Norwegian Cruise Line has pulled the curtain back on Norwegian Bella, the sixth and final ship in its Prima class, launching in May 2028 with a season of Mediterranean sailing. At around 1,129 feet long and 170,000 gross tons, she'll carry 3,921 guests at double occupancy and slot in alongside Norwegian Aura (due next year) as the biggest ships in the current fleet.

The debut itinerary is straightforward and appealing: seven-day Mediterranean cruises out of Barcelona from May 2028, with fares from £1,055 per person. For anyone weighing up a 2028 holiday, that's an early chance to sail a brand-new ship on a classic western Med route.

On board, expect the features that have defined the Prima Plus tier. Ocean Heights is a four-deck adventure zone with waterslides, a dry slide, mini golf and a ropes course called the Moon Climber. The pool deck gets a meaningful upgrade too — more than 15 per cent larger than on Norwegian Aqua and Luna — while Ocean Boulevard wraps extra seating and infinity pools around the ship's outer edge. Hull art will come from Australian contemporary artist George Rose, and interiors carry the fingerprints of design studios including Rockwell Group, Piero Lissoni and Studio Dado. The ship is being built at Fincantieri's Italian yard, same as the rest of the class.

Bella joins Norwegian Prima (2022), Viva (2023), Aqua (2024), Luna (2025) and the upcoming Aura, closing out a class that has leaned hard into outdoor space and family attractions. But this is also an ending with a very big sequel: from 2030, NCL starts taking delivery of an entirely new class of mega ships, with the first arriving in 2030 and others following in 2032, 2034 and 2036. Each will run to roughly 226,000 tons with more than 5,100 cabins for 8,300 passengers and crew — the largest vessels NCL has ever commissioned, and only slightly smaller than the world's biggest cruise ship, Legend of the Seas, at 250,800 gross tons.

Why care? If you like the Prima class's scale — big enough for proper amenities, small enough to feel navigable — Bella is your last chance to get it new. After that, NCL ships jump dramatically in size, which changes the on-board feel entirely. Booking the inaugural Mediterranean season also tends to be the cheapest way to try a brand-new ship before its itineraries shift to the Caribbean and beyond.

Story via The Independent Travel.