Two of Norwegian Cruise Line’s Newest Ships to Homeport in Puerto Rico at the Same Time

Sailing out of San Juan, Puerto Rico offers a huge advantage for cruisers wanting to get a more immersive experience.  The key difference?  You get to experience more ports of call and more exotic locations by starting out in the Caribbean.

Norwegian Cruise Line just announced that two of their newest ships will be homeporting in San Juan at the same time, both offering 7-day cruises to different destinations.

Prima Class in Puerto Rico

From November 2027 through April 2028, both Norwegian Prima and Norwegian Viva will call San Juan home. This is the first time NCL has homeported two of its newest, most modern ships in Puerto Rico at the same time.

By starting your cruise further south in San Juan, the ships can reach deep Caribbean ports much faster than if they sailed from Florida. This means fewer days at sea and more days exploring:

• Norwegian Prima will sail on Saturdays, visiting Tortola, St. Maarten, Barbados, St. Lucia, and St. Kitts.
• Norwegian Viva will sail on Sundays, offering a different southern route that includes the popular “ABC Islands” of Aruba and Curaçao.

Norwegian Prima is currently scheduled to already offer cruises out of San Juan starting in November 2026 through April 2027.  So, after a few months in Europe the ship will return to San Juan to join Norwegian Viva.

Across its entire winter season, Norwegian Cruise Line’s ships will average 9.5 hours in port. By starting in San Juan, these ships cut down on travel time, allowing for the late-night departures and longer stays that give you more time to explore the islands.

These are also some of the newest ships in the NCL fleet with Prima entering service in 2022 and Viva in 2023.  Only Norwegian Aqua is newer having been built just this year.

Seven Ships Sailing from Florida

While Puerto Rico offers a more itinerary-packed starting point, Florida remains the go-to embarkation spot for most Caribbean and Bahamas sailings for the 2027/28 season.

NCL will have seven ships sailing out of the Sunshine State, providing a massive variety of options for those who prefer to depart from Miami, Port Canaveral, or Jacksonville.

• Miami: Norwegian Joy, Norwegian Jewel, and the new Norwegian Luna (coming in 2026) will offer everything from 3-day Bahamas weekenders to 11-day Panama Canal cruises.
• Port Canaveral: Norwegian Aqua, Norwegian Breakaway, and Norwegian Epic will cover the Eastern and Western Caribbean.
• Jacksonville: Norwegian Dawn returns to JAXPORT for its second season of 4- and 5-day Bahamas cruises.

Many of these Florida-based itineraries will stop at Great Stirrup Cay, NCL’s private island. By the time these sailings begin, the island will feature several major upgrades, including a brand-new pier that allows ships to dock directly, a large, heated pool, and the new Great Tides Waterpark.