New cruise ship has largest kart track at sea

A cruise seems like the antithesis of the environment a motoring enthusiast thrives in. No, not a driving cruise – an ocean cruise.

Far away from roads and cars, and the only engine nearby is the one making a humming sound that’ll keep a light sleeper awake at night.

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But it seems cruise company Norwegian Cruise Line (based in the US, strangely) is trying to change that with its latest ship, Norwegian Bliss, which features a karting track on its top deck.

Norwegian claims the track is the ‘largest race track at sea’, something we imagine there’s not much competition for.

The karts are electric and travel at ‘up to 30mph’, or 48km/h, so it won’t be the most riveting kart drive ever. It still sounds more exciting than seeing Jersey Boys or staring at the horizon over a flat ocean.

The only other issue we’d see with karting on a cruise links back to the first sentence in this article – people probably aren’t jumping on a ship with motorsport in mind, so you’ll probably be driving with some ‘more casual’ drivers.

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Essentially, this won’t be an experience for karting die-hards, as much as we can appreciate what Norwegian is trying to achieve.

There are a few onboard/POV videos of the track around the web, though none fantastic. The one below perhaps shows the track best with the least amount of unnecessary voiceover, even if the driver isn’t superb.

The track itself seems quite impressive though, even aside from the fact it’s on a ship.

The variation in the corners and a few overtaking opportunities would make it exciting to drive if surrounded by skilled drivers and with faster karts.

Sadly, we don’t think they’d let us bring some proper karts onboard as luggage.