Testing the Waters with Dori – The New Old NCL

When Norwegian Cruise Line announced that it was resurrecting its 1990s tagline “It’s Different Out Here,” the company wasn’t only looking to its past for inspiration. It was making a decisive move to reclaim its positioning as a change maker and embrace its DNA – something it had moved away from during the tenure of NCLH’s last CEO.

Quite frankly, it’s about time.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and postulate that I wasn’t alone in my confusion back in 2018 (or so) when the aforementioned CEO started moving NCL away from its core clientele. From the design of its newest ships at that time to the not-to-subtle nudging of kids’ spaces to areas unseen, NCL tried to make a play out of the mass market space.

Let me call your attention to that again: out of the mass market space. Not into the premium space.

NCL already had The Haven, a solidly upscale – some might say luxury – offering that already gave the premium-to-luxury client who prefers a big ship or wants to travel with family a way to enjoy the best of both worlds on what is still, essentially, a mass market cruise ship.

But with Norwegian Bliss, NCL took a giant leap away from “the best of both worlds.” The Observation Lounge, as gorgeous as it is, is a space hog – which meant other areas on the ship had to be eliminated. The result? Spaces previously devoted to family-friendly fun were reduced.

O’Sheehan’s – now The Local – lost its pub games space and mini bowling. The watersides were minimized and moved to a small corner of the pool deck. And, as mentioned before, the kids clubs were pushed down to the lower decks, essentially giving the kids onboard a barely seen, or heard “welcome.”

Even the programming changed. NCL had previously experimented with fun, risqué shows, like “Happy Hour Prohibition: The Musical,” that carried an extra charge, but included drinks and were for an 18 and older crowd. Those shows were nixed.

At the same time, NCL hiked its pricing to go along with the more premium feel, pushing many of its formerly loyal cruisers — particularly families — to other lines.

Essentially, as so many of us who covered the cruise line at the time said, the former CEO was trying to remake Oceania Cruises on a big ship scale.

To say it was confusing was an understatement. NCL seemed to building ships for the clientele it wanted, not the customers it already had. That’s not how businesses usually succeed.

I’m not going to lie. I didn’t think it was the smartest move. But at the same time, I acknowledged that I’m not a business woman and the CEO’s original cruise line was – and is – a smashing success. So, what did I know? Only time would tell.

It’s hard to know for sure whether things would have panned out differently had the COVID-19 pandemic never happened. But it did. And in the comeback that followed NCL lagged behind its competitors. To catch up, the cruise line slowly but surely, began to make small tweaks – reducing the size of the Observation Lounge, adding more cabins, rolling out more family-friendly gaming spaces, moving away from longer, Broadway shows to high-energy in-house productions.

Little by little, NCL walked back some of the changes that had started in 2017 and 2018.

Not all of them, by any means. A peaceful Observation Lounge that offers a quiet retreat for cruisers who want to spend their days relaxing, reading, or playing a quiet game of cards with friends fits perfectly into the concept of freestyle cruising. But not at the expense of the fun side of the freestyle coin.

Norwegian’s return to form isn’t only evident in the return of its “It’s Different Out Here” slogan.

It’s in the details of its soon-to-launch Norwegian Luna, which features “Sea of Discovery!,” a largescale production show created specifically for the youngest cruisers with interactive games and activities and games built into the show.

It’s in the return of the adults-only, drinks-included “Lunatique,” which executives at a recent behind-the-scenes tour of the company’s Creative Studios said cruisers have been asking for.

It’s in the newly revealed details of Norwegian Aura, launching in 2027, with its large waterpark and three-story family-friendly outdoor recreation area.

And its in the messaging the line is trying to get out there.

“Who is our target customer? It’s two segments. It is premium families and it’s seasoned cruisers,” said Kiran Smith, chief marketing officer for NCL at a recent behind-the-scenes event in Tampa, Fla.

The first part of her statement? Not something we would have heard under the former CEO.

Smith further went on to say, “There are brands that push away from its history. We want to move into a new direction…”

She could have been talking about her own brand, just six or seven years ago.

Of course, NCL is giving it all a spin.

“We can’t just go back to the way the way that we used to do it before. Brush off how we used to talk about it. Brush off how it used to look. We’ve got to do our modern version of it.”

And, she’s right. It isn’t the same NCL of 10 years ago. There’s a lot to love on the later Breakaway-Plus Class and the Prima Class ships. The décor is beautiful, the newest shows spotlighting iconic singers are nostalgically entertaining and high energy, and the variety of food onboard – and that Food Hall! – are deliciously enjoyable.

Now, with bringing back some of what always made NCL a great line, the next Prima Plus Class ships will be even better – and maybe just a little bit more familiar to those who have enjoyed NCL since it made waves in the industry with freestyle cruising.

And, as I said earlier, it’s about time.