NCL's F3 project in limbo.

Rumors are circulating that there is a dispute developing between NCL and Aker Yards of France over the construction of the new F3 line of ships from NCL. The F3 ships promise to feature revolutionary changes in cruise ship design. That is, if they ever get built. The keel for the first F3 ship was laid in April and delivery was scheduled for March 2010.

Since the contract was signed for the first two ships in the family, there have been major changes relating to NCL and the ships. Originally, the ships were ordered by Star Cruises, NCL's parent company. Star then decided to move the ships over to NCL's fleet. After that Star Cruises sold about half of NCL to Apollo Mgmt who decided that they wanted to make some changes to the design of the ships requiring time and money of both the cruise line and the shipyard.

NCL has no comment on the situation but the rumors persist. Some even suggest that Apollo Mgmt has decided to cancel the project all together and take a $200 million penalty instead of having to pay the full price of the ships at about $1 billion each.

So, at best, it looks like there will be some delay in the delivery date. Worst case scenario is that these ships may never get built. I hope that's not the case. They sounded pretty interesting.