Norwegian Aqua's Slidecoaster: Fast, fun and an engineering feat

The Aqua Slidecoaster is touted as the longest and fastest slide at sea — up to 31 mph.

'It's quick, something you can enjoy as a family, exciting, but not dangerous,' NCL President David Herrera said. 'It's going to be a home run.'

One thrilling minute

The Aqua Slidecoaster consists of dual slides and a magnetic lift that propels riders through two different courses over three stories of twists and turns around the ship's funnel. It lasts about a minute.

Each raft holds two people and four rafts go at a time. Since 240 riders can hop on in an hour, it's easy to do over and over again. Riders enter and finish on Deck 18, so they don't have to trudge up steps every time.

'The racetracks are great,' Herrera said, but with the Aqua Slidecoaster there won't be weather issues or cars to break down. Also, the racetracks take up considerable space while this new thrill ride leaves room on deck for other entertainment programming.

Crazy ideas

NCL reviewed lots of concepts before choosing the Aqua Slidecoaster.

'We all want to have that one thing the other guy doesn't,' Herrera said. 'Some of the ideas were just crazy.'

He wasn't ready to talk about those because 'Who knows? Someday we might do one.'

40 tons of moving water atop the ship

For Fincantieri, the Aqua Slidecoaster is a new engineering challenge, according to NCL project manager Emanuele Truant.

Related:What's new and different about the bigger Norwegian Aqua

Normally ships are heavy on the bottom and light on the top. The racetrack is not light, but it's stable. In contrast the Aqua Slidecoaster puts a huge amount of moving water — 40 tons — high up and spinning in the engineering casing and around the funnel.

'That's an engineering headache, but we will succeed,' Truant said. 'It will be a first at sea and a first on land.'