Norwegian Cruise Line

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Norwegian Cruise Line
Norwegian Cruise Line
NCL America
NCL America
Orient Lines
Orient Lines

Norwegian Cruise Line is a company operating cruise ships, headquartered in Miami, Florida. It is most well known for its Freestyle Cruising, which means that there are no set times or seating arrangements for meals, nor is formal attire required.

Contents

[edit] History

It was founded as Norwegian Caribbean Lines in 1966 by Knut Kloster and Ted Arison, with just one 830-ton cruise ship/car ferry 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. Like the original Sunward of 1966, NCL'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, which is now a casino. 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 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. Sadly a boiler explosion in May 2003 forced NCL to withdraw the SS Norway from service, later being laid up in Bremerhaven, Germany until 2005 where she was towed to Pt. Klang, and later beached at Alang in August 2006. Currently she is beached in Alang, waiting for a final court decision as to whether she is permitted to be broken up, or required to leave Indian waters, asbestos being the major issue.

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. Recently there have been talks that Star is putting Orient Lines up for sale.

[edit] Fleet

[edit] NCL

[edit] NCL America

[edit] Orient Lines

[edit] Past ships

[edit] Stored ships

  • SS United States (stored in Philadelphia)
  • SS Independence (stored in San Francisco, renamed Oceanic)

[edit] External links


Members of Star Cruises
Star Cruises • Norwegian Cruise Line • NCL America • Orient Lines • Cruise Ferries
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../n/o/r/Norwegian_Cruise_Line_f79b.html"