Increased marketing activity and conference appearances in Australia has all lead to this moment – the moment Norwegian Cruise Lines announced it will send a ship to the country.
KarryOn suspected the line was planning something big back in February when current COO, Andy Stuart, talked to agents at Cruise3sixty about the line’s history and current fleet.
Suspicions grew last month, when NCL announced it was establishing its first local office and even appointed industry veteran, Steve Odell to Senior Vice President and Managing Director Australiasia.
Now, the cruise line has confirmed our hunch was right with the announcement that 2,348-passenger Norwegian Star will cruise out of Sydney and Auckland during the 2016/17-wave season.
The ship will arrive in early January during a 21-day Southeast Asia and Australia itinerary, stopping at Darwin, Cairns, Airlie Beach and Brisbane.
She will then sail a 12-day Australia and New Zealand itinerary departing 6 February 2017.
The cruise will take guests from Sydney to Auckland via Melbourne and Burnie as well as Dunedin, Akaroa, Wellington, Napier and Tauranga.
From there she will head off on a 19-day Australia and New Zealand cruise from Auckland to Singapore, which will see her make an inaugural visit to the Bay of Islands before hitting Sydney, Brisbane, Airlie Beach, Cairns and Darwin, Australia; and Komodo and Bali (Benoa), Indonesia; and Kuala Lumpur (Port Kelang), Malaysia.
Stuart said Norwegian is ready to take guests to new destinations where they can indulge in ‘new tastes, new cultures and new experiences’.
“We are truly excited to offer these incredible new itineraries to our guests, who now have the opportunity to explore areas of the globe that we haven’t called on in many years and some that we’ve never before visited.”
Andy Stuart, Norwegian Cruise Line President & Chief Operating Officer
