Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ready for Chinese Market

Miami-based cruise company Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) will soon launch the first purpose-built ship for China, with ships from all three NCLH brands calling Chinese ports in 2017, according to the company’s President and CEO, Frank J. Del Rio.

Del Rio appeared this week along with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings International executives at the CruiseWorld China Summit in Beijing and the China Shipping Conference and International Cruise Expo in Tianjin to address China’s cruise industry leaders.

Scheduled for launching in summer 2017, Norwegian Joy is a new Breakaway-Plus Class Ship that will be able to accommodate 3,850 guests.

The ship, featuring a Chinese art motif, phoenix, will start sailing from its Shanghai homeport on June 23, 2017, and will embark on 3, 4, 5 and 6-day cruises to destinations in Japan and Korea. While Shanghai will be the ship’s primary homeport in China, the company said it will also offer a series of cruises from the port in Tianjin in 2017.

“2017 will be a landmark year for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings in China, as we are execute on our exciting plans to bring the first purpose-built ship for the outbound China market next year with Norwegian Joy, and also expand our port of calls in China across our three brands ,” Frank J. Del Rio said. 

The Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) brand will also deploy the newly refurbished Norwegian Star to sail Asia-based itineraries in December 2016. In February 2017, NCLH brand Oceania Cruises will seasonally deploy the 684-passenger ship Nautica in Asia, along with sister ship Insignia in March 2017. In addition, Regent Seven Seas Cruises will deploy the 700-passenger ship Seven Seas Voyager in Asia in March 2017.

“Four of our ships will bring nearly 7,000 international tourists to port cities in China in the next six months alone, including Hong Kong, Xiamen, Shanghai, Dalian and Tianjin – with even more calls to China’s ports scheduled for 2018,” Del Rio added.