Norwegian Cruise Line began in 1966 as the Norwegian Caribbean Line. It was founded when a Norwegian named Knut Kloster and an Israeli named Ted Arison purchased an old 830-ton European ferry ship named the M/S Sunward. The company began offering regular low-priced Caribbean cruises to Nassau from the Port of Miami. A "disagreement" among the founders occurred, and Ted Arison departed the company. He went on to create a competing company known as Carnival Cruise Lines.
Norwegian Caribbean Line acquired four additional ships by 1971. The company then obtained the French government's quickest ocean liner, the SS France, in 1979 and renamed it the SS Norway. This ship was also the biggest cruise ship in the world at that time. The company was one of the world's biggest cruise lines, and it was a pioneering force in the industry. Knut Kloster changed the name of the company to Norwegian Cruise Line in 1987.
In 1991, NCL founded the Orient Lines. The company name changed again to Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd in 1996 when it was made into an independent corporation. Norwegian Cruise Line began offering cruises to Hawaii, Alaska, Bermuda and Europe. It offered cruises from Australia under a different name, the Norwegian Capricorn Line. In 2000, Star Cruises of Malaysia acquired the company. This acquisition made it the world' third biggest cruise company with 18 ships in its fleet.
The "Freestyle Cruising" concept was the idea of company chairman Colin Veitch. It began in 2000 as a development program that consisted of adding more pioneering itineraries, new ships and numerous on-board improvements. The first cruise offering the new Freestyle Cruising format was the Norwegian Sky, which was launched in May 2000. In 2001, Norwegian Cruise Line added two more of these ships, the Norwegian Sun and the Norwegian Star. The Norwegian Dawn began service in December 2002, and every other ship in the fleet was scheduled for an upgrade to offer this new concept.
In 2004, the company started NCL America with U.S. crewed and flagged ships. The Pride of Aloha sailed in July 2004 and was joined by Pride of America in 2005 and Pride of Hawaii in 2006. After profits fell in 2007, the only ship remaining that offers Hawaiian cruises is Pride of America. The Apollo Management LP purchased 50 percent of the company in 2008. The company also launched three new Freestyle Cruising ships in Europe that year, the most ever in NCL history.
