August 19, 2026
Doug Engle/USA Today via Reuters Connect
Norwegian Gem will serve as a year-round vessel for cruises out of Philadelphia during Norwegian Cruise Line's service in 2028, starting with spring voyages to Bermuda. Above, the cruise ship is shown in Jacksonville, Florida, in 2025.
Norwegian Cruise Line's growing itinerary out of the Port of Philadelphia will make use of another ship in the company's fleet for a series of voyages to Bermuda in 2028 and beyond.
The cruise line plans to use Norwegian Gem, which has a capacity of about 2,400 passengers, for a series of seven-night Bermuda cruises that will start in April 2028, making overnight stops in Norfolk, Virginia. Starting with these voyages, Norwegian Gem will become a year-round vessel for the company's operations out of Philadelphia. Additional voyages from the city in 2028 have not yet been announced.
Norwegian Cruise Line started sailing out of Philadelphia earlier this year, becoming the first service with cruise travel of the city since 2011. The American cruise line still is the only company offering voyages here as construction continues on a new cruise terminal next to the airport.
The Port of Philadelphia, which oversees the city's rebounding cruise industry, hopes the new facility will expand service with additional lines offering voyages in the years to come. Norwegian Cruise Line has committed to a seven-year berthing agreement that will include at least 41 voyages per year out of Philadelphia.
The cruise line started its Philadelphia service this spring with Norwegian Jewel, which carries just over 2,300 passengers. That ship was scheduled for 24 calls in Philadelphia between April and the end of October. During the spring and summer, the ship has offered seven- and nine-day trips to Bermuda. In the fall, it will sail 10- and 11-day voyages to New England and Canada, where it will use Quebec as an alternating home port.
Norwegian Pearl, which carries just under 2,400 passengers, is slated to make voyages out of Philadelphia to the Caribbean from November until next March. Then from April to September 2027, Norwegian Pearl will make seven-day voyages from Philadelphia to Bermuda with stops in Norfolk. From late August to mid-October 2027, the ship will travel between Philadelphia and Canada on 11-day, one-way voyages with stops in Boston, Quebec City and elsewhere. Passengers on those voyages will need to book flights home from their final destinations.
Norwegian Cruise Line is using Norwegian Gem in Philadelphia to allow Norwegian Pearl to return to Europe for summer cruises in the Mediterranean. Norwegian Gem was built in 2006 and was recently refurbished in May when it was dry-docked in Marseille, France.
The first trips scheduled out of Philadelphia for the 2028 itinerary will mark Norwegian Cruise Line's third year of service out of the city. Additional Bermuda trips will be offered in 2028 from New York City on the Norwegian Luna and from Boston on the Norwegian Breakaway.
The Port of Philadelphia started construction on the new cruise terminal in December at a 16-acre property in Tinicum Township in Delaware County. The project was expected to be finished in the spring, but delays and rising project costs led officials to estimate work to be finished by the end of summer. Officials anticipate that a revived cruise industry will generate about $300 million in annual economic activity and create more than 2,000 jobs.
