As you may (or may not) remember, we've always had something of a soft spot for Norwegian Cruise Line. Not because it's better, nor bigger, nor friendlier…just because it brought us back to cruising.
We've been on five Norwegian ships, almost half the fleet, but that's about to change because five will soon no longer be close to half the fleet.
Yesterday, Norwegian announced plans to build one or two new ships, in addition to the Breakaway (2013) and the Getaway (2014). The unnamed (of course) new-builds will arrive in 2015 and, if the option is picked up, 2017. These four ships are following in the 
footprint of the oft-maligned Epic, which arrived two years ago.
Both Breakaway and Getaway will carry 4,000 passengers. The newer ships will carry about 200 more people, which is how Norwegian will pay the price tag of close to a billion bucks per boat, and the Epic is right between them all with a capacity of 4,100.
At 15 ships, assuming there are no retirements from the fleet, Norwegian is moving into a new class of cruising. Only Carnival (24), Royal Caribbean (22) and Princess (16) currently have more. Norwegian's also developing a new class — called Breakaway Plus. That's where the two new ships will go, and perhaps any more that the cruise line might have on the drawing board.
The ships will be built at Meyer Werft, the German shipyard that was a staple for Norwegian until it did a one-off with the Epic, which was put together in France. Of the impending fleet of 15, all but four will have come out of the Meyer Werft Shipyard.
It was the Norwegian Star that brought us back to cruising after a 14-year absence. That one-week Mexican Riviera cruise was followed by trips on the Sun (South America), Spirit (Western Caribbean), Epic (Western Caribbean) and Sky (Bahamas). Maybe one of these newbies will bring us back…to Norwegian.
Sapphire Princess
14 nights
January 19, 2013
Los Angeles (return): Hilo, Honolulu, Nawiliwili, Lahaina, Ensenada
Inside: $1,469
Cost per day: $104
www.princess.com