Norwegian Adds New Benefit For Military

Just last week, we wrote about how Norwegian Cruise Line was honoring our hard-working educators through their “Giving Joy” program (see the story here). Today, Norwegian announced they’ll be honoring another well-deserved group, our military. 

Norwegian announced its first Military Appreciation Program. This initiative honors active and retired US military members with special onboard events, amenities, and cruise fare discounts. 

Starting on November 2, all active, retired military veterans and their spouses will be eligible to receive a 10% discount on their cruise fare. This discount is good for all sailings beginning on January 1, 2023. Even better, this discount can be combined with Norwegian’s “Free at Sea” offer, their popular program, which gives guests things like free airfare, unlimited open bar, specialty dining, etc. 

Norwegian said, “In addition to the special discount, guests who book under the Military Appreciation Program will also receive exclusive experiences and recognition on board, including a welcome reception and special amenities such as a collectible military challenge coin, pins to designate program participation and collectible patches customized for each ship in the NCL fleet.”

Service men and women will be validated through ID.me, a secure digital identity network that allows active and retired U.S. military members to verify their identity once, and never have to re-verify their identity again across any organization where ID.me is accepted. Those already registered with ID.me will be one step closer to booking their deserved cruise vacation under the Military Appreciation Program.

This program is unique in that it was created for veterans, by veterans. Norwegian chief consumer sales and marketing officer, David Herrera, served in the Army National Guard and Matthew Lewis, senior VP and chief security officer, served in the U.S. Navy for nearly 21 years. These gentlemen worked hard to create a program that would reward and honor our military family. 

 While Norwegian’s press release says it’ll “set the cruise industry standard,” we’d be remiss if you didn’t point out that Carnival has a long-standing tradition of honoring our military members. They’ve long had a military discount and had gatherings for service members aboard ships. They even went so far as to create the Heroes Tribute Lounge on their new ships, a dedicated space to honor our service members. That being said, it’s great to see another cruise line want to honor these heroes. 

To learn more about Norwegian Cruise Line’s Military Appreciation Program, please visit www.ncl.com/military.