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Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) |
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| NCL, which originally stood for Norwegian Caribbean Lines, was founded in 1966. They changed the cruising world forever by introducing mainstream Caribbean cruises (onboard the M/S Sunward) departing from the then obscure Port of Miami. After many years of expansion, NCL appropriately renamed itself Norwegian Cruise Line in 1987. Today, NCL is one of the premier cruise lines in the world. In February 2000, Norwegian Cruise Line was acquired by Star Cruises Ltd, a company that is a part of Malaysia's Genting Group. Years later, in August of 2007, Apollo Management, LP, made a $1 billion investment in NCL, becoming a 50% owner of Norwegian Cruise Line. Aside from offering the first mass-marketed Caribbean cruises, NCL has been, and continues to be, quite the innovator in the cruising world. Among their other industry "firsts" have been: an "out island" (Great Stirrup Cay, in the Bahamas), an internet café at sea, WiFi and cell phone service at sea, a bowling alley at sea, and BOTOX® treatments. Since May of 2000 NCL's signature style has been their "Freestyle Cruising" concept, featuring no fixed dining times and no formal dress codes. This was an unconventional, yet very successful, move. Aside from their main dining rooms, the 11 NCL ships offer 24-hour room service, a buffet, and a multitude of specialty dining options. The specialty restaurants typically have a per person cover charge, but are quite good! In late 2007 Norwegian Cruise Line announced its Freestyle 2.0 program, which was a major enhancement to their onboard product fleetwide. This initiative included upgraded stateroom bedding and amenities, as well as an investment in the food served onboard their ships. NCL offers one of the widest ranges of accommodations in the cruising industry, from standard interior, oceanview and balcony staterooms to their huge and luxurious Courtyard and Garden Villa mega-suites (that feature a private courtyard for their guests). To go along with Freestyle Cruising, NCL does their best to make all aspects of their cruises as leisurely as possible. For example, rather than having strict and formal dress codes for dinner (which is quite the norm onboard many of their competitors' ships), NCL has a "resort-casual" evening dress code. Disembarkation is quite relaxed as well, allowing most passengers to get off of the ship when they want (rather than at an exact time dictated by the cruise line). Norwegian Cruise Line owns daughter company NCL America, created in 2003 for NCL's US flagged, US crewed ships to operate under. NCL America used to consist of three ships, Pride of Aloha, Pride of America and Pride of Hawaii. In 2008, Pride of Aloha was going to be transferred to Star Cruises. However, a few months later it was decided that the ship would stay in the NCL fleet, taking it's previous name (Norwegian Sky), and relocate to Miami to do 3- and 4-night Bahamas cruises. Meanwhile, Pride of Hawaii was taken out of the Hawaii market and re-christened as Norwegian Jade (which is now NCL's year-round Europe ship). This leaves Pride of America as the sole ship in the once crowded NCL America fleet. Pride of America continues to cruise exclusively in Hawaii, doing week-long inter-island cruises. Due to US laws, NCL America ships do not feature a casino onboard. Exciting news concerning NCL is their upcoming F3 cruise ship, which will be named Norwegian Epic. This will be the first third generation Freestyle Cruising ship. Originally, two F3 ships were scheduled to be built; however, NCL has recently announced that only one F3 ship will be built. On April 24, 2008 the keel was laid at Aker Yards in France for this massive vessel, which is expected to be delivered in May 2010 (and launched to the public in June of 2010). At 153,000-tons (accommodating 4,200 passengers), this ship will be the largest ever cruise ship in the NCL fleet. Exciting new features that will be available onboard this mega-ship include multiple nightlife venues (such as the first-ever true ice bar in the cruising industry and their adults-only POSH Beach Club, the first of its kind at sea), as well as New Wave deluxe staterooms (which will feature a very fresh and contemporary design). As a part of their fleet's ongoing youth movement, NCL has seen the departure of their three oldest ships over the past three years. Norwegian Majesty left NCL's fleet in November 2009, which followed the November 2008 departure of Norwegian Dream, as well as the October 2007 departure of Norwegian Crown. |
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| NCL ships are deployed throughout the world, visiting all of the major cruise destinations (Alaska, Bermuda, Bahamas, Canada, Caribbean, Europe, Hawaii, Mexican Riviera, New England, Panama Canal, South America, and Transatlantic). Their ships depart from many popular cruise departure ports (including Boston, Charleston, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York City, Seattle, and Vancouver). | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Norwegian Cruise Line's Freestyle Cruising concept can be noticed throughout an NCL cruise. From the anytime dining to the casual dress code, while onboard a Norwegian Cruise Line ship you will certainly feel that you're more in control of your vacation than you would on many other, more formal and structured, cruise lines. Norwegian is very family-friendly, especially on their newer ships. There is a great kids program, with tons of daily activities scheduled for everyone. Most of the NCL cruise ships feature a ton of specialty restaurants, including a gourmet French restaurant, steakhouse, Asian fusion, Italian, Mexican and an exciting Teppanyanki (Hibachi) room. Of course, they also have main dining rooms, buffets and 24-hour room service. If you're interested in dining in one of the specialty restaurants be sure to make a reservation as soon as you know that you want to, as they can book up. You can make a reservation for a specialty restaurant within 24 hours of the day you want to book (unless you're in a balcony or higher, where they allow you to make a reservation within 48 hours). The newest ships in the NCL fleet, Norwegian Gem and Norwegian Pearl, feature innovative onboard features such as full-sized bowling allies in their Bliss Ultra Lounges and huge rock-climbing walls. Norwegian Cruise Line attracts a very diverse range of guests to its ships. This includes families, honeymooners, seniors, couples, singles, and more. |
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| NCL's past passenger program is called Latitudes. This program offers rewards and incentives for those clients that return to cruise onboard NCL's ships. After taking your first NCL cruise you are automatically enrolled in the Latitudes club. View our NCL Latitudes page for more details. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Norwegian Cruise Line fleet is one of the most modern and young fleets in the world. There are currently 10 ships in the fleet, each featuring top of the line staterooms and amenities. This youth movement was helped further by the recent departure from the fleet by Norwegian Majesty, which was the oldest vessel in NCL's family of ships. As explained above, Norwegian Epic is NCL's current "mega-ship" project (expected to be released to the public in June 2010).
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