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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, 2001—Norwegian 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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