NCL FREESTYLE CRUISING NEW BUILDS
SERVE UP AN UNPRECEDENTED 35 DINING VENUES
-- New Menus and Array of Restaurants
Offer Wide Variety of Gastronomic Choices Fleetwide--
MIAMI, May 2, 2001Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), bolstered
by the success of its innovative Freestyle Cruising concept,
continues to expand the depth and variety of its culinary
styles and outlets to provide passengers with new menus, new
restaurants and more freedom of choice. One of the most enticing
aspects of this cruising concept is the Freestyle Dining component
allowing guests to eat whenever, wherever and with whomever
they wish.
"Dining is an important feature of the overall Freestyle
Cruising experience and we offer guests exciting new menu
selections and the opportunity to enjoy a different restaurant
and different style of food each night of their cruise,"
said Andy Stuart, NCL's senior vice president of marketing
and sales. "NCL continues to offer an unprecedented number
of dining choices in the cruise industry with more restaurants
than days of the week on our new ships. So many, in fact,
that our passengers can dine in a different restaurant every
night and not even go to the main restaurant during a seven-day
cruise.
"NCL is setting the standard for choice in the future
of cruising. Our new ships will offer a range of restaurants
to rival any resort in the world, from traditional restaurants
to French, Italian, Asian fusion, sushi, teppanyaki and Spanish
Tapas to name just a few," continued Stuart.
One of the most important aspects of NCL's expansion and
Freestyle Cruising is the tremendous choice of dining experiences
available to guests, allowing them the freedom to explore
more culinary styles than any other cruise line.
Along with the six restaurants already aboard NCL's newest
ship, the Norwegian Sky, an unprecedented 29 different dining
choices will be offered aboard the next three ships NCL will
introduce. Onboard the Norwegian Sun, to be inaugurated in
September 2001, will be nine distinctive restaurants -- more
dining options than any other ship in the North American market
-- offering 10 menus including:
-
Four Seasons Restaurant - One of two main restaurants
serving traditional fare
-
Seven Seas Restaurant - A second main restaurant focusing
on contemporary cuisine
-
Adagio - A formal Italian restaurant
-
Le Bistro - A French restaurant featuring gourmet French
fare
-
Ginza - A Japanese restaurant featuring a sushi bar and
teppanyaki room
-
East Meets West - A high-end Pacific Rim restaurant
featuring a fusion of Californian and Asian cuisine; this
room's focal point will be a live lobster tank
-
Las Ramblas - A Spanish Tapas bar with a full selection
of Tapas dishes and authentic entertainment
-
Garden Café - Indoor buffet-style café
serving breakfast, lunch and dinner
-
Great Outdoor Café - Outdoor buffet-style café
featuring "food action stations" serving everything
from hamburgers and hot dogs to soups and salads
-
Pacific Heights - "Healthy Living" restaurant
featuring spa menus, pizza bar and dishes from Cooking
Light magazine.
In October 2001, Norwegian Star will be introduced to the
NCL fleet, as the line's first purpose-built ship for Freestyle
Cruising. Norwegian Star will offer 10 restaurants with a
wide array of dining venues including:
-
Aqua - One of two main restaurants serving contemporary
cuisine
-
Versailles - A second main restaurant focusing on traditional
fare
-
SoHo Room - A high-end Pacific Rim restaurant featuring
a fusion of Californian and Asian cuisine
-
Ginza - A Japanese restaurant featuring a sushi bar and
teppanyaki room
-
Le Bistro - A French restaurant featuring French gourmet
cuisine
-
The Blue Lagoon - A round-the-clock eatery featuring
grill and wok fast dishes
-
Market Café - An indoor/outdoor buffet-style
eatery serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, and featuring
"food action stations"
-
Las Ramblas - A Spanish Tapas bar and restaurant with
a full selection of Tapas dishes and authentic entertainment
-
La Trattoria - An Italian restaurant serving pasta,
pizza and other popular Italian fare
-
Endless Summer - A Hawaiian-themed restaurant
In late 2002, NCL will introduce the Norwegian Dawn, presently
under construction, and also built purposely for NCL's Freestyle
Cruising vacation concept. This sister ship to the Norwegian
Star also will boast 10 restaurants including two main restaurants
each offering a different menu, a round-the-clock buffet-style
restaurant with bistro service in the evenings, and five gourmet
and ethnic restaurants. All venues will offer food standards
as varied and as high in quality to compete with the best
shoreside restaurants.
