Norwegian Cruise Line comes back to the UK

Norwegian Cruise Line has announced its much-anticapted return to the UK as well as the deployment of five ships to Europe – including Norwegian Getaway – for the first time in the company’s history.

At a press conference in London, Norwegian announced that Norwegian Jade would be operating out of Southampton between May and October 2017. It will be running 11 cruises to Western Europe and three Norwegian fjords cruises as well as  two mini cruises.

The ex-UK season will be taking place after the ship undergoes an extensive refurbishment as part of the company’s $400 million Project Edge.

Norwegian Getaway will operate out of Copenhagen, running Baltic cruises for what Harry Sommer, the company’s executive vice-president of international development, said will be a more attractive for their US passengers.

Besides Jade and Getaway, the other ships operating out of Europe will be Epic (between Barcelona, Marseille and Rome),  Spirit (between Barcelona and Venice) and Star, which will run between Venice and the Greek islands.

The new itineraries go on sale in mid-February 2016 for all bookings.

“We’re clearly demonstrating our commitment to our European customers, especially cruisers in the UK, with these exciting summer itineraries. Not only are we offering the possibility to embark in Southampton but we are also bringing one of our newest and most innovative ships back to Europe,”said Christian Boell, managing director Europe, Middle East and Africa for Norwegian Cruise Line. “We’re convinced that this will encourage continued growth in the UK market, where we have just seen record breaking guest numbers in 2015.”

Nick Wilkinson, general manager Northern Europe and Middle East and Africa, Norwegian Cruise Line, added: “We are delighted to be returning to the UK for a series of departures on board a fantastic ship. I’m sure these exciting Southampton sailings will be music to our travel partners’ ears, who are now able to offer their customers ex-UK sailings with Norwegian in 2017. These new itineraries are yet another demonstration of our commitment to our Partners First pledge to ensure the success of our travel partners through support and being easy to do business with.”