The Norwegian Capricorn Line was a

cruise line A cruise line is a company that operates cruise ships that operate on ocean or rivers and which markets cruises to the public. Cruise lines are distinct from passenger lines which are primarily concerned with transportation of passengers. Though ...

and was founded by some of Australia's foremost cruise professionals, (including Sarina Bratton who went on to found the expedition style cruise line Orion Expedition Cruises in 2004) in partnership with Norwegian Cruise Line. The 1997 launch of Norwegian Capricorn Line brought something entirely new to the Asia-Pacific region -- a four star cruise ship based in Australia offering some 35 cruises throughout the year in the waters of Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. NCL operated the vessel originally named Royal Viking Sea as the Norwegian Star on several affordable itineraries that included many

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

ports of call. When the major partner in Norwegian Capricorn Line, Norwegian Cruise Lines was taken over by Malaysian owned

Star Cruises Star Cruises was a cruise line headquartered in Hong Kong and operating in the Asia-Pacific market. The company was owned by Genting Hong Kong. It was the eighteenth largest cruise line in the world after Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribb ...

in 2000/2001 the Australian partnership was dissolved and the vessel Norwegian Star became part of Star Cruises fleet and Norwegian Capricorn Line ceased to exist. The collapse of the company is the subject of the academic paper
The Short, Unhappy Life of an Australia-Based Cruise Line

Fleet

The sole vessel in Norwegian Capricorn Line's fleet was the 206m, 28 000 tonne Norwegian Star. The Norwegian Star was originally built as the Royal Viking Line cruise ship Royal Viking Sea in 1973. Royal Viking Line were acquired by Knut Kloster of Norwegian Cruise Line in 1984, and initially retained their separate identity. Royal Viking Sea was transferred to Royal Cruise Line in 1990 as the Royal Odyssey (II). The Royal Viking Line name was sold to

Cunard Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Berm ...

in 1994. Royal Odyssey was transferred into the main Norwegian Cruise Line fleet in 1996 as Norwegian Star and in 1997/98 she was transferred to the then newly formed Norwegian Capricorn Line. With Norwegian Capricorn Line, the Norwegian Star carried a maximum of 848 passengers in 424 suites/staterooms. In 2001 she became part of the Star Cruises fleet. After a period laid up, she was placed on weekly cruises from

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

as Crown Mare Nostrum for Spanish Cruise Line. From 2005 she was running as the

MS Albatros MS ''Albatros'' was a ''Royal Viking Star''-class cruise ship, operated by the Germany-based travel agency Phoenix Reisen until 2020 when she was taken out of service, and scrapped in 2021. History She was built in 1973 by Wärtsilä Hels ...

(II) for German tour company Phoenix Reisen. The name Norwegian Star was transferred to a new build ship, originally planned to be named SuperStar Libra, that was still part of the Norwegian Cruise Line fleet in 2020.

Fleet

See also