Norwegian Cruise Line today introduces its newest cruise ship Norwegian Jewel in Dover. The 92,000 tonne vessel will embark on two, two-night, mini cruises to Amsterdam and Jersey before voyaging to her home port of Miami for her inaugural cruising season.

As part of her inaugural celebrations the ship will undertake two mini cruises to Amsterdam between 6th and 8th August and Jersey between 8th and 10th August 2005, showcasing the ship’s state-of-the-art facilities to both consumer and trade guests.

Following these inaugural voyages Norwegian Jewel will cruise two itineraries in Europe before crossing the Atlantic to New York on 4th September 2005. The two European cruises – Mediterranean Treasures and Baltic Capitals – depart on
10th August and 23rd August respectively.

The 13-night Mediterranean Treasures cruise will visit ports in Lisbon, Gibraltar, Livorno, Rome, Cannes, Barcelona and Almeria before returning to Dover. Following this the 12-night Baltic Capitals voyage will visit Oslo, Helsinki, St Petersburg, Stockholm, Warnemunde (Berlin) and Copenhagen.

As with all NCL’s ships, Norwegian Jewel is purpose built for Freestyle Cruising, which enables guests to have the freedom and flexibility to eat where they want, when they want in resort casual attire, tailoring their holiday to suit themselves.

The impressive ship follows in the wake of the launch of NCL America’s Pride of America in New York in June. Norwegian Jewel has the capacity to accommodate 2,376 guests (double occupancy) across a variety of cabin classifications.

With 1,186 individual cabins the Norwegian Jewel boasts:

• Two Garden Villas
  
• Four Owner’s Suites;
  
• Ten Courtyard Villas;
  
• 24 Penthouses;
  
• Four Romance Suites;
  
• 130 Mini-suites;
  
• 362 Oceanview Staterooms with Balcony;
  
• 189 Oceanview Staterooms;
  
• 54 Obstructed View Staterooms;
  
• 405 Inside Staterooms.

Purpose built for Freestyle Cruising, Norwegian Jewel offers guests a selection of ten onboard restaurants including two main Freestyle Dining restaurants – Tsar’s Palace (seating capacity 558) and Azura (seating capacity 304), alongside:

• Le Bistro French restaurant (seating capacity 129);
  
• Chin Chin Asian restaurant (seating capacity 162);
  
• Cagney’s Steakhouse (seating capacity 176);
  
• Tango’s Tapas restaurant (seating capacity 96);
  
• The Great Outdoors (seating capacity 259);
  
• Garden Café (seating capacity 390) and Kids Café (seating capacity 52);
  
• Mama’s Italian Kitchen (seating capacity 96);
  
• Blue Lagoon (seating capacity 94).
  

Alongside these world-class dining facilities, guests on the ship can relax in one of the 13 bars and lounges which include a beer and whiskey bar, Champagne bar, cigar bar, karaoke rooms, Martini and cocktail bar and an internet café.

The facilities onboard Norwegian Jewel are second to none and some of the most advanced cruising the seas today. For young and old alike, the leisure time on the ship is well filled with activities ranging from swimming, jogging, walking, volleyball, tennis to golf. The ship also houses onboard six hot tubs, the Bora Bora Health Spa and Fitness Centre, a library, video arcade, casino, Stardust Theatre, ice cream bar and galleria shops.

General Manager NCL UK, Francis Riley, comments: “The launch of Norwegian Jewel reaffirms the commitment made by NCL to have the most state-of-the-art and technologically advanced ships sailing the seas today. The fact that we are departing from Dover on the mini-cruises has made it even more special as Norwegian Jewel will be one of NCL’s ships returning to Europe in 2006.

“The mini-cruises offer us the ideal opportunity to showcase the facilities of this magnificent ship to both the consumer and trade markets. It will be an extremely proud day for NCL, and in particular the UK team, having this important addition to the fleet cruising out of a UK port.

“I hope that all those onboard get a taste of Freestyle Cruising and the benefits it brings for family holidays at sea. Cruising has entered the 21st century as an increasingly popular holiday option and it is ships such as Norwegian Jewel that have helped cruising to be placed firmly back in the mix. We hope you enjoy your time onboard.”

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