Jacksonville will get a second cruise ship when Norwegian Cruise Line joins Carnival

Norwegian Cruise Line is on its way to Jacksonville in 2025, giving cruise travelers boarding here a second option for their tropical voyages.

The JaxPort board unanimously approved an agreement Tuesday for a 2,394-passenger Norwegian Cruise Line ship that will offer seasonal sailings starting in November 2025 from Jacksonville to the Bahamas and the Eastern Caribbean. Some of the trips will be 11-day and 12-day voyages, adding a longer cruise option than exists today from Jacksonville.

"There's been a lot of buzz around town about this move, so let's get right to it," JaxPort CEO Eric Green said as he brought the agreement before the board at a special meeting.

The ship called the "Norwegian Gem" will depart from Jacksonville between November and April every year through 2028. It will use the same JaxPort cruise terminal as Carnival Cruise Line.

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Carnival Cruise Line has had a ship sailing out of Jacksonville since 2004, currently with the Elation ship to the Bahamas. Carnival will keep doing its year-round trips out of Jacksonville.

Green said Carnival is the cruise line "that got us to the dance" and will continue to be a mainstay of the city's cruise business.

"It was always a question of whether or not we could host two cruise lines at the same time, but we're able to do it," he said.

What does Norwegian bring to Jacksonville?

Norwegian, known for its colorful hull art, is one of the biggest cruise operators in the world with trips spanning the globe. Headquartered in Miami, Norwegian has used Port Canaveral, Miami and Tampa as its departure ports from Florida. Norwegian cruises also go to Key West. Jacksonville will become its latest homeport.

"Today marks a new milestone in the relationship between Norwegian Cruise Line and JaxPort," company president David J. Herrara said.

Norwegian is no stranger to Jacksonville. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Norwegian moved three of its ships — the "Norwegian Sky," “Norwegian Gem“ and "Norwegian Pearl" — to JaxPort docks in 2020 because of the industry's voluntary suspension of cruises. That shutdown forced cruise lines to bring their ships back to ports and PortMiami didn't have enough room for all the ships, so Jacksonville stepped in to offer dock space.

The cruise ships didn't let any passengers on board during their time in Jacksonville. Now Norwegian is set to put the "Norwegian Gem" on the itinerary for cruise passengers out of Jacksonville.

Norwegian will start taking reservations on Feb. 15 at its web site ncl.com for a mix of travel itineraries.

The three 12-day and two 11-day round-trip journeys each year will depart Jacksonville and make calls on Great Stirrup Cay, the cruise line's private island in the Bahamas, with other stops at Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic, St. Thomas and St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Antigua, Basseterre in St. Kitts, San Juan in Puerto Rico, and other destinations.

Norwegian also will have four-day and five-day cruises to the Bahamas with stops at Great Stirrup Cay, Freeport, and Nassau.

The "Norwegian Gem's" capacity of 2,394-passengers would be a bump up in size from the Carnival Elation whose normal guest capacity is 2,052 when estimating two guests per stateroom, according to JaxPort.

The "Norwegian Gem" was built in 2007 and refurbished in 2015. It sails now from Boston.

The JaxPort cruise terminal is off Heckscher Drive west of Interstate 295 and the Dames Point bridge. The height of the bridge limits the size of cruise ships that can pass under its so the jumbo-sized ships that use Port Canaveral and Miami are too large to call on Jacksonville.

Jacksonville has built its cruise business by catering to travelers who like the convenience of boarding here rather than driving farther south. In November, Jacksonville surpassed the 3 million mark for cruise passengers. JaxPort says the city is a growing drive-to cruise market with 98 million consumers living in driving distance of the cruise terminal.

How did JaxPort strike the deal with Norwegian?

The four-year agreement will have three two-year renewal options. JaxPort will pay Norwegian a $2.7 million trademark licensing fee. Norwegian will pay $1.6 million per year to JaxPort to use the cruise terminal.

The contract talks began late last year and moved quickly to reach a deal for Norwegian to use the JaxPort cruise terminal.

In addition to Norwegian's experience of JaxPort from when its ships docked here during the pandemic, the company's Seven Seas Navigator boat has come to Jacksonville for port-of-call visits. A division of Norwegian operates the 496-passenger Seven Seas.

"Today's agreement is a natural evolution of that partnership," Green told the board.

The deal also had a personal connection between Green and Juan Kuryla, the senior vice president of port development and construction for Norwegian. Kuryla previously was port director and CEO of PortMiami so he knew Green from their work in the port industry. In the "it's a small world" nature of that industry, JaxPort almost hired Kuryla to be its CEO in 2013 but Kuryla decided to stay at PortMiami.

When he interviewed for the JaxPort CEO job back then, Kuryla said he would want to bring more cargo and cruise ships to Jacksonville.

He represented the company Tuesday afternoon and told the board Norwegian was pleased at the relationship it has with JaxPort.

"Something we like to say is we go where we are wanted," he said. "We go where we are felt as a partner and as a stakeholder."

City Council President Ron Salem and Mayor Donna Deegan's chief of staff Darnell Smith joined JaxPort leaders for the ceremonial signing of the agreement.

"We all know our city is a gem, and soon it will be fitting to have this ship at our port," Salem said in remarks to the board.

Smith noted a study found the cruise industry in Jacksonville generates about 800 jobs, thousands of hotel room nights, and $187 million of economic impact.

He said when people come to Jacksonville for their cruises, he hopes they will spend time and money in the city's various neighborhoods as part of their vacations.

"We want them to enjoy Jacksonville," he said. "We want them to see all the great things we have to offer."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Norwegian Cruise Line joining Carnival at Jacksonville port