Cruise Line Offers a Shipboard Go-Kart Track

From Car and Driver

• Norwegian Cruise Line will soon offer three ships with go-kart tracks on board, including a two-story track on its new ship Encore that goes into service in November.

• The karts may not be the fastest—they max out at 30 mph—but there's added excitement in that some parts of the track hang out several feet over the edge of the ship.

• One of the tracks has a Ferrari theme. But this fun does not come cheap: an eight-minute stint in a kart will cost $15.

Good news for those who, like the staff of Car and Driver, appreciate a good go-kart experience. Norwegian Cruise Line's latest recreational option is a 1150-foot long go-kart track onboard its new ccruise ship Encore, which will go into service in the Caribbean in late November.

Called the Norwegian Encore Speedway, the 11,500-foot track covers two stories on the top deck of the ship and has enough space to let up to 10 racers drive at the same time. The all-electric go-karts can hit 30 mph on a track that features 10 turns and has four areas that actually hang over the side of the ship—in one case, almost 13 feet over the edge. Each race session takes around eight minutes, and there is a viewing track where observers can use lasers to tag drivers and give them an extra turbo boost. Formula E, take notes.

With the new track on the Encore, NCL now has three ships with go-kart tracks. The other two are on the Joy (which opened in 2017) and on the Bliss (2018). The track on the Joy has a Ferrari theme. An NCL spokesperson told C/D that on boats that have go-karts, "the racetrack experience remains one of the highest-rated recreation activities on board."

The Encore is a 1100-foot, 4000-person cruise ship that left the shipbuilding dock in Papenburg, Germany, for the first time in mid-August. The christening is scheduled for November 21 in Miami. The Encore will cruise the Eastern Caribbean in seven-day increments out of Miami this winter, will add the northeastern itineraries (Canada and New England) in April, and is set to go to the West Coast and Alaska in 2021.

Racing isn't cheap at sea. A single ride costs $15 per person, but NCL offers an unlimited pass for the entire week at sea for $199.95. Befitting the theme, you'd better be fast to snag one of these. NCL only sells the passes onboard on a first-come, first-served basis.

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