Ben Angell is a very happy man.
After more than a decade with Norwegian Cruise Line, he has finally seen something evolve that he’s been quietly pushing for since he joined.
The company recently unveiled a bold brand refresh that takes NCL back to its roots while positioning it for the next wave of cruisers.
For Angell, the relaunch is more than a cosmetic change. It’s a return to what he calls “NCL’s true DNA” – the pioneering, disruptive spirit that first caught his attention back in the 1990s.
“My early memories of NCL were built around their iconic tagline ‘It’s different out here’,” says the Vice President & Managing Director APAC as he chats to Traveltalk’s Jon Underwood.
“NCL was a pioneer, a disruptor, the creator of freestyle cruising. Over time our messaging became more focused on offers than on emotion, so it’s fantastic to be re‑anchoring ourselves in that original space.
“On the one hand this brand refresh takes us back to somewhere where we’re very comfortable, but on the other hand it’s taking us forward into the future.”
Angell admits that NCL have focused heavily on offers and inclusions in recent years at the expense of what he calls “emotional storytelling”.
“We haven’t really built on what is the most important essence of any brand and that’s the emotional connection it creates.
“This refresh sharpens that emotional storytelling. It helps people understand the problem we solve for them – and ultimately makes NCL easier to sell.”
Visually, the new look is deliberately confident and distinctive. The premium colour palette and black logo are designed to stand out starkly against what Angell calls the industry’s historic “sea of sameness.”
“When our creative sits side‑by‑side with other cruise lines, we really do stand out,” he says. “Not every brand needs to appeal to everyone and that’s intentional. We’re focused on resonating strongly with the guests who align with our experience.”
While the brand refresh is global, Angell is especially animated when talking about Australasia, describing 2025 as a “transformative year” for the region.
“Towards the end of 2024 and rolling into 2025, we really focused on Asia, South Pacific and Australia/New Zealand at the same time as our traditional favourites – Europe, Alaska and Hawaii,” he explains.
“We saw a massive shift in business. Q1 was the most successful close‑to‑home wave season we’ve ever had.”
Record numbers came from Asia and the South Pacific, with solid growth in Australia and New Zealand itineraries as well. That wasn’t an accident.
The strategy was designed as an “on‑ramp” to Norwegian Spirit’s 2026–27 deployment in the region, including two four‑night Tasmania ‘taster’ itineraries roundtrip from Sydney in January 2027 – the first short cruises NCL has offered Down Under.
“We’ve built our credentials on long‑haul fly‑cruise, but Spirit allows us to layer in a compelling close‑to‑home proposition,” Angell explains.
“It’s about broadening the funnel – not just sending Australians and Kiwis to Europe and Alaska but giving them incredible options in their own backyard.”
Angell has previously called Norwegian Spirit’s tenure Down Under as a vote of confidence in Australia’s cruise future and it seems the locals have responded in kind.
“The feedback from guests on board has been phenomenal,” he comments.
“The size of the ship means a fantastic in‑port experience – she can get into great ports – and the service levels are exceptional. Spirit fills a unique space in the region.”
With Wave Season upon us – a period Angell calls “the most exciting time of the year” – NCL have launched key initiatives to attract more bookings and gauge guest sentiment.
First is the removal of non‑commissionable fares (NCFs) from within the cruise fare, one of the first of the big cruise lines in the region to take this step.
“That decision came directly from trade feedback,” he says. “We aspire to be the easiest cruise line to deal with and the change has been incredibly well received. That is going to benefit trade through Q1 and make NCL easier to sell.”
The second initiative is NCL’s first ever one million points giveaway through its trade loyalty program Partners First Rewards. During Wave, agents can earn entries via online learning or bookings, with multiple smaller prizes making up the million‑point pool.
“It’s a huge opportunity for partners to grow knowledge, grow sales and get rewarded at the same time,” Angell says.
Supporting all this is NCL’s Wave Hub, a centralised online resource bringing together marketing collateral, social assets, tools, tips and tricks – again aligned with the ambition of being the easiest cruise line to sell.
If there’s a recurring theme during our chat, it’s about the central role of the travel trade in NCL’s growth story, particularly in Australasia.
“The trade is critically important to us down here,” Angell stresses.
“We’re selling a complex, higher‑price, multi‑component product. That’s a very difficult thing for a consumer to piece together on their own and it’s not something we piece together as a cruise line either. We rely on our travel partners to do that.
“The trade is more important than ever as we enter 2026. The scale we want to achieve in this region is absolutely reliant on the distribution network our partners provide.”
While Angell is excited about the prospects for domestic cruising, he’s equally passionate about the untapped potential for the fly/cruise market.
“We miss an opportunity if we’re not also talking about fly/cruise, where most cruise lines have their newest and best assets in fantastic parts of the world that we know are often of interest to Australian cruisers.
“There are some fantastic price points now with so much capacity in some of those popular overseas regions and there’s plenty of air capacity.
“So I just love to continue both streams of conversation. Domestically I think we’ve got the best ships we’ve ever had in this part of the world for the current season and there’s huge potential. But let’s also talk about fly/cruise, whether that’s in Asia, South Pacific or further afield.”
Asked for a final outlook on the future of the cruise industry in Australia and the opportunities for Australian cruisers, Angell is bullish.
“I am hands down the most excited about cruising in general and NCL in particular that I’ve ever been,” he says.
“We’ve got fantastic changes already made, in progress, or about to land. We’ve got greater trade support than ever. We’ve got some of the best deployment we’ve had coming online and we’ve got a new brand president helping steer the ship.”
Put simply, he sees 2026 as a foundational year, one where brand, product, deployment and trade strategy all pull in the same direction, underpinned by a renewed commitment to being, quite literally, “different out here.”
