging from the ceiling.
Even so, Dahlgren said the ship was 96% done. That might look different when building a house, he said, but with a ship, many behind-the-scenes elements go in first.
“So it looks like, ‘Oh, this is going to be five years before this is finished,’ which it would be if it would be on land,” he said. “But it’s a very different speed here with how you build it.”
The reporter on this story received access to this event from Norwegian Cruise Line. USA TODAY maintains editorial control of content.
Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at [email protected].