Norwegian Aura Debut Moves Up With New Mediterranean Sailings
Norwegian Cruise Line has moved the debut of its new Norwegian Aura ship forward by 19 days to May 2, 2027, adding two new Mediterranean voyages before its original maiden cruise.
Norwegian Aura will now welcome its first guests on May 2, 2027, 19 days earlier than its originally planned May 21 debut. The change, due to an expected early delivery from the Fincantieri shipyard, has prompted the line to insert two additional Mediterranean voyages ahead of the original inaugural sailing.
Marc Kazlauskas said, "The early delivery of Norwegian Aura allows us to welcome guests aboard sooner than expected." Both new voyages are now available to book, extending the ship's initial Mediterranean season by nearly three weeks. Guests who had booked the May 21, 2027 sailing will no longer be among the first aboard the new vessel. The cruise line has not announced special arrangements for those guests or indicated whether they can transfer to the earlier departures.
Revised maiden voyage details
The May 2, 2027 departure from Trieste, Italy, to Athens (Piraeus), Greece is now the official inaugural voyage. This 10-day sailing means the previously planned May 21 maiden cruise is no longer the first. The May 21, 2027 voyage remains scheduled but loses its maiden voyage status.
Itinerary specifics for the new voyages
The first new sailing is a nine-day itinerary departing Athens on May 12, 2027, and ending in Trieste. The second is the 10-day inaugural voyage departing Trieste on May 2. Their port calls are as follows:
| Voyage | Departure Date & Route | Ports of Call |
|---|---|---|
| First (Inaugural) | May 2, 2027: Trieste to Athens | Dubrovnik and Split, Croatia; Bar, Montenegro; Corfu, Santorini, and Mykonos, Greece |
| Second | May 12, 2027: Athens to Trieste | Rhodes, Mykonos, Santorini, and Corfu, Greece; Bar, Montenegro; Split and Zadar, Croatia |
Original May 21 sailing updated
The May 21, 2027 voyage is now a seven-day trip from Trieste to Barcelona. It includes stops in Valletta, Malta; Salerno, Italy; and Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy. This confirms the line's latest announcement, which identifies Barcelona as the destination, though previous reports had suggested Tarragona.
What remains unchanged
The ship's subsequent schedule remains intact. Following its Mediterranean season, Norwegian Aura will embark on a 13-day transatlantic crossing from Barcelona to Miami in June 2027. It will then operate a series of seven-day Eastern Caribbean itineraries through October 2027, calling at Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic; St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; Tortola, British Virgin Islands; and Great Stirrup Cay, NCL's private island in the Bahamas, which will feature the new Great Tides Waterpark.
For the winter 2027/28 season, the ship will shift to seven-day Western Caribbean voyages. Those itineraries will visit Roatan, Honduras; Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico; and Harvest Caye, NCL's resort-style destination in Belize. This news follows an incident six weeks prior, where a fire broke out aboard Norwegian Aura while it was under construction at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy. The early delivery indicates construction remains on an accelerated track. Norwegian Aura will embark on a 13-day transatlantic crossing from Barcelona to Miami.
