An agreement may be announced as early as this week, the sources said on Sunday, cautioning that the talks could still fall apart. The owner of Prestige Cruises, private equity firm Apollo Global Management, also owns a 20 percent stake in Norwegian Cruise.Norwegian is often unfairly denigrated as a low-end cruise line charging extra for almost everything beyond your cabin, basic food and entertainment. In reality, Norwegian has pioneered a number of innovations later adopted elsewhere in the industry. If the deal goes through, it will give Norwegian a foothold in the high-end, premium price (everything included) market.
Full disclosure: while Apollo Global Management (U.S.) owns 20% of Norwegian, the largest owners are from Malaysia and also own Star Cruises. The management team is largely American. Exceptions: the boss Captain appears to be, in fact, a Norwegian who lives in Florida; the overseer of new construction is a Swede who lives in Germany where Norwegian's ships are built.
