Norwegian Cruise Line has major plans to revive Philadelphia's defunct cruise industry in the coming years, bringing two ships to the city for voyages that will begin in 2026. The company revealed on Thursday that Norwegian Pearl — a ship with a capacity of nearly 2,400 passengers — is now slated to make trips to Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean destinations starting in the fall of that year.
The American cruise line previously announced in July that it will make the SouthPort Marine Terminal Complex in South Philadelphia the home port for the Norwegian Jewel, another cruise ship that holds 2,330 people. Beginning in the spring of 2026 and running through October, Norwegian Jewel is scheduled to make 24 calls to Philadelphia for 10- and 11-day voyages north to destinations in New England and Canada.
The Caribbean voyages were announced as part of a Black Friday sale that Norwegian Cruise Line is promoting with discounts up to 50% off for bookings across its fleet. The Pearl has five different Caribbean voyages planned out of Philadelphia between Nov. 14, 2026, and March 20, 2027.
Options include a seven-day voyage to Bermuda that November and a five-day voyage there the following month. An eight-day cruise to the Bahamas — with stops in Orlando and Jacksonville — will take place in February and March. The company also is offering 10- and 11-day cruises to the Dominican Republic and St. Thomas between November 2026 and March 2027, with stops in Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands.
The northern itinerary for Norwegian Jewel includes New England stops in Boston and Bar Harbor, Maine. In Canada, Quebec will serve as the ship's alternate home port to make calls in Saguenay, Charlottetown and Halifax.
The cruises planned out of Philadelphia are the first signs of life for an industry that collapsed in the city around the start of the 2010s. Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cruise lines all operated out of Philadelphia at various points from the late 1990s through the 2000s. The Delaware River Port Authority, which formerly managed the city's Navy Yard cruise terminal, voted to shut the facility down in 2011 after the industry had dwindled from 36 departures in 2006 to just two the year the terminal closed.
With Norwegian Cruise Line's return, the renewed industry will be managed by the Port of Philadelphia, an independent state agency also known as PhilaPort and the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority. The agency plans to make infrastructure improvements at the SouthPort Marine Terminal Complex — located south of the Walt Whitman Bridge — before Norwegian Jewel makes its first calls in April 2026. DRPA will no longer be involved in the cruise business, officials said.
Philadelphia's port has been hampered in the past by height restrictions on ships traveling under the bridges that cross the Delaware River. It's also a longer journey to and from the open ocean out of Philadelphia – about 100 miles – than it is from ports in New York, Baltimore and Bayonne, New Jersey. It takes about six hours to sail up the Delaware River and out to the Atlantic Ocean, DRPA officials had said when they closed the Navy Yard terminal.
The cruise industry has been resurgent in the United States since the COVID-19 pandemic, with Americans accounting for about 43% of global business in 2022, according to Forbes.
The Port of Philadelphia already is one of the nation's fastest-growing cargo hubs. In October, the port unveiled a $2 billion expansion plan that included tourism growth as one its strategic initiatives. Port officials hope to develop business relationships with multiple cruise lines in the years ahead and eventually construct a new cruise terminal in South Philly.
In July, port officials estimated that restarting cruises in Philadelphia could generate more than $40 million in annual county and state tax revenue by 2028. The port also projects that the industry could create about 2,000 jobs directly and indirectly, including by an infusion of tourists visiting hotels, restaurants, museums and historical sites.