February 24 – In true Freestyle Cruising fashion, Norwegian Cruise Line passengers will have even more freedom of choice with the addition of service from Chicago to Honolulu with United Airlines beginning June 3, 2004.

“This new direct flight from Chicago will offer more convenience and comfort aboard United Airlines’ state of the art Boeing 777 to Hawaii,” said Andy Stuart, Executive Vice President of Marketing, Sales and Passenger Services. “Additionally, it will provide more business opportunities for Chicago area travel agents and offer another connection option for many other gateway cities.”

Last September NCL and United announced a long-term partnership (through December 2007) for air transportation to and from the Islands of Hawaii from United’s hubs in Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The direct route from Chicago further strengthens this partnership and offers NCL passengers an additional no-hassle flight option to Hawai`i.

"We are delighted to further expand our relationship with Norwegian Cruise Line,” said Graham Atkinson, Senior Vice President – Worldwide Sales and Alliance, United Airlines. “Our longstanding commitment from NCL continues to be an important factor as we add capacity to Hawai`i.”

The new United Airlines flight announced yesterday will offer daily service from Chicago O’Hare (ORD) to Honolulu (HNL) on a Boeing 777 aircraft configured with 36 seats in first class and 312 sets in economy class. The outbound flight, UA001, will depart ORD at 10:15 a.m. and arrive HNL at 1:45 p.m. The return flight, UA002, will depart HNL at 4:25 p.m. and arrive ORD at 5:15 a.m. the next morning.

United has been serving Hawaii since 1947. United, United Express and Ted operate more than 3,400 flights a day on a route network that spans the globe. News releases and other information about United can be found at the company's web site at www.united.com.

Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line is an industry innovator. NCL recently announced its new brand, NCL America, under which its US flagged ships will operate. NCL is also the leader in roundtrip seven-day cruising from U.S. and Canadian ports, offering its popular Homeland Cruising program seasonally from Baltimore, Boston, Charleston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Orlando (Port Canaveral), San Juan, Seattle and Vancouver, and year round from New York, Houston and Honolulu.