Norwegian Cruise Line Celebrates Travel Partners with a Week of Thanks

1,000 Travel Agencies Received Gifts of Gratitude and the Chance to Sail Aboard the Brand’s Newest Innovative Ship, Norwegian Encore

Norwegian Cruise Line, the innovator in global cruise travel, celebrated 1,000 travel agencies across North America with the launch of Partners First – Week of Thank You, an initiative designed to recognize and reward valued partners and reinvigorate the company’s Partners First philosophy.
 
From Sept. 23-27, 2019, the company celebrated its first-ever Partners First – Week of Thank You by sending packages filled with branded treats and giveaways to many top agencies to acknowledge and inspire them to continue selling the Norwegian Cruise Line experience.

In addition, through its Partners First Facebook page, the Company encouraged travel advisors to submit for a chance to attend the christening ceremony and inaugural sailing of its latest innovative ship, Norwegian Encore, in Miami from Nov. 21-24, 2019. Airfare will be included! Today, Sept. 30, 2019, five winners will be selected and announced on the Partners First Facebook page.
 
The debut of Partners First – Week of Thank You, follows the appointment of Katina Athanasiou as the Company’s Chief Sales Officer.

“We created the Partners First Week of Thank You to express our sincere gratitude and reinforce our commitment to our valued travel partners," said Athanasiou. "This is our way of formally showing our thanks to them for allowing us to be a part of their client's vacation experience. While Partners First - Week of Thank You was just a week-long event, our commitment to our esteemed travel partners remains our top priority year-round. We have much that is new and exciting on the horizon as we start to plan for the 10^th anniversary of our Partners First philosophy so stay tuned!”

As part of the outreach effort, nearly 100 Metro Meetings will be held around the country through December 2019. These intimate gatherings provide a forum where travel partners can connect with the Norwegian Cruise Line North American Sales team about topics that enhance advisors' product knowledge and educate them on the latest Company news. To learn more about these Metro Meetings, advisors should visit the Partners First Facebook page.

Norwegian Cruise Line takes delivery of Norwegian Encore in Bremerhaven, Germany on Oct. 30, 2019, launching a series of preview cruises allowing partners from all over the world a chance to experience firsthand the Company’s newest ship, including the largest racetrack at sea, the Tony Award^®-winning Kinky Boots and a new restaurant concept in collaboration with LDV Hospitality, Onda by Scarpetta.
 
For more information or to book a cruise, please contact a travel professional; call Norwegian at 888-NCL-CRUISE (625-2784); or visit www.ncl.com.
 
For more photos and videos during Partners First Week of Thank You, click here.

For Norwegian Encore’s press kit and assets, click here.

About Partners First
The Norwegian Cruise Line Partners First philosophy demonstrates the company's longstanding commitment to the success of its trusted travel partners by maintaining them at the forefront of all business decisions and providing them with best-in-class tools and experiences.  As such, advisors have access to the award-winning NCLU, a comprehensive educational platform featuring a wide range of sales, product and destination learning modules; Marketing Headquarters where partners can design customized promotional assets to support their selling efforts; and NCL Help, a centralized hub where partners can easily and quickly find answers to their clients' most common questions. 
 
In 2019, a new Affinity Group Program launched, offering both guests and partners with more customized options and overall value. Two new features to the Company's advisor resource portal also debuted - a live chat feature where agents can receive immediate assistance with their bookings, and a Cruise Next reporting tool, which alerts advisors if any of their clients have un-redeemed Cruisenext certificates.  
 
To learn more about the tools available to travel partners, visit norwegiancentral.com.

About Norwegian Encore
Taking the brand’s exclusive, stand-out attractions to the next level, Norwegian Encore will feature the world’s longest race track at sea at 1,100 feet with four high-speed curves extending up to 13 feet over the side of the ship; the largest outdoor laser tag arena at nearly 10,000 square feet with the addition of augmented reality elements; and new immersive escape room and interactive theatre experiences in the 10,000-square-foot Galaxy Pavilion.
 
In addition to featuring many of the highly rated restaurants and lounges that have made the Breakaway Plus class one of the most innovative and successful in the company's history, Norwegian Encore will debut a new elevated Italian dining experience, Onda by Scarpetta, in collaboration with LDV Hospitality. The Tony Award®-winning musical, "Kinky Boots" will headline the world-class entertainment on board, with returning guest favorites "The Choir of Man," "Happy Hour Prohibition: The Musical" and the rocking Beatles cover band of The Cavern Club.
 
Launching this fall, Norwegian Encore will offer seven-day voyages to the Eastern Caribbean from Miami beginning Nov. 24, 2019; Bermuda, and Canada and New England itineraries from New York City beginning Apr. 22, 2020; voyages to the Western Caribbean from Miami beginning Dec. 12, 2020; and in the spring of 2021 will make her West Coast debut and sail to Alaska from Seattle.

About Norwegian Cruise Line
As the innovator in global cruise travel, Norwegian Cruise Line has been breaking the boundaries of traditional cruising for over 52 years. Most notably, the cruise line revolutionized the industry by offering guests the freedom and flexibility to design their ideal vacation on their preferred schedule with no assigned dining and entertainment times and no formal dress codes. Today, its fleet of 16 contemporary ships sail to nearly 300 of some of the world's most desirable destinations, including Great Stirrup Cay, the company's private island in the Bahamas and its resort destination Harvest Caye in Belize.  Norwegian Cruise Line not only provides superior guest service from land to sea, but also offers a wide variety of award-winning entertainment and dining options as well as a range of accommodations across the fleet, including solo-traveler staterooms, mini-suites, spa-suites and The Haven by Norwegian®, the company's ship-within-a-ship concept. For additional information or to book a cruise, contact a travel professional, call 888-NCL-CRUISE (625-2784) or visit www.ncl.com. For the latest news and exclusive content, visit the media center and follow Norwegian Cruise line on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube @NorwegianCruiseLine; and Twitter and Snapchat @CruiseNorwegian.
 
Media Contacts:
PublicRelations@ncl.com
Norwegian Cruise Line
+1 (305) 436-4713