Freestyle Dining Offers a Variety of Regional Cuisine
Choices
All NCL's full-service and specialty restaurant
menus incorporate a variety of regional specialties to allow
guests to savor the culinary creations unique to the exotic
destinations visited during their cruise. As is the case with
each ship's main restaurants, each specialty restaurant offers
Freestyle Dining where passengers can choose when, where,
and with whom they dine, including choosing the same table
and waiter every night if that is their preference.
Norwegian Sky's six restaurants - a total that is greater
than any ship presently in the industry -- have been successfully
offering Freestyle Dining for some months now. Ciao-Chow's
menu has been redesigned to serve ethnic Asian cuisine with
contemporary twists such as Peking Style Crisp Duck, Sweet
Plum Sauce and Spring Onions on a Sesame Crust and the unique
Drunken, Asian Spiced Shrimp and Squid Caesar Salad.
Ciao-Chow also allows guests to indulge in an all-you-can-eat
Sushi Bar. Also on the Sky, Horizons, formerly serving the
same menu as the two main restaurants, Four Seasons Dining
Room and Seven Season Dining Room, has converted into Horizons
of Italy, an Italian gourmet restaurant serving such delicacies
as Beef Medallions with Vegetable Peperonata and Pesto-Pizza
Sauce.
Le Bistro, one of the popular alternative dining restaurants
aboard all NCL ships, offers a new menu reflecting French
Mediterranean dishes such as Tournedos of Beef Tenderloin
Rossini style with Foie Gras and Truffled Veal Jus. Reservations
are recommended for these restaurants along with a $10US per
person cover charge. Norwegian Sky also offers its passengers
the Garden Café serving casual American cuisine with
indoor and outdoor seating.
Special Menu Will Have Passengers Singing "Hail
to the Chef"
Chef Henry Haller, the former White House executive
chef whose culinary innovations spanned five presidential
administrations, has created a special "President's Menu"
exclusive to NCL. The entire dinner menu consists of distinguished
dishes and prized recipes served during Haller's more than
20 years at the White House, and are offered on most itineraries.
Additionally, as part of a special, ongoing alliance with
Cooking Light magazine, NCL dining options feature more than
160 of Cooking Light's signature recipes, which are rotated
onto the breakfast, lunch and dinner menus on all NCL ships
throughout the year.
While food undeniably sounds delicious in any language,
NCL prints its menus in English, French, Spanish, Norwegian,
German, and Portuguese so that international guests can fully
appreciate the variety of selections available. NCL also offers
a daily children's menu to please even the most finicky junior
cruiser. In addition, all ships designate the dining rooms
as non-smoking areas.
"In reflecting NCL's Freestyle Cruising concept, our
emphasis is on continually providing guests more restaurant
choices along with greater choices of fresher, healthier,
and more imaginative cuisine on each and every cruise,"
Stuart said.
Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line is an international cruise
company and industry innovator that currently operates a fleet
of eight ships sailing to more than 200 ports around the world.
NCL is currently building three new ships: Norwegian Sun,
a 1,960-passenger sister ship to Norwegian Sky (for delivery
September 2001); Norwegian Star, a 2,200-passenger ship that
will be NCL's largest (for delivery in December 2001); and
Norwegian Dawn, a 2,200-passenger sister ship to Norwegian
Star (for delivery in December 2002).
For further information on NCL, contact a travel agent or
NCL in the U.S. and Canada at (800) 327-7030; in Miami-Dade
County, Florida, (305) 436-0866; or visit NCL on AOL at keyword:
NCL.
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