Majesty, Meet Majesty

The Norwegian Majesty.

Photo courtesy Norwegian Cruise Line

Saying goodbye is always difficult.  On October 31st, Norwegian Cruise Line prepares to say goodbye to one of the last remnants of the old NCL - the Norwegian Majesty.

Built in 1992 as the Royal Majesty for Majesty Cruise Line, the ship became part of the NCL fleet in 1997.  In 1999, fresh off the success of lengthening the Norwegian Wind and Norwegian Dream by way of cutting the ships in half and inserting a new, prefabricated midsection, the decision was made to also lengthen the Norwegian Majesty.  A new 110-foot midsection was inserted at the Lloyd Werft shipyard in Bremerhaven, Germany.  Things looked good for the midsize cruise ship.

In 1999, however, NCL launched the Norwegian Sky - their first newbuild in over six years , and the first ship at sea to offer features like an Internet Cafe.  NCL re-branded itself in 2001, launching an open dining and relaxed dress code concept called Freestyle Cruising.  The dual launch of the Norwegian Sun and Norwegian Star in late 2001 firmly ushered in this concept with ships purpose-built with multiple dining options - options the Norwegian Majesty noticeably lacked.

The Majesty outlasted the Norwegian Wind and Dream, built in 1992 and 1993 - both of which were larger and offered more amenities.  The Norwegian Wind was transferred to Star Cruises to become SuperStar Aquarius sailing out of Hong Kong.  The Norwegian Dream has languished at anchor off of Piraeus, Greece since being removed from service in October 2008 - awaiting a buyer to put her back into service.

The Norwegian Majesty was sold in 2008 to Cyprus-based Louis Cruise Lines, which plans to rename her Louis Majesty and deploy her on a series of Mediterranean cruises from Italy starting in December.

Why is this a good thing?  The Norwegian Majesty has served NCL well, but the last few years with the line have seen it stagnate: the ship has not received either the much-applauded Freestyle 2.0 enhancements or the colorful hull artwork that so distinguishes the ships of NCL.  With Louis Cruise Line, the ship will hopefully find a new legion of fans and carry many more passengers thousands of nautical miles around the warm shores of Italy, Greece and France.

For more information on the soon-to-be Louis Majesty, visit the Louis Cruise Line webpage.