Norwegian Cruise Line Is Moving Its Built-for-China Ship to the U.S.

A little more than a year ago, Norwegian Cruise Line was celebrating its first China-based ship, Norwegian Joy, at a ceremony in Shanghai. Everything at the christening — ship included — had been customized for the market: the hull art, featuring a phoenix; the choreographed dance; the guest list; and the godfather, pop star Wang Leehom, who gave a performance. "After years spent carefully designing this amazing vessel, my team and I are both proud and thrilled to finally christen the world’s first cruise ship custom-designed for the wonderful people of China," said Frank Del Rio, president and CEO of parent company Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, at the June 2017 event. On Wednesday, Norwegian was singing another tune. The operator announced a series of deployment changes that will see the 3,883-passenger Norwegian Joy leave China in April for the more lucrative waters of Alaska. Eventually, the ship will be replaced in China by a much smaller vessel that will sail there seasonally, but Norwegian will have no vessels in the country for about a year. "China's a good market. But it's not as good as Alaska," Norwegian Cruise Line President and CEO Andy Stuart told Skift in an interview. "In this business, particularly when you're not the biggest, we don't have 100 ships where we have to have a significant deployment essentially in every region around the world. We can be a little more opportunistic in how we deploy the fleet." Norwegian Bliss, which la