I noticed that both the Dawn and the Spirit will be cruising out of other Ports late in 2007 and a quick revue of other NCL itineraries seems to have no ships scheduled to cruise out of NYC when the Dawn and the Spirit depart! Is NCL having problems in the NYC market?

Billy

I'm not surprised - it costs a lot of money just to fly into NYC from anywhere in the US and with the economy the way it is right now, I can understand why people would rather save extra "spending" money by cruising out of other ports closer to home. Plus, who knows what's going to happen w/ NCL now that their profits have declined in the last year......

Billy,

I understand the new "Norwegian Gem" will be based in New York year-round.

Raoul
Thank You for the info-I do not have much info yet on the Gem and she does not show up on scheduled itineraries of NCL ships on the sites I have seen! I would have felt sad to see NCL pull out of NYC-their year round cruising out of NYC has rejuvenated NYC as a cruise departure center in the region!

Billy

Here's the NCL press release about the Spirit and Dawn departure from New York, and the arrival of the Gem.

http://www.ncl.com/news/pr/pr060606.htm

You should note that either the Dawn or Spirit, or both, could return to New York for the 2008 summer season. NCL hasn't posted the 2008 summer season yet. But it's a done deal that only the band new Gem will sailing from New York during the 2007-2008 winter season.

I guess it wouldn't hurt to briefly note the NCL 2007-2008 winter season itineraries.

Gem sailing from New York with seven-day Florida and Bahamas cruises and four 10- and 11-day cruises to the Southern Caribbean in the winter; and seven-day cruises to Bermuda and the Bahamas in the summer.
Dawn sailing from Miami with seven-day Eastern Caribbean cruises for the winter.
Spirit sailing from New Orleans with seven-day Western Caribbean cruises.
Pearl and Jewel sailing from Miami with alternating nine-day Southern Carribean and five-day Western Caribbean cruises.
Star sailing from Los Angeles with eight-day Mexican cruises.
Dream sailing fourteen-day cruises around the southern tip of South America.
Majesty sailing from Charleston with seven-day Western Caribbean cruises.
Pride of Aloha, Pride of America, Pride of Hawaii and Sun sailing from Honolulu with seven-day Hawaiian cruises; the Sun with ten and eleven-day Hawaiian cruises to Fanning Island.

Note: Both the Wind and Crown will have departed the NCL fleet by then.

Ron

Thank You for the info on the press release-now I m looking for more info on the Gem!

Sincerely,

Billy

You can watch the Pearl and Gem being built at

http://www.meyerwerft.com/main.asp?id=1221&lang=e

Note, the almost completed cruise in the bottom picture is the Norwegian Pearl, and the sections being built next to it are for the Norwegian Gem.
In the top picture is the AIDAdiva which in my opinion is about half assembled.

That's about all you'll can see or read about the Norwegian Gem for a while. I will say you're more likely gather more new news on the Gem quicker by surfing to the NCL news web site.

Good luck!

Ron-thanks for the lead-looks like there is not too much to see on the Gem as yet-I'll keep on looking!

Billy

The WIND is leaving the NCL fleet?? She better not end up like the SS Norway or I will be upset. She was a great ship - I enjoyed her on my very first cruise which was 2 weeks in Hawaii October 1999. The crew, atmosphere, iterinary and all was excellent - couldn't have asked for a better cruise to celebrate my divorce! The DREAM is the ship that needs to leave the NCL fleet...but that's JMHO.

Wind is going to Asia, and will be renamed (SuperStar Aquarius, if I remember right.) Dream will probably follow before too awfully long.

I sailed the Wind back in 1988, from New York to Bermuda, when it was still the unstretched Windward. The dining rooms were very innovative back then!

Sandy

quote:

Originally posted by Karen Knowlton:
Wind is going to Asia, and will be renamed (SuperStar Aquarius, if I remember right.) Dream will probably follow before too awfully long.

You're correct, the Wind will be renamed the Superstar Aquarius in April 2007.

Here's the NCL news link on the Wind and Crown departures:
http://www.ncl.com/news/pr/pr052506.htm
Excerpts:
Star Cruises, has agreed to sell Norwegian Crown to Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines Pte. Ltd., Singapore effective August 2006. Star Cruises will concurrently charter the vessel back from Fred. Olsen and NCL will continue her announced deployment through to November 2007. Norwegian Crown is presently owned by Star Cruises along with four other mid-sized vessels also operated by NCL and Orient Lines. These vessels are on inter-company charter between Star and NCL.

NCL announced that Norwegian Wind will be transferred in late April 2007 to Star Cruises to become SuperStar Aquarius, based in Hong Kong.

Therefore, in 2007 the NCL fleet will lose two older ships around the time it gains two newer ships. The fleet size hasn't increased much in numbers over recent years. The Spirit arrived soon after losing the Norway. The Sea departed about the same time the Jewel arrived. The Wind will depart soon after the Pearl arrives. The Crown will depart about the same time the Gem arrives.
NCL's expansion has been with the NCLA fleet additions. There were no fleet subtractions when the Pride of America and Pride of Hawaii arrived. While the Spirit arrived as a result of the Norwegian Sky's transfer to becoming the Pride of Aloha, the Pride of Aloha is still in the fleet. It was the Norway that left the fleet a year earlier.

The Dream and Majesty are scheduled to depart the NCL fleet by the end of 2010. Exactly when isn't known yet. There are rumours that the Majesty is to be sold soon to Louis Cruise Lines, which sails mostly around Greece.
http://www.louiscruises.com/cruise_ships.html
But I've haven't read any official news about it yet.