Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

• Girls’ Trips Leave Women Feeling Refreshed (56%) and Closer to Their Friends (49%)
• In Honour of Galentine’s Day (13 Feb. 2024), Norwegian Cruise Line Is Encouraging Women to Take the Time to Sail Away Together to Top Girls’ Trip Destinations, Including Europe and United States
   

Love is in the air, but this Galentine’s Day, Feb 13, 2024, it’s all about celebrating the unsung heroines of our lives – our gal pals! Founded by the legendary, but fictional Leslie Knope from Parks and Recreation over a decade ago, Galentine’s Day is a reminder to the importance of the extraordinary connections women share with their female friends and family.

NCL encore rails friends
 

A recent survey of Indian adult women conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL)⁽¹⁾, the innovator of global cruise travel, reveals that two thirds of the women surveyed feel they are caught in the whirlwind of daily life and struggle to find enough time to nurture their relationships, leaving them on average with less than an hour of ‘quality time’ per week with the women in their lives. Yet, 87% of females surveyed appreciate Galentine’s Day as a reminder to foster meaningful connections, with 66% of women dedicating time to celebrate this occasion. 
 

Further, 89% women agree that all-girls getaways are a fantastic way to toast to their friendships. Sailing to nearly 450 destinations around the world across its 19-ship fleet, NCL provides a variety of destinations and experiences to cater to women and their preferred travel options, like discovering a new city, dining out, shopping or signing up for adventurous activities.
 

A majority 90% of the women said they had taken a girls’ trip with their female friends in the past, with 44% intending to head out with their gang of girls in 2024. For these women, an all-girls trip isn’t simply a holiday, but it gives them the opportunity to get away from day-to-day worries (48%), chance to try new foods (32%), delve into new experiences together (43%) and discover new places (30%).
 

With over a third of women surveyed nominating United States as a top destination, an Alaska cruise is an ideal holiday choice. NCL’s Norwegian Joy is an appealing option offering nine-and-10-day roundtrip sailings from Seattle to Alaska, providing a longer, immersive experience and featuring scenic sailings to Glacier Bay National Park, Hubbard Glacier, and stops at Icy Strait Point and Ketchikan.
 

Canada also rated highly (37%) and NCL offers a selection of port-intensive sailings from 7 to 11-days departing from New York, Boston, Baltimore, and Quebec City between late August to October to make the most of the region’s famous autumn foliage.
 

The results also revealed that Europe was a hotspot for Indian women, especially the Mediterranean with France being nominated by 35% of survey respondents, Italy (32%) and the UK and British Isles (30%). This year, NCL will feature 10 ships in Europe, including its newest additions, Norwegian Prima and Norwegian Viva, offering a variety of itineraries from bucket-list destinations including Lisbon, Portugal; Trieste and Civitavecchia, Italy; Piraeus, Greece; Southampton, United Kingdom and Reykjavik, Iceland making it even more enticing for guests to add a few days exploring pre- or post-cruise. 
 

“We take pride in delivering a variety of experiences for our guests and providing them with the most memorable vacations with exceptional value,” said  “Cruising brings all types of travelers and groups together, including women, to reconnect and strengthen their relationships while immersing in new experiences. When sailing with NCL, you can wake up in a new destination, discover new adventures on and off the ship, spend time relaxing in our world-class spa facilities and indulge in endless dining and beverage options. We offer something for everyone.”

Michelle Wiederman, Marketing Director APAC for Norwegian Cruise Line.

Although Galentine’s Day is widely observed on Feb 13, the overarching message of honoring female friendships and dedicating time for all-girl getaways is relevant all year long. NCL’s expansive product offering provides the perfect platform for ladies to sail away together anywhere in the world and create memories they can cherish for a lifetime:

• Value-for-time and money travel: Cruising offers one of the best values to explore multiple destinations, unpacking once and waking up in a new destination nearly every day. For female travelers looking to maximise their time and travel budget, NCL’s popular Free at Sea offering delivers additional amenities to further design their dream holiday, including specialty dining and beverage packages, complimentary Wi-Fi, shore excursion credits, free companion airfare and more.
• Explore bucket-list worthy destinations in one trip: When planning a girls’ getaway, research showed most women opt for visiting another city, a sun-kissed beach break or an adventure getaway. Sailing to over 450 destinations across the globe, NCL cruises to almost every woman’s bucket-list destination, including Alaska, Europe and the United Kingdom
• Share a room or go solo – it’s up to you: When going on an all-girls trip, 56% of women said they are willing to share a room with their travel companions. From inside staterooms for the value-seekers to luxurious multi-bedroom suites in The Haven by Norwegian^®, NCL offers a broad variety of stateroom categories for every taste and travel style. Moreover, the cruise line has recently more than doubled the capacity of its solo accommodations and expanded its offerings to include Solo Inside, Solo Oceanview and Solo Balcony stateroom categories, providing more options than ever before for women who prefer to have their own accommodations while traveling with friends.
• Indulge at your pace: Research shows that popular traditions for women to celebrate Galentine’s Day and their female relationships include drinks at a bar, a fancy dinner, a spa visit, group-mani-pedi sessions and shopping. As part of NCL’s freedom and flexibility product offering, female travelers can enjoy NCL’s breadth of onboard activities. All ships in NCL’s award-winning fleet feature a Mandara Spa® with thermal suite experiences, saunas and signature treatments. Most notably, Norwegian Prima and Norwegian Viva, the first two ships in the ground-breaking Prima Class, debuted the first charcoal sauna at sea and other brand-first experiences like an ice room, experiential showers, a flotation salt pool and infrared sauna.
   

For more information about NCL’s award-winning 19-ship fleet and worldwide itineraries, or to book a cruise, please contact a travel professional, visit www.ncl.com.
 

⁽¹⁾The survey was conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Norwegian Cruise Line from January 24 – 25, 2024 polling 1,000 women in India aged 18 and above.

About Norwegian Cruise Line

As the innovator in global cruise travel, Norwegian Cruise Line has been breaking the boundaries of traditional cruising for 57 years. Most notably, the cruise line revolutionized the industry by offering guests the freedom and flexibility to design their ideal vacation on their preferred schedule with no assigned dining and entertainment times and no formal dress codes. Today, its fleet of 19 contemporary ships sail to 450 of the world’s most desirable destinations, including Great Stirrup Cay, the company’s private island in the Bahamas and its resort destination Harvest Caye in Belize. Norwegian Cruise Line not only provides superior guest service from land to sea, but also offers a wide variety of award-winning entertainment and dining options as well as a range of accommodations across the fleet, including solo-traveler staterooms, club balcony suites, and The Haven by Norwegian®, the company’s ship-within-a-ship concept. For additional information or to book a cruise, contact a travel professional or visit www.ncl.com. For the latest news and exclusive content, visit the NCL Newsroom and follow Norwegian Cruise Line on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok and YouTube @NorwegianCruiseLine; and Twitter @CruiseNorwegian.

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