SSNorway She Changed the Course of Cruising History

[desirod]

Le France being the great liner it was, was belle of the ball, but

late to the party. She was the state of the art in ocean liners, not

a radical design, but the ultimate in refinement. The QE2 that

followed was not as well executed. I still believe Le France being as

big as she was and not designed for cruising was a manifest of

Charles De Gaulle's ego.

 

It was Knut Kloster, Bruce Nierenburg, and Bjornar Hermansen who had

the vision of a mega-ship, a destination in herself as a cruiseship,

1.5 times as large as the 2nd largest in service vessel at the time:

Canberra. It was 3x the size of most cruiseships at the time. This

was something the Arisons at Carnival missed as they dipped their toe

in the water with a 30k ton Tropicale.

 

It was the effective marketing and a first rate conversion of Le

France into a warm weather cruiser that made it work. She was the

biggest week in the world and a destination in herself. Who needs

port days? In 1980 she was the Queen of the Carribean.

 

When we go on a megaship today, I remember that it was the SSNorway

that started the mega ship business model with economy of scale, 1/4

million things to do at 1/4 to 3, am that is, higher end

entertainment, and more than one dining option. SS Norway was not

just a scaled up 20k ton ship.

 

SSNorway defied all conventional wisdom at the time. This will be her

place in history

 

Other thoughts here?

 

David