MIAMI , November 22, 2005 – Today, Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) announced a revised schedule for Norwegian Star’s Mexican Rivera itineraries. The change is being made because of damage to the forward thrust bearings of the ship’s ABB-manufactured azipod propulsion system. Norwegian Star’s engineers have been running comprehensive inspections on the pod and the results show that a reduction of speed is necessary to prevent further deterioration to the bearings. Although the ship can still travel at the 20 knot pace that is typical for most big cruise ships, she cannot perform the maximum 25 knots that is a feature of the new NCL ships and that is necessary to operate the published Mexican Riviera itinerary. Therefore the itineraries from Friday, November 25, 2005 through the March 1, 2006 cruise will be amended.
The azipods will be repaired during a newly scheduled dry dock in March 2006; the earliest date the company is able to secure the needed parts and dry-dock availability to conduct the repair. The ship will resume its scheduled high-speed itinerary beginning with the April 2, 2006 cruise. The company sincerely apologizes for any inconvenience caused by this change to the itinerary and would like to thank our guests for their patience and understanding