Norwegian Cruise Line is returning to Asia and Australia after a gap of 15 years.
The planned deployment for winter 2016-17 follows rival Carnival Corporation and Royal Caribbean building up capacity in the region, particularly in China.
Norwegian will move back to the Far East for the first time since winter 2001-02 with the recently refurbished ship Norwegian Star sailing from Singapore and Hong Kong together with departures from Sydney and Auckland.
The line will continue to run four ships in Europe in summer 2016 with Norwegian Spirit replacing the larger Norwegian Epic as the brand’s year-round vessel in the region, while Norwegian Star will sail the Mediterranean and Western Europe in the autumn of 2016 en-route to Asis.
Norwegian Spirit will offer a series of eastern and western Mediterranean itineraries from November 2016 to May 2017 departing from Barcelona, Venice, and Istanbul.
Norwegian Epic will return to Florida in November 2016 after more than a year in Europe and become the line’s largest ship to operate from Port Canaveral with a series of short eastern and western Caribbean and Bahamas itineraries.
As previously announced, Norwegian Sun will return to South America for the winter season in 2016-17 with departures from the new homeport Rio de Janeiro as well as from Valparaiso in Chile and Buenos Aires.
The new itineraries will be available for booking later this month.
President and chief operating officer Andy Stuart said: “We are truly excited to offer these incredible new itineraries to our guests, who now have the opportunity to explore areas of the globe that we haven’t called on in many years and some that we’ve never before visited.
“Norwegian is taking guests to their dream destinations, where they can indulge in new tastes, new cultures and new experiences, along with the flexibility to unpack once and the freedom to explore many distinct destinations during one vacation-of-a-lifetime.”