A few weeks ago I wrote about Norwegian Sky quietly leaving the fleet without the send-off she deserved. NCL had cancelled her marquee farewell voyage, the 21-night repositioning cruise that was supposed to end in the Middle East, over regional security concerns. I said at the time that a ship this significant to the industry deserved a proper final lap instead of a cancellation email. I’m glad to say I got that part wrong.
The voyage that actually happened
The Dubai-bound sailing was never coming back, that part held. But it turns out NCL’s full farewell season for Sky included more than just that one marquee voyage, and a shorter nine-night Mediterranean cruise went ahead exactly as scheduled. She departed Barcelona on August 31, made her way through Villefranche, Livorno, Civitavecchia and Salerno, then on to Heraklion, Santorini and Mykonos, before ending in Piraeus on September 9. That’s a real farewell cruise, full of passengers, hitting some of the best ports in the Mediterranean, and it’s the kind of send-off I was afraid she wasn’t going to get.
After Piraeus, she’s expected to reposition toward the Middle East ahead of her handover to Cordelia Cruises, still on track for a debut under her new name, Cordelia Sky, sometime in late October.
Why I’m glad I was wrong
I sailed Sky as a kid, back when Freestyle Cruising was still a novelty instead of the industry standard, and again more recently as an adult. Both times, the ship felt like it knew exactly what it was for, easy, unpretentious, built around letting you eat when and where you wanted instead of boxing you into a set dining time. Reading that her last real voyage was scrapped over politics she had nothing to do with felt like a bad way for a ship like that to go out. Knowing she still got nine nights of passengers actually enjoying her, right up through her final port call, makes this feel like the ending she earned instead of the one she almost got stuck with.
What comes next for her
Once she’s delivered to Cordelia, she’ll take on two- to five-night itineraries out of Indian ports, and is set to add Southeast Asia routes during her first year with the new line. Her sister ship, Norwegian Sun, is scheduled to join her under Cordelia in late 2027. Neither ship is headed for scrap, they’re just starting a new chapter somewhere else, which is about the best outcome an old ship like this can hope for.
If you missed the original piece, here’s what I wrote when the cancellation first came through. Consider this the correction I’m happy to be making.