Being Towed Into the Shipyard Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) bought the S/S France to convert into what was then the largest cruise ship in the world. There was just one problem: the France was an ocean liner... ...and there's a big difference between an ocean liner and a cruise ship. France had been built for the cold, stormy North Atlantic and its rough seas. Her activities were focused indoors, sheltered from the climate. There was only one tiny swimming pool. There wasn't much space for passengers to lay on deck (remember old pictures of men and women bundled in blankets in deck chairs under a gray sky?). But you don't go on a Carribean cruise to be sheltered from the climate! So all that had to change. She was towed to a German shipyard, and renovations were begun. In all, the renovations cost six times the purchase price of the ship. Extra decks were added, supporting two larger swimming pools. (The old swimming pool was converted to a disco.) Two-thousand square feet of space was added for sun-worshippers to soak up the Carribean rays.

Return to New York! Space was added for two tenders -- small ships that could be put overboard at ports of call to ferry passengers to and from shore. These were necessary because the Norway was too big to dock at any of the Carribean's ports. And, finally, the engines and propellers were overhauled to decrease fuel consumption to a quarter of what the France required. In 1980 the rechristened S/S Norway left the shipyard and sailed to Oslo, where she received a visit from King Olaf V, Prince Harald, and Princess Sonia. Then she crossed the Atlantic once again, making a triumphant return to New York. And then she sailed from New York to her new home port, in the land of sunshine and orange juice: Miami. Her transformation was complete.

S/S Norway Poster

The source for most of the information for this page was Devon M. Scott, the S/S Norway Official Ship's Historian at the time of her final cruise.