What started on July 25, 2021, in Piraeus, Greece, comes to completion today as Norwegian Spirit sets sail from Tahiti in French Polynesia on a 12 Night South Pacific cruise to Bora Bora, Kauai & Maui. Norwegian cruise line’s entire fleet of seventeen ships is now back in service.
The Great Cruise Comeback has been a long process that saw Norwegian Cruise Line put in place some of the strictest guidelines for its ships in the industry. The cruise line also made a series that detailed the steps that Norwegian Cruise Line took to return its ships to sea.
Norwegian Spirit Sailing From Tahiti
The final ship in the NCL fleet sets sail today, May 7, from Tahiti in French Polynesia. The 75,904 gross tons cruise ship sails on a 12-night cruise visiting some of the most stunning islands in the Pacific.
After sailing from Tahiti, Norwegian Spirit will set a course towards Moorea, followed by Bora Bora and Raiatea in French Polynesia. After some relaxing days at sea, guests will be able to visit Kailua Kona, Nawiliwili, and Hilo in Hawaii. The voyage will conclude in Honolulu on May 19.
Norwegian Spirit will sail the same itinerary three times before repositioning to Vancouver, Canada, to start her season in Alaska. The repositionings cruise will be an epic cruise of extremes, which includes the tropical islands of Hawaii and the glaciers of Alaska.
Norwegian Spirit’s first cruise in more than two years completes a journey the company started in July last year and brings the number of ships sailing to 17.
Norwegian Cruise Line’s Great Cruise Comeback
Bringing seventeen ships back to service after being in lay-up for, in some cases, more than two years was never going to be easy. And still, Norwegian Cruise Line managed to complete the journey in less than a year.
Norwegian Jade became the first ship in the fleet to resume guest operations on July 25, 2021, out of Athens, Greece. Since then, more vessels have gradually been returning to service and that’s despite some setbacks from the Omicron variant towards the end of 2021 and early 2022.
Norwegian Cruise Line President Harry Sommer said, “Welcoming our guests and crew on board has been one of the most memorable moments of my over 30-year career”
Norwegian even created a television series called ‘Embark’ that detailed how the company worked on bringing ships back into service and implemented some of the strictest measures of all cruise companies, being one of the only companies to make vaccinations 100% mandatory.
The cruise line can now look forward to returning to normal operations, including launching a new ship later this year. In August, Norwegian Prima’s first cruise will depart in September.
Although its first cruise has been pushed back several weeks due to supply chain issues, the 142,000 gross tons cruise ship with a guest capacity of 3,099 guests will set sail for the first time on September 3 from Amsterdam.
Along the way, the vessel will call in Kiel and Warnemunde, Germany; Gdynia, Poland; Tallinn, Estonia; and Stockholm, Sweden. The 10-night cruise will end in Copenhagen on September 13.
