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What is the latest word on the fate of the NORWAY?


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I have not heard anything significant since the big hubbub a couple of weeks ago. NCL are still saying that she must be sold (and really, she should have been sold long ago - NCL are being unreasonably cooperative with various preservation efforts in holding off on selling her).

 

Her savior could be EU law, if it requires that her asbestos be removed before she leaves the EU. That could well make scrapping her uneconomical, which would mean that some other solution would have to be found. At this point, that is her only hope so far as I can see. Otherwise, she is a goner.

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On the NCL site there is a big thread (ongoing) on the Norway. I have such fond memories of that ship and got out my photos yesterday to look at..sigh..Menina

 

I have not heard anything significant since the big hubbub a couple of weeks ago. NCL are still saying that she must be sold (and really, she should have been sold long ago - NCL are being unreasonably cooperative with various preservation efforts in holding off on selling her).

 

Her savior could be EU law, if it requires that her asbestos be removed before she leaves the EU. That could well make scrapping her uneconomical, which would mean that some other solution would have to be found. At this point, that is her only hope so far as I can see. Otherwise, she is a goner.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Our very first cruise was aboard the Norway. We had a great, new stateroom with a floor to ceiling window. Our T-A said "aside from Crystal and other high end lines, any other ship may disappoint after the Norway experience." He was right.

 

I am so glad we had the chance to sail her in her reborn prime.

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Bill Miller, the maritime historian/author, is reporting on another website that NCL has changed their mind about scrapping the Norway. She now is to go to Port Klang in Malaysia to be used as an entertainment complex/possible moored hotel for NCL's parent Company, Star Cruises.

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:D Norwegian just announced the Norway is going to Star Cruises and will be towed over to the Far East. They've spent over 10 Million just keeping her in storage, with a skelton Crew. They were going to sell her for Scrap Metal but do to age that might not have been ecologically possible. She'll probably become a Hotel Gambling ship in Hong Kong or other densily populated area with many Gamblers. Orientals are big time Gamblers. And pretty good at it TOO!

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The last I heard, it was still sitting somewhere out East somewhere and that it was being used to hold other workers there at the shipyard. After the boiler expolsion, the equipment that they needed to make the pieces that were missing were long gone so she probably does not run. And about six months ago, I came across some website that someone had posted that had actual ships for sale and as I was flipping through the pages of huge ship website and I came across a picture and ad for the sale of the Norway. I can't remember now what the cost was but whatever it was, I didn't think it to be priced too outrageously, especially for a millionaire! Like 12 mill, or something like that. Wish I could find the website it was on again. But that is all I know, I too was on her in January 2000 and loved her elegance! Long live the Norway!!! Cheers!

 

DLO

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Ryndam--thanks for the link. It is such an interesting site! I always wondered where one could buy a used cruise ship and how much it would be. Let's see, I have about $1.50 in my purse. Guess I still have some saving to do before I can buy one!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I did the second to last Atlantic crossing when NORWAY was THE FRANCE. This was in 1974. At that time there were different classes - first had their own very elegant dining room. I can't recall what our class was called. At the time I was travelling to Europe with a Eurail pass and a youth hostel card. Not the typical FRANCE cruiser..... The ship swayed quite a bit out in the middle of the Atlantic. I remember it took days to get my land legs. We docked in Southampton and then on to Cherbourg, then took a train to Paris and arrived on Bastille Day!

 

It will break my heart if they scrap her. What a grand old ship!

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At that time there were different classes - first had their own very elegant dining room. I can't recall what our class was called.

It was tourist-class, though officially named Rive Gauche/Left Bank.

 

To me, FRANCE is the ne plus ultra of post-war Atlantic liners. She was already NORWAY by the time I was born, but I really wish I had the chance to experience her as an Atlantic liner. (For that matter, I wish I sailed in her as NORWAY - though by the time I had the chance, she decidedly fit into the "faded grandeur" category. Still, I wish I took that opportunity. Ironically, we were actually thinking about booking a cruise in her when the tragic explosion ocurred! Obviously, it did not happen.)

 

Most of the post-war liners were compromise ships - for instance, MICHELANGELO and RAFFAELLO were "make work" ships for the state-owned Fincantieri shipyards and Finmare shipping lines, UNITED STATES was really a troopship, many others like QE2 and ROTTERDAM were built to make money as dual-purpose liner/cruise ships. FRANCE was different: she had no purpose whatsoever other than prestige, as a ship of state and instrument of peace. Her builders were given a blank cheque and her design and construction was personally directed by De Gaulle. She was really the last true ship of state. Even though I only saw her as NORWAY, she is still the most beautiful ship I've ever seen. If it turns out that she is indeed broken up, it will be sad indeed, but perhaps it is best to remember her at the peak of her existence, as the French ship of state.

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Doug, It's nice to read your comments about the France/Norway. I also think she is the most beautiful passenger ship ever built. I sailed on her three times as the Norway, once soon after she went into service, once midway in her career, and once the year before she was retired.

 

Every sailing was a special event. I felt like I was on a really unique ship, one that had an important place in the history of passenger ships.

 

I know that every ship finally lives out her life and passes on, but I'm sad about the current state of the Norway and sad about her eventual demise. When she goes, an important part of modern passenger cruising will be gone forever.

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I just read the thread on the demise of the Southern Cross and looked at the photographs of her demolition in India.

 

The idea that this could also happen to a ship as beautiful and grand as the Norway makes me sick at my stomach.

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Hi CC Friends,

 

 

We're sailing on NCL's new Pride of America from San Francisco to Hawaii next month and thought this recent photo with Norway in the background might bring a smile...

 

proj_am_27.jpg

 

 

Cheers!

 

 

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Hi CC Friends,

 

Thanks for your kind thoughts! Here's another view with Aurora (I believe) in the foreground...

proj_am_aussen_luft.jpg

For those of you who are "serious" Norway buffs, here is a link to her maintance yard with excellent photos of various stages of her history...enjoy!







http://www.lloydwerft.com/e/auftraege/index.html

 

G'Day!

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