MIAMI -- Norwegian Cruise Line's lineup will have a new look late
next year when the line moves Orient Lines' Crown Odyssey into its
fleet and returns to year-round cruising from Houston with the
Norwegian Sea.
The addition of the Crown Odyssey to the fleet enables the line
to shift the Sea and the Norwegian Dream next November. The Dream
will head to New Orleans, a new port for NCL, for the winter
season.
Baltimore also will be added to the lineup for a series of
Canada/New England cruises in September on the Crown Odyssey.
The Crown Odyssey also will take over the Dream's winter South
America program as well as the Norwegian Sea's Bermuda route in
2004.
CEO Colin Veitch said NCL was looking to expand to other
drive-market ports. Positive reaction from agents for New Orleans
and Houston was the strongest, he said.
"You fish where the fish are," Veitch said.
Agents said cruises from easy-to-access U.S. cities such as
Houston and New Orleans would attract Midwest and West Coast
clients, as well as the southern drive market.
The Norwegian Sea will return to Houston after nearly a
three-year absence. The line's first ship there, the former
Norwegian Star, suffered several problems with its plumbing and
air-conditioning systems during its inaugural season in 1997. The
Sea replaced the Star in March 1998.
Houston agents said the second ship redeemed NCL's image, and
they're looking forward to the return of the line's "Texaribbean"
cruises, which will sail to Mexico, Belize and Honduras.
"The more ships we get, the better it is," said Alicia Click, an
agent with a CruiseOne franchise in Houston. She said clients "just
like the convenience of Galveston, [Texas,] Houston, even New
Orleans."
Joseph Galloway, owner of Trans-Continental Travel in Houston,
said, "I've been saying it's too many ships for the past seven
years, and I've been proved wrong every year."
"We're filling the Carnival and the Royal Caribbean ships. I
think we can do this one, too."
The NCL ships will get upgrades early next year: the Sea will
enter drydock in January; the Crown Odyssey will undergo a major
overhaul during a February drydock to be reconfigured for the
line's Freestyle Cruising program.
The Crown Odyssey will get NCL's signature Le Bistro restaurant
and two other eateries in addition to its 600-passenger
restaurant.
Veitch said NCL would re-brand the Crown Odyssey's funnel but
likely would not change the ship's name.
Mary Jean Tully, CEO of Mississauga, Ontario-based Cruise
Professionals, said the departure of the Crown Odyssey from the
Orient Lines fleet was "a shame," but said she welcomed NCL's
decision to have the Crown Odyssey handle the Dream's South
American itineraries.
Veitch said the smaller, intimate feel of the Crown Odyssey
makes it a better choice for that market than the Dream.
"I think it's a difficult time to expand the long-distance
[cruise] trade," he added. "We were not planning to expand, but
we'd doubled the capacity of Orient Lines in the year leading up to
9/11."
Orient Lines' remaining ship, the Marco Polo, will sail in both
the Baltic region and the Mediterranean in 2004.