By Gene Sloan, USA TODAY
Norwegian Cruise Line today announced plans for a big expansion in Europe in 2012, with four ships operating in the region -- two of them year-round.
The line says the 2,018-passenger Norwegian Spirit will join the 2,402-passenger Norwegian Jade in sailing year-round in the Mediterranean in April 2012, offering 12-night Mediterranean voyages in the summer and fall from Venice and Barcelona, along with nine-night Canary Islands voyages in the winter and spring from Barcelona.
Also heading to Europe in 2012 will be the 4,100-passenger Norwegian Epic and Norwegian Sun, which will cruise seasonally from Barcelona and Copenhagen, respectively, as they are scheduled to do in 2011.
"Europe is one of the world's fastest growing cruise markets," Norwegian CEO Kevin Sheehan says in a statement. "We felt it was the right time to deploy four ships."
Sheehan notes it's the company's largest European deployment ever. In recent years the line has deployed three ships in Europe, with just one -- the Norwegian Jade -- in the region year-round.
The Norwegian Spirit's new 12-night itineraries from Venice and Barcelona will run from April 28, 2012 to Oct. 25, 2012 and and include calls on Provence (Toulon), France; Florence/Pisa (Livorno), Rome (Civitavecchia) and Naples, Italy; Mykonos and Athens (Piraeus), Greece; and Istanbul and Ephesus (Izmir), Turkey.
The Spirit's nine-night Canary Islands cruises from Barcelona will sail from Nov. 6, 2012 to April 8, 2013 and call on Funchal, Madeira; Santa Cruz de Tenerife; and Arrecife, Lanzarote, Canary Islands; and Granada (Málaga), Spain.
The Spirit also will sail an 11-day Mediterranean cruise from Barcelona to Venice on July 9, 2012 and a 13-day Mediterranean voyage from Venice to Barcelona on July 20, 2012.
Click HERE for a full list of the newly announced 2012 Europe itineraries for all four ships the line is sending to the region.
The newly announced voyages go on sale to Norwegian's top travel partners and Latitudes members (past guests) today and to the general public on Thursday.
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