MIAMI, June 29, 2004 - Today, Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) announced that Strictly Slots Magazine recently certified that the slot and video poker machines onboard select ships yield an average payback of 95 percent - more than any other cruise line and a notable boost from the industry standard of 90 percent.

While several American land-based casinos have participated in Strictly Slots' certification program, including Trump Marina in Atlantic City, Pala in San Diego and Isleta in Albuquerque, this is the first time the program has been instituted by a cruise line.

Adhering to the Strictly Slots methodology and procedure for evaluating machines, national slot expert John Mott reviewed the machines aboard seven NCL ships - Norwegian Dawn, Norwegian Dream, Norwegian Majesty, Norwegian Sea, Norwegian Spirit, Norwegian Star and Norwegian Sun. Mott found 200 machines onboard these ships that met the requirements of a percent payback of 95 or more.

These Strictly Slots-certified machines will be properly identified for cruisers and will be available on several itineraries, including Alaska, Bermuda, Bahamas and Canada/New England.

"Over the past two years, NCL has made sweeping changes to offer the best possible gaming experience for our passengers and make our casinos even more competitive," said Dana Leibovitz, senior vice president of Casino Operations. "This slot-machine certification is one more win for our guests."