Norwegian Cruise Line recently announced that at least 1 of its six 3,300-passenger “Leonardo” class ships will be based in Southampton UK on a seasonal basis.
Deliveries of the new-class cruise ships are scheduled from 2022 to 2027. The “Leonardo” class will be the half-way stage between line’s 2,400-berth “Jade” ships and 4,028-berth “Breakaway”.
As Norwegian deploys “Leonardo” class ships in homeports Miami and Barcelona, Southampton will soon be added as well.
Older vessels like the 2,400-passenger Norwegian Dawn in 2022 go to new homeports (like Charleston, Baltimore) and in Texas. “Leonardo” class ships will then be free to depart from homeports where the older NCL vessels had previously operated.
NCL is due to take delivery of its newest liner - the 4,000-passenger Norwegian Encore - in Fall 2019.