Skyward

Very nice photo of a very handsome looking Norwegian cruise ship with elegant German design lines, indeed.

What ship did you take this photo from?? I can see the famous Frenchmen's Reef Hotel in the background.

I took the photo from the Festivale, my 2nd cruise ever. We left port first, then the Skyward passed us, in a hurry to get somewhere. Our next port wasn't very far, so we just stooged along at a few knots.

It is interesting that this ship is a modified European long range ferry, originally intended for the Knut Kloster’s UK - Gibraltar service, which was abandoned when the UK imposed a £50 foreign exchange limit after the disastrous seaman’s strike and Franco closed the Gibraltar/Spanish border. Kloster was able to employ his ferries as Miami cruise ships in partnership with Ted Arison as NCL. Skyward was the third ship and her construction had just started when the ferry service collapsed, so she was modified to install cabins on her car deck.
It is significant that European ferries were being built with accommodation that was far superior to the great majority of the ocean liner fleet in the late 1960s.

When Skyward was built Kloster was so happy with his new partnership that he invited Lin Arison to be launch mistress. Unfortunately his Norwegian middle-managers bitterly resented Arison’s involvement in the business and were constantly seeking to undermine the partnership. They seemed to feel that that dependence upon the marketing and sales services of a non-Norwegian Jew was a blow to their national pride.

It all ended in a very messy parting of the ways. Ted Arison went on to create the very successful Carnival Corporation and NCL was left struggling in its wake until Knut Kloster was eventually deposed by the Kloster family and the company sold to Malaysians.