| Norway Farewell Transatlantic 2001 | Day
17 |
Was it a sign of the times, or of a voyage's natural rhythm, that Club International felt sour,
as people waited to get off the ship and back into the world? Bar closed, baggage piled: the center of shipboard social life echoes sadly with the desultory murmurs of passengers awaiting their turn to get away.
Tablemate Jillkarynne gets
off one last note from on board.
adieu, V124
grim and gray topside, her people at work below, or queueing up to get off
A last look at the world as seen through the cathode ray:
pundit, bow cam, and sumo.
This really wasn't the last chance, in truth.
With September 11 having changed so many things, NCL announced that -- rather than undergo coversion to a casino ship -- Norway would return to Miami and the Caribbean unaltered: beloved by many repeat passengers as their "Blue Lady," she was by most indications a profitable ship as she stood. Just as she led in 1980 as the Caribbean's first "destination" cruise ship, in 2001 Norway's redirection was the first tactical move in what NCL came to developed as "Homeland Cruising" for the company's predominantly North American passenger base, morphing in its turn to NCL America. Thought we did not know at the time, soon these shelves would be restocked, the sunglasses rack replenished, sunscreen taken off the clearance table. |
These stairs athrong once again with people happy and glad to be on the Norway.
At this writing Norway lies docked in Bremerhaven, her future uncertain.
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