Norwegian Raises the Price on New Ship Attraction

Norwegian Cruise Line’s newest ship Norwegian Bliss just began her regular schedule of Alaska cruises after a series of media sailings, and they’re already raising the price on what will probably be the most popular attraction onboard — the go-karts.

During the preview cruises, go-karting was $7 per person, per session. There was no indication that this was just special pricing because members of the media were invited onboard to experience the ship, so most media outlets reported that as the cost it would be to go racing around the top deck go-kart track. Now, the reservations page on the line’s website shows $9.95 per person to experience the attraction.

We might never know for sure whether it really was a special preview price, or whether Norwegian decided to up the cost at the last minute as regular sailings began. However, this isn’t the first instance where the line upped the price of a feature onboard shortly after introducing it.

Jimmy Buffett’s famous Margaritaville debuted at sea aboard Norwegian Escape as a complimentary dining venue, only to change to a la carte pricing shortly thereafter. Norwegian explained that it had “proven to be one of our most popular onboard dining venues,” and that the change was made to ensure guests had a quality experience there. Translation: it was so popular that it was probably full nearly all open hours and the crew members that worked there couldn’t quite keep up. Since then, the cost has gone up yet again to a flat fee of $14.95 per person (not including drinks).

Norwegian Bliss is sister ship to Norwegian Escape and Norwegian Joy, and was purpose-built for Alaska with a large indoor observation lounge, a specialty milkshake and sweets shop, a Texas-style steakhouse, and a laser tag course. She will spend the summer in Alaska before repositioning to Miami in the winter. 

Read our full expert review of  Norwegian Bliss here!