Five Big Norwegians on the Way at NCL

[Jason]

With the old Norwegian Sea, Crown, Majesty, Dream, and Wind all scheduled to transfer to Asian parent company Star Cruises by 2009, Norwegian Cruise Line is busily cranking out newbuilds to replace them. Coming first are Pride of America and Norwegian Jewel, both set to launch this summer, and Pride of Hawai`i, debuting in April 2006. An as-yet-unnamed 2,384-passenger sister-ship of Norwegian Jewel was ordered from Germany's Meyer Werft shipyard in December '04 for delivery in 2007, and now comes word that NCL has ordered yet another identical vessel from the same yard. Called for the time being by the prosaic shipyard moniker "S.670," she'll debut in October 2007, at which point more than 75 percent of the NCL fleet will be younger than eight years old.

The order for S.670 comes on the heels of a failed deal between NCL and Helsinki's Aker Finnyards, which would have delivered a new 2,430-passenger vessel for early 2008.

[Jason]

With the old Norwegian Sea, Crown, Majesty, Dream, and Wind all scheduled to transfer to Asian parent company Star Cruises by 2009, Norwegian Cruise Line is busily cranking out newbuilds to replace them. Coming first are Pride of America and Norwegian Jewel, both set to launch this summer, and Pride of Hawai`i, debuting in April 2006. An as-yet-unnamed 2,384-passenger sister-ship of Norwegian Jewel was ordered from Germany's Meyer Werft shipyard in December '04 for delivery in 2007, and now comes word that NCL has ordered yet another identical vessel from the same yard. Called for the time being by the prosaic shipyard moniker "S.670," she'll debut in October 2007, at which point more than 75 percent of the NCL fleet will be younger than eight years old.

The order for S.670 comes on the heels of a failed deal between NCL and Helsinki's Aker Finnyards, which would have delivered a new 2,430-passenger vessel for early 2008.