Norwegian Cruise Line Charters Oldest Cruise Ships to Sail in India
Norwegian Cruise Line has made a deal to charter its two oldest cruise ships as the company pursues its fleet modernization efforts. It is part of a strategy that has also seen the publicly traded parent company, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, charter two other ships from its luxury brands to launch a new residential cruise line.
India’s Cordelia Cruises, the only dedicated cruise line in India, will be taking the Norwegian Sky on charter in 2026 and the Norwegian Sun the following year in 2027. The company was started post-pandemic with a single ship but recently reported it was looking to expand its operation.
The cruise ships Norwegian Sky (77,104 gross tons) and Norwegian Sun (78,309 gross tons) were the company’s first effort at modernization in the late 1990s. Started in 1965, the brand had failed to keep pace with competitors and due to financial difficulties had not added new cruise ships at the same pace as Carnival Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean International in the 1990s.
The Norwegian Sky had been ordered by Costa Cruises as a sistership to the Costa Victoria and was under construction in Germany at Bremer Vulkan when the yard experienced financial difficulties in 1996 and construction was suspended. Norwegian acquired the incomplete ship and finished it at Lloyd Werft introducing it in 1999. It has accommodations for approximately 2,000 passengers and sailed for the cruise line in the Caribbean and a brief period in Hawaii as the Pride of Aloha between 2004 and 2008.
Norwegian decided to build a sistership which became Norwegian Sun in 2001. The company had also planned a third sister but did not go forward with the order.
The smallest ships in the fleet they also predated Norwegian’s open cruise concept without assigned dining and multiple restaurants. The ships were adapted to the concept but lacked the space to have the full amenities of what the company markets as “Freestyle Cruising.”
CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Harry Sommer called the decision to charter a total of four ships from the fleet part of a “disciplined approach to fleet optimization.” Norwegian this week is introducing the third cruise ship in its new series, Norwegian Aqua, and Sommers notes it has a total of seven cruise ships ordered for the brand, including a new class of 200,000-gross ton plus ships.
Cordelia Cruises in its announcement said it would be “unlocking new destinations, introducing longer itineraries, and reimagining what cruising means for India and beyond.” The company to date has operated short cruises on the Empress acquired from Royal Caribbean International. The renamed Cordelia Sky will enter service from Mumbai in August 2026. The company has not announced itineraries for the Sun which will be leaving Norwegian in the fourth quarter of 2027.
Norwegian has also chartered the Seven Seas Navigator from Regent Seven Seas Cruises and the Insignia from Oceania Cruises to Crescent Seas, a residential cruise line. These charters are scheduled to begin in 2026 and 2027. The company has three new cruise ships on order for Oceania Cruises, and two cruise ships for Regent Seven Seas Cruises. All of the new ships are being built by Fincantieri in Italy.