Viva cruising! Norwegian Cruise Line's 2nd new ship in a year debuts in Europe

Make that 19 ships in the Norwegian Cruise Line fleet.

The world's fourth-biggest cruise brand Thursday unveiled yet another new vessel, Norwegian Viva, bringing its fleet size to 19 ships — the most it has operated in its 56-year history.

Built at a shipyard near Venice, Italy, the 3,100-passenger vessel will depart late Thursday from Trieste, Italy, on its first voyage with paying passengers. The nine-night, one-way sailing to Lisbon, Portugal, will include stops in Italy, France and Spain.

Norwegian Viva is the second ship in Norwegian's long-awaited Prima class of vessels, which has been in development since 2017. The first ship in the series, Norwegian Prima, debuted almost exactly a year ago.

Norwegian has ordered a total of six Prima-class vessels from the giant Fincantieri shipbuilding firm in Italy. The next four ships in the series are scheduled to be completed between 2025 and 2027.

Related: The 8 types of Norwegian cruise ships, explained

The rollout of the Prima-class series is destined to massively expand Norwegian's footprint in the cruise business and, if all goes according to plan, significantly transform the brand. As recently as a year ago, the line only operated 17 vessels worldwide. Assuming it doesn't retire any of its older ships over the next few years, it will grow to 23 ships by 2027 with the addition of the six Prima-class vessels.

That's a 35% increase in its fleet size in just five years.

At 143,535 tons, Norwegian Viva and the 1-year-old Norwegian Prima are notably smaller than the vessels Norwegian added to its fleet during the 2010s. The line's last new ship before the Prima-class series began debuting, the 2019-built Norwegian Encore, was about 18% bigger than Norwegian Prima at 169,116 tons.

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Norwegian executives have said the smaller size of the Prima-class ships would give the line more options in designing itineraries, as the vessels would be able to access smaller ports than some of the bigger Norwegian ships can.

That said, the line recently announced that the next four ships in the series would be bigger than the first two ships.

Related: The ultimate guide to Norwegian Cruise Line

Like its sister Norwegian Prima, Norwegian Viva packs a lot of over-the-top amenities onto its top decks, despite its smaller size, including a go-kart track that spreads over three decks. Norwegian first put a go-kart track on a ship in 2017 and now has them on five vessels. Dismissed as gimmicky at first by some cruise writers, Norwegian's go-kart tracks have proven to be huge hits with families, a big market for the line.

Norwegian Viva also boasts The Rush and The Drop, 10-story dry slides aimed at families. The slides are touted as creating more G-force than an accelerating Formula One racecar.

Additionally, Norwegian Viva is home to an innovative, three-deck theater with movable seats that allow it to convert into a Las Vegas-style nightclub. The versatile space will be home to a 90-minute adaptation of Broadway's Tony Award-nominated "Beetlejuice The Musical" — a new show for Norwegian.

Related: Norwegian cruise ships ranked from biggest to smallest

The theater also can be configured to become a venue for interactive, real-life game shows, including an at-sea version of "Press Your Luck,"

Like Norwegian Prima, Norwegian Viva's design will mark a more upscale turn for the line. Both ships in the new series offer an unusually large variety of suite categories (13) and the largest three-bedroom suites of any new cruise vessel. They also have the brand's largest-ever inside, ocean-view and balcony cabins.

Among other standout features, the Prima-class ships are billed as having the most outdoor deck space of any new cruise ship, including more total pool deck space than any other ship in the Norwegian fleet.

Norwegian Viva will initially sail in the Mediterranean before repositioning to Galveston, Texas, for winter sailings to the Caribbean. Fares start at $699 per person, not including taxes and fees, for a seven-night Caribbean sailing out of Galveston.

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