Norwegian Cruise Line Canadian Flags

General Forums Prince Rupert Forum
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Next time there’s a Norwegian Cruise Line cruise ship in Prince Rupert harbour, check out their maple leaf flags. It appears NCL is flying cheap knock-offs of the Canadian flag. Maybe they got a deal on a bunch at Wal-Mart or something.

Here’s a photo I took of the Norwegian Wind’s flag in Vancouver:

http://static.flickr.com/64/176795589_5a2ca698d7.jpg

The maple leaf in the middle of the flag is much smaller than it should be. For comparison, here’s a photo of the same flags, with the Canada Place flag in the foreground. Notice the difference in size of the maple leaf?

http://static.flickr.com/56/176795588_a70cf2f4fb.jpg

Big version of the photo in my photo album.

The flag should look like this:

but it seems to look like this:

It also appears that the side bars on the flag are skinnier than they should be.

Unfortunately, I never seem to have a camera on me when I’m near a cruise ship in Prince Rupert. The Norwegian Sun is flying the same wimpy Canadian flag, though.

Imagine the controversy this would cause if this were the Stars and Stripes! Thankfully, Canadians don’t care too much about this stuff. We’ll just chalk it up to typical (but harmless) American ignorance.  Sort of like when they flew the Canadian flag upside down at the 1992 World Series.

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We’re used to ppl who forget to check the lock aspect ratio box…

3

Do you know why it’s legal for a Norweigan to ride a motorcycle while wearing a touque?

Well, when it came time to decide what was the best head protection for motorcycling the top researchers chose to climb the highest mountain in Norway and throw the following items off the edge:

  • road-bike helmet
  • motor-cycle helmet
  • ski-