bud-light-cruise-ship.jpg

An artist rendering of a lounge area aboard Norwegian Cruise Line's Getaway.

(Illustration courtesy of Bud Light)

Norwegian Cruise Lines has a new luxury ship it wants to try out. Bud Light wants to promote its brand with a new twist. What better place to launch them both than New York. In February. During Super Bowl weekend.

Bud Light has agreed to rent the still-being-built, 146,000-ton Norwegian Getaway and use it as a floating hotel for 4,000 weekend guests.

The ship is still under construction in Germany, said Vanessa Lame, a Norwegian spokeswoman. It’s scheduled to arrive in New York Jan. 26.

Then Anheuser-Busch teams will rush aboard and re-brand it as the Bud Light Floating Hotel, with Bud Light logos on towels, pillow cases, shampoo bottles and everywhere else. The outside of the ship will carry the Bud Light signage, and some of the interior carpets will even be replaced with shades of Budweiser blue.

It’s only weird if it doesn’t work, as the Bud Light ads say.

In previous years, Bud Light has taken over brick-and-mortar hotels in Miami, Dallas, Indianapolis and New Orleans during Super Bowl weekend.

But this being New York and New Jersey, everything has to be on a grander scale. The floating hotel will be 10 times larger than Bud Light’s previous venues.

“We looked at hotels in New York and couldn’t find a property that met our ambitions,” said David Daniels, marketing director for Bud Light. “So we decided to bring the hotel to New York, and we found the largest and grandest ship we could find.”

The beer company is also taking over the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum berthed next door at Pier 86.

Neither Bud Light nor Norwegian would say what the venture costs.

“Clearly, they’re not going to sell enough beer on board to make it worthwhile,” said Thomas Malarkey, an analyst with Morningstar who covers the beer industry. “They’re probably hoping to build affinity with the brand and leverage their cachet.”

Daniel’s said, “It’s obviously a significant expenditure, and we’re willing to invest more than we have in previous endeavours.”

The payoff will come farther down the road, he said.

“An experience like this, we find, drives brand health and equity,” Daniels said, “and that will translate into sales long-term.”

Joe Six-Pack won’t be able to book a room — those are being made available to Bud Light VIPs, including key distributors and retailers. The company is planning a contest for consumers, with the prize a stay aboard the floating hotel.

The luxury liner, with 18 decks, has 21 places to eat, ranging from the Chef’s Table with an $89 cover charge, to Carlo’s Bakery, an outpost of Hoboken’s “Cake Boss” star Buddy Valastro.

In addition, there’s 13 bars scattered about. Only booked passengers, however, will be allowed on board.

To add to the party-boat flavor, Bud Light has partnered with other companies to provide entertainment.

EA Sports will present its video Madden Bowl XX game on the Thursday before the game, and the online radio station Pandora will host its first-ever concert the following day. Pepsi will also stage a concert on Super Bowl Sunday. The acts have not yet been named.

When the Super Bowl is over and guests have left, the $900 million Getaway sets sail again Feb. 6 for its home in Miami, where it will be the largest cruise ship based in that port city.

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