Norwegian Cruise Line

The cruise line was founded as Norwegian Caribbean Line in 1966 by the Norwegian Knut Kloster and the Israeli Ted Arison, with the 8,666-ton, 140-m cruise ship/car ferry, Sunward,[4] which in 1966 operated as a car ferry between Southampton UK and Gibraltar, for that one short season only. Arison soon left to form Carnival Cruise Lines, while Kloster acquired additional ships for Caribbean service. Norwegian pioneered many firsts in the cruise industry, such as 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, and first shipline to develop new ports in the Caribbean, such as Ocho Rios in Jamaica. Like the original Sunward of 1966, Norwegians's second ship, the Starward, had the capability to carry automobiles through a well-concealed stern door. Later, this area was turned into cabins and a two-deck movie theater, later to be used as a casino. Norwegian was responsible for many of the cruise innovations that have now become standard throughout the industry.

SS Norway arriving at Southampton

Norwegian made headlines with the acquisition of the France in 1979, rebuilding the liner as a cruise ship and renaming her Norway.[5] The conversion cost more than US$100 million. The Norway was at the time 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. A boiler explosion in May 2003 forced Norwegian to withdraw the Norway from service, later being laid up in Bremerhaven, Germany, until 2005, when she was towed to Port Klang Malaysia with the claimed intent to use her as an anchored casino or slow overnight casino cruises on her remaining boilers. Instead, she was sold for scrap and renamed the SS Blue Lady[6] and later beached at Alang, Gujarat, India, in August 2006 with claims that she had not been cleaned of toxic materials.[7] On September 11, 2007, the India Supreme Court issued an order permitting her to be broken up at Alang, despite the presence of large amounts of hazardous asbestos remaining on board.[8][9]

Norwegian has expanded to other parts of the world, including Alaska, Europe, Bermuda, and Hawaii. Between 1997 and 2001, the company also operated cruises out of Australia under the name Norwegian Capricorn Line.

Norwegian acquired Orient Lines in 1998.[10] After talks,[11] Norwegian itself was acquired in 2000 by Star Cruises, a subsidiary of Genting Hong Kong, part of the Malaysia-based Genting Group.[12] In 2007, Star Cruises sold Orient Line's Marco Polo to Transocean Tours,[13] and Orient Lines ceased operations in early 2008.[14]

In 2002, Norwegian purchased the half-complete hull of the first Project America ship, at the time under construction at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, US, which was towed to Germany to be completed at the Lloyd Werft shipyard. Subsequently, Norwegian acquired the rights to move two ships built entirely outside the United States under the US flag, making it possible to start a US-flagged operation under the brand name NCL America.[15][16] In 2003, the company announced the purchase of the American-flagged liners SS United States and SS Independence. In their July 2007 fiscal report, Norwegian noted the sale of the Independence, renamed SS Oceanic some time before. On July 1, 2010, the SS United States Conservancy struck a deal to buy the SS United States for $3 million. On February 1, 2011, the ownership was officially transferred to the SS United States Conservancy.[17]

In August 2007, Star Cruises sold 50% of Norwegian for $1 billion to US-based Apollo Management to strengthen Norwegian's financial position.[18]

Subsequently, Norwegian reported in February 2008 that the Pride of Aloha, one of the two remaining NCL America ships, would be withdrawn from service in May of the same year. Initial reports suggested she would be transferred to the fleet of Star Cruises,[19] but it was later announced that she would return to the Norwegian international fleet as the Norwegian Sky,[20] while the Norwegian Majesty and Norwegian Dream would be sold to Louis Cruise Lines.[21] The sale of the Norwegian Dream was subsequently cancelled.[22] The Norwegian Dream became the Superstar Gemini for Star Cruises, from January 2013.[23]

On June 1, 2012, Norwegian announced the signing of a memorandum of agreement to exercise its option to purchase Norwegian Sky. The purchase price was roughly $260 million, financing being provided by the seller.[24]

On October 17, 2012, Meyer Werft and Norwegian reached a second agreement for the construction of two new vessels, slated for delivery in October 2015 and 2017, respectively. The project was under the code name "Breakaway Plus Class", with the vessels expected to be 163,000 gross tons and hold 4,200 passengers. The Norwegian Escape entered service in November 2015 and weighs 164,600 tons.[25] Two more vessels were ordered on July 14, 2014, and they will enter service in 2018 and 2019 and will be slightly bigger at 164,000 GT.[26]

As of December 2019, Norwegian Cruise Line operates 17 cruise ships, with six on order. It has also previously owned or operated 19 other ships. All its ships are flagged to the Bahamas, except for the Pride of America, which operates cruises within the United States and is flagged and registered in the US, as well as being owned by a US-registered subsidiary, NCL America.

Current ships

Ship	Built	In service for NCL	Last refurbishment	Gross tonnage	Flag	Notes	Image
Spirit class
Norwegian Spirit	1998	2004–present	January 2020[51]	75,904	Bahamas	Previously SuperStar Leo
Sun class
Norwegian Sky	1999	1999-2004, 2008–present	2019	77,104	Bahamas	Originally constructed as Costa Olympia but sold to NCL during construction, sailed under NCL America as Pride of Aloha from 2004 to 2008
Norwegian Sun	2001	2001–present	2018[51]	78,309	Bahamas
Dawn class
Norwegian Star	2001	2001–present	2018	91,740	Bahamas	Originally ordered as Superstar Libra
Norwegian Dawn	2002	2002–present	June 2016[52]	92,250	Bahamas	Originally ordered as SuperStar Scorpio
Pride of America class
Pride of America	2005	2005–present	March 2016	80,439	United States	The only US flagged cruise ship in the world
Jewel class
Norwegian Jewel	2005	2005–present	November 2018[53]	93,502	Bahamas
Norwegian Jade	2006	2006–present	March 2017[51]	93,558	Bahamas	Formerly Pride Of Hawaii, reconstructed in 2008 as the Norwegian Jade
Norwegian Pearl	2006	2006–present	February 2017[54]	93,530	Bahamas
Norwegian Gem	2007	2007–present	November 2015	93,530	Bahamas
Epic class[55]
Norwegian Epic	2010	2010–present	October 2015[52]	155,873	Bahamas	The only ship in her class
Breakaway class
Norwegian Breakaway	2013	2013–present	April 2018	145,655[56]	Bahamas
Norwegian Getaway	2014	2014–present	June 2019	145,655[57]	Bahamas
Breakaway Plus class
Norwegian Escape	2015	2015–present	None	164,600	Bahamas
Norwegian Joy	2017	2017–present	February 2019	167,725	Bahamas	Originally designed for China in 2017, but refurbished and transferred to the American Market in 2019.
Norwegian Bliss	2018	2018–present	None	168,028	Bahamas
Norwegian Encore	2019	2019–present	None	169,145[58]	Bahamas	9th largest cruise ship in the world after Royal Caribbean International's Spectrum of the Seas.

Previous ships

Ship	Built	In service for NCL	Gross tonnage	Status as of 2019	Image
Sunward	1966	1966–1976	10,558	Scrapped in 2004 at Chittagong, Bangladesh.
Starward	1968	1968–1995	15,781	Scrapped in 2018 at Alang, India.
Skyward	1969	1969–1991	15,653	Since 2000 Leisure World for New Century Cruise Lines.
Southward	1971	1971–1994	16,710	Scrapped in 2013 at Aliaga, Turkey.
Sunward II	1971	1977–1991	14,194	Scrapped in 2014 at Aliaga, Turkey.
Norway	1961	1979–2003	76,049	Scrapped in 2008 at Alang, India.
Seaward / Norwegian Sea	1988	1988–2005	42,285	Previously SuperStar Libra. Now used as hotel ship for workers at MV Werften.[59]
Westward	1972	1991–1993	28,613	Since 1996 Black Watch for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines.
Sunward	1973	1991–1992, 1992–1993	28,551	Since 2005 Boudicca for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines.
Dreamward / Norwegian Dream	1992	1992–2008	50,764	Since 2012 SuperStar Gemini for Star Cruises.
Windward / Norwegian Wind	1993	1993–2007	51,309	Since 2007 SuperStar Aquarius for Star Cruises.
Leeward	1980	1995–1999	25,611	Since 2007 Cristal for Louis Cruise Lines.
Norwegian Crown	1988	1996–2000, 2003–2007	43,537	Since 2008 Balmoral for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines.
Norwegian Star	1973	1997–1998	28,518	Since 2004 MS Albatros for Phoenix Reisen.
Norwegian Dynasty	1993	1997–1999	24,344	Since 2001 Braemar for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines.
Norwegian Majesty	1992	1997–2009	41,662	Since 2018 Crown Iris for Mano Maritime.
Independence	1951	Never entered service	26,658	Wrecked and scrapped in 2010 off Alang, India.
SS United States	1952	Never entered service	38,216	Laid up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Seaward	1972	Never entered service	17,042	Sank in 2016 near the port of Laem Chabang, Thailand.

Norwegian owns two private islands in the Caribbean: Harvest Caye in Belize and Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas.[60]

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