Norwegian Cruise Line
Norwegian Cruise Line is a company operating
cruise ship headquartered in
Miami,
Florida.
It was founded as
Norwegian Caribbean Lines in
1966 by
Knut Kloster and
Ted Arison, with just one 830-ton
steamer offering low-cost
Caribbean cruises. Arison soon left to form
Carnival Cruise Lines, while Kloster acquired additional ships for Caribbean service. NCL pioneered many firsts in the cruise industry like: the first Out Island Cruise, the first combined air-sea program (marketed as "Cloud 9 Cruises") which combined low cost air fares with the cruise, first shipline to develop new ports in the Caribbean, like Ocho Rios in
Jamaica. NCL was responsible for many of the cruise innovations that have now become standard throughout the industry.
NCL made headlines with the acquisition of the
France in
1979, rebuilding the liner as a cruise ship and renaming her
Norway. The conversion cost more than $100 million USD. The
Norway was then significantly larger than any existing cruise ship, and exploited the extra space available by adding a greater than usual variety of onboard entertainment. Her success paved the way for a new era of giant cruise ships.
NCL has since expanded to other areas of the Western hemisphere, including
Alaska,Europe, Bermuda, and
Hawaii, (
NCL America, Inc.).
Its subsidiary
Orient Lines, founded in
1991 to run the
Marco Polo was acquired in
1998. NCL itself was acquired by the
Star Cruises subsidiary of Malaysia-based
Genting Group in
2000.
Norwegian is well known for creating
towel animals for its guests.
NCL
*
Norwegian Crown(Sold to Fred Olsen Cruises leased back until 11/07 New name Balmoral)
*
Norwegian Dawn*
Norwegian Dream*
Norwegian Jewel
* Norwegian Majesty
* Norwegian Sun
* Norwegian Spirit
* Norwegian Star
* Norwegian Wind
* Norwegian Pearl
* Norwegian Gem
NCL America
* Pride of Aloha
* Pride of America
* Pride of Hawaii''
*
MS Sunward 1966-1976 (scrapped 4/2004 at
Chittagong)
*
MS Starward 1968-1995 (now
Orient Queen for Abou Mehri Lines,
Beirut) - sistership to
Skyward*
MS Skyward 1969-1991 (now
Leisure World for New Century Cruises,
Singapore) - sistership to
Starward*
MS Southward 1971-1994 (now
Perla for Louis Cruise Lines,
Cyprus)
*
MS Sunward II 1977-1991 (now
Coral for Louis Cruise Lines,
Cyprus)
*
SS Norway 1979-2003 (renamed
Blue Lady currently awaiting to be scrapped in Alang,India)
*
MS Norwegian Sea 1988-2005 (now
SuperStar Libra for
Star Cruises)
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MS Westward 1990-1993 (now
Black Watch for Fred Olsen Cruises)
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MS Sunward (2) 1991-1993 (now
Boudicca for Fred Olsen Cruises)
*
MS Leeward 1995-1999 (now
M/S Silja Opera for Silja Line)
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MS Norwegian Star (1) 1996-2004 (now
Albatross (2) for Phoenix Reisen)
*
MS Norwegian Dynasty 1997-1999 (now
Braemar for Fred Olsen Cruises)
*
SS United States (stored in Philadelphia)
*
SS Independence (stored in San Francisco)
*
Norwegian Cruise Line homepage*
CruiseJournals.com - Cruise Community Pages*
Cruisemates review of NCL
