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"What went wrong at NCL?"
Mr Kloster's response:
"Seaward represented our future, a very bright future for NCL when I brought her out. We should have concentrated on looking to the future, but the Board could not stop looking back. Norway cost us $18 million to buy and a subsequent $110 million to refit. This does not even account for the tremendous cost of repairs that were made time and time again. She was a tremendous financial burden and almost sank us. Seaward saved us. Unfortunately, they never looked beyond Seaward and shelved Project Eagle; instead purchasing Royal Cruise for an outrageous sum and then building Dreamward and Windward; ill concieved ships at best that should never have been built. The company has now been lost, so it's a moot point. I hope that the new management can salvage what is left."
Thank you for an interesting file. At the same time I must say that I´m not very impressed by Mr Kloster´s response. In his response he blames the problems of the NCL on A SHIP!! "She (the S/S Norway)....almost sank us".
This statement is really hard to believe. I have recently gone through many inches of cruise-guides, professional journals etc. Strangely enough - none of the sources seems to consider the S/S Norway to be an economic disaster. On the contrary, she is looked upon as a "true success".
And how could she be a burden? She has a capacity of about 2 500 passengers. Allmost always booked to capacity (soure: Berlitz Guide to Cruising 2000). She is paid for, which means no costs for depreciation, no interest costs. She is cruising at about 17-18 knots (the fuel costs at this low speed cannot be high - even with old steam turbines).
I cannot help to think that Mr Kloster is trying to blame the problems of the NCL on the board of directors (and of course the poor S/S Norway). I repeat: If they cannot make money on the S/S Norway the shareholders should retire the management and not the S/S Norway.
And now some comments abou the "old vs new ship" question:
I think it is very important that we all agree that what is important is return on investment (ROI). Timber is arguing that a ship like the Norwegian Sky earns a lot more money than an old ship does. Of course - SHE HAS TO - because the amount of money invested in the Sky is of quite another magnitude then the money invested in the S/S Norway. This means that a ship like the S/S Norway could earn less money than the SKY and still be a more profitable investment.
Finally I´m convinced that the S/S Norway will sail on, but perhaps not under the ********** management of the NCL. In the Berlitz Guide to Cruising 2000 there is an interesting statement from the editor about the QE2. I think this statement can also be used for the S/S Noray. "Will she survive the onslaught of the megaships? YES! simple beacuse she is nothing like them".
RegardsGripsholm
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