Norwegian Sky Completes 25 Years in Service – Cruise Industry News

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The Norwegian Sky has marked 25 years in service.

As the company’s first newbuild in six years at the time, the 77,000-ton vessel was delivered to Norwegian Cruise Line on July 28, 1999.

Finished at the Lloyd Werft shipyard in Bremerhaven, the ship was originally ordered for Costa Cruises as the Costa Olympia.

A sister to the 1996-built Costa Victoria, the vessel was approximately 35 percent complete when its original building yard, Bremer Vulkan, filed for bankruptcy in 1996.

When Costa Cruises decided not to proceed with the construction, the ship’s unfinished hull was put up for sale.

Embarking on a major fleet expansion program, Norwegian Cruise Line stepped in and, in 1997, bought the structure for approximately $30 million.

Renamed Norwegian Sky, the ship was finished at the Lloyd Werft shipyard following a major redesign that included the addition of two new cabin decks and several new features.

The 2,000-guest ship entered service in August 1999, offering itineraries in Europe before repositioning to Canada and New England and ultimately to the Caribbean.

Norwegian Cruise Line later ordered a sister to the Norwegian Sky, which would become the 2001-built Norwegian Sun.

At the time, the company planned to build two to six additional ships of the same platform at the Lloyd Werft shipyard.

The plan, however, was later abandoned and contractual options for three sister ships were not pursued.

In 2004, the Norwegian Sky was renamed Pride of Aloha for inter-island cruises in Hawaii. Under a legal exception, the 2,100-guest vessel received the U.S. flag and was transferred to Norwegian’s new NCL America brand.

The operation didn’t last long as the ship was transferred back to the company’s main fleet in 2008, receiving its former name back.

After several years offering short cruises to the Bahamas, the Norwegian Sky embarked on longer cruises to the Caribbean in 2024, sailing from Miami and the Dominican Republic.

The ship is set to offer a fall and foliage season in Canada and New England later this year before embarking on a series of itineraries to exotic destinations.

The program features cruises to the Mediterranean, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia and the Far East.

The Norwegian Sky returns to the Caribbean in late 2025 following a complete summer program in Europe.

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