Norwegian Breakaway to spend first winter in Florida, Caribbean

Norwegian Breakaway to spend first winter in Florida, Caribbean

By Donna Tunney
Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Breakaway will sail a series of cruises roundtrip from New York to the Bahamas, Florida and the Caribbean during the 2013-14 winter season.

The 4,000-passenger ship is under construction at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. It will enter service in April 2013 and sail seven-day Bermuda cruises from New York in the spring and summer.

A series of 25 seven-day cruises to the Bahamas and Florida will begin Oct. 13, 2013. The ship also will sail two 12-day Southern Caribbean itineraries on Jan. 5 and 19, 2014, along with two Weekend Escape cruises on Jan. 17 and 31, 2014.

Through April 27, 2014, the ship’s Bahamas & Florida cruises will depart New York on Sundays and include stops in Nassau, Bahamas; Great Stirrup Cay, and Port Canaveral, Fla.

The 12-day Southern Caribbean cruises will call at San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, St. Lucia, Barbados and St. Kitts.

The cruises go on sale to Norwegian’s top travel partners and Latitudes Rewards members on Jan. 4 and to the general public on Jan. 6.

A sister ship, the Norwegian Getaway, is slated to enter service in 2014

New campaign invites travelers to ‘Cruise Like a Norwegian’

New campaign invites travelers to ‘Cruise Like a Norwegian’

By Donna Tunney
NCL-newadNorwegian Cruise Line is attempting to reposition itself with a consumer-facing branding platform centered on the theme “Cruise Like a Norwegian.”

It’s a multifaceted campaign that rolls out Oct. 10 with network and cable TV commercials, digital advertising, new logos and social media components on Facebook.

The high-energy, some might say sexy, TV commercials aim to help coin the phrase used in the branding theme.

“Dine like a Parisian. Surf like a Hawaiian. Love like a Venetian. Party like a Brazilian. Cruise like a Norwegian,” the commercials declare.

Norwegian CEO Kevin Sheehan said the cruise line has spent the past four years on “a variety of initiatives” to improve and enhance the company and brand. “We felt this is the right time to issue this bold invitation to cruise with us by piquing interest and creating excitement around our brand,” he said.

“We believe this new brand platform will differentiate us and help clearly define a Norwegian cruise as one of the best vacations.”

Maria Miller, the line’s senior vice president of marketing, said the campaign’s slogan “is an invitation to those wanting to experience life in dynamic ways to come in and experience the brand.”

She added: “We are trying to broaden our demographic. … It’s a bold, confident statement that presents the brand in a new way yet builds on our heritage.”

Miller noted that the launch of the Norwegian Epic, along with entertainment upgrades, helped open the line to more families and younger people in recent years. The new branding platform, she said, will put Norwegian “front and center” among consumers who have never cruised.

“This feels different than other cruise line advertising that’s out there. The core of what we’re trying to communicate is the breadth of experience we offer, the freedom and flexibility. Freestyle Cruising allows people to experience that,” Miller said.

The Facebook components of the rebranding launch include “Mix It Up,” an application that enables users to pair their own photos with the music featured in the “Cruise Like a Norwegian” ads, and an interactive quiz called “How Norwegian Are You?” The results will show how closely the user aligns with a Norwegian Cruise Line lifestyle.

The line also will reach out to agents in an effort to communicate what the new brand means to the frontline sale process.

Agent webinars will be offered, Miller said, and the line’s sales organization has materials they will distribute to retailers. Courses in NCL University will reflect the new brand philosophy.

She added that onboard elements include some changes to the line’s signature “White Hot Party” featured on every cruise.

“Some ‘Norwegian elements’ will be added to that,” said Miller, and the line’s crew members are being trained to “support and deliver the experiences we want our customers to have.”

The line for several months has been trying to move quietly away from “NCL” as an often-used abbreviation and toward “Norwegian” instead.

A spokeswoman for the line recently explained that the company wanted to focus on its “Norwegian roots” and no longer wished to be known by an abbreviation.

In the TV commercials, “NCL” appears once, and for just a split second, at the tail end of the ads.

2 Norwegian ships to undergo refurbishments

2 Norwegian ships to undergo refurbishments

By Donna Tunney
Norwegian Cruise Line said that its Norwegian Spirit and Norwegian Jade will enter drydocks this fall for multimillion dollar enhancements.

The Norwegian Spirit enters a 13-day drydock on Sept. 25 in Mobile, Ala. The 2,018-passenger ship will be fitted for WiFi and will receive new carpeting, flat-screen televisions and upgrades to the Stardust Theater and the Raffles restaurant.

When the ship returns to service Oct. 9 it will sail a series of seven-day western Caribbean itineraries from New Orleans, calling on Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico; Roatan, Honduras; and Belize City, Belize, through April 8. The ship will then operate a 13-day transatlantic cruise, arriving in Barcelona on April 28, before beginning 12-day Mediterranean cruises alternating from Barcelona and Venice through Oct. 13, 2012. Beginning on Nov. 6, 2012, the ship will sail nine-day Canary Islands cruises from Barcelona, through April 8, 2013.

The Norwegian Jade will undergo its upgrades in Marseille, France, from Nov. 26 to Dec. 8. A Brazilian steakhouse, Moderno Churrascaria, will be added and new carpeting and tile will be installed throughout the ship. The ship will also receive technical enhancements, the line said.

After emerging from drydock, the 2,402-passenger Norwegian Jade, which sails year-round from Europe, will cruise a nine-day itinerary departing Barcelona calling on Funchal, Portugal; Tenerife and Arrecife in the Canary Islands; and .