Cruise ships Norwegian Dream and Norwegian Majesty have been sold by the Norwegian Cruise Line.

The ships have been sold by one of NCL's parent companies, Star Cruises, to new owner, Cyprus-based Louis Cruise Lines.

The transfer will take place in November 2008 and December 2009 respectively, according to the CruiseCrtitic.com website. Both vessels are regular callers to Bermuda.

Norwegian Dream will finish up its NCL tenure by sailing Boston-based trips to Bermuda and Canada/New England.

On Norwegian Majesty's schedule are Charleston and Philadelphia-based voyages to the Bahamas, Caribbean, Bermuda and Canada/New England.

The 40,876-ton, 1,462-passenger Norwegian Majesty and the 48,000-ton, 1,754-passenger Norwegian Dream were both launched in 1992.

Louis Cruise Lines said in a news release: "The purchase of these two cruise ships constitutes the most important renewal and upgrading of the Louis Cruise Lines fleet in its twenty-two year old history.

"And at the same time it further enhances the company's leading position in the Eastern Mediterranean cruise market."

The website goes on to report that Louis, which markets its ships and Eastern Mediterranean-oriented trips to passengers all over the world, has been short of a vessel ever since its Sea Diamond struck a reef off of Santorini last year and sank.

Louis, which was founded in 1986, is the world's fifth largest cruise line.

For NCL, the news comes after a recent rumour, which had industry insiders buzzing about the possible sale of the two ships to Louis — and a third, Pride of Aloha, to Spain's Pullmantur. Pride of Aloha is leaving the Hawaii market in May.

Its website last Friday noted NCL is accepting bookings for cruises on Norwegian Dream through October 2008 and Norwegian Majesty through October 2009.

Upon these departures, NCL, which is aiming to create the world's most up-to-date (and freshly minted) fleet of cruise ships, is even closer to its goal.

Its oldest ship will become the Norwegian Spirit, which launched in 1998.