London, 22 March 2004 – NCL, the Freestyle Cruising specialist, announces that SuperStar Leo will be permanently deployed in the NCL fleet and renamed Norwegian Spirit. Although Norwegian Spirit is already a Freestyle Cruising vessel, following on from her Summer 2004 Alaskan season, she will be significantly remodelled and refurbished to further modify her for North American service.

Norwegian Spirit will spend the winter sailing a combination of 5 and 9-day cruise itineraries, which can be combined to create 14-day packages from the UK. In addition, these itineraries can also be combined with land stay hotel options in Orlando and Miami. The itineraries cruise out of Miami to the Deep Southern Caribbean stopping in destinations such as Barbados, Grenada, St Lucia and the British Virgin Islands.

NCL’s adaptability is due to its unique relationship with Star Cruises: “This move once again demonstrates the advantage of having a diverse fleet in two divergent markets that can be strategically redeployed as part of an ever changing global marketplace,” said NCL President and Chief Executive Officer, Colin Veitch. “The redeployment of a mid-size vessel such as Norwegian Sea to Star Cruises is optimal for the Asian market and utilizing a state-of-the-art mega-ship such as SuperStar Leo is ideal in the extremely competitive North American market.”

Norwegian Sea, currently operating a Houston to the Caribbean route, will now be transferred to the Star Cruises fleet in the spring of 2005. In October 2005, Norwegian Dream will take over Norwegian Sea’s year round cruises out of Houston, sailing Exotic Western Caribbean 9-night trips calling at Mexico, Honduras and Belize. The company will announce a replacement ship for the New Orleans itinerary shortly.

Stephen Park, General Manager UK, said: “Norwegian Spirit is the perfect addition to the NCL fleet and we are delighted to welcome her. She has a wide range of interconnecting staterooms for families of all sizes and we look forward to offering unique itineraries out of Miami incorporating Deep Southern Caribbean destinations, which will be ideal for selling within the UK marketplace.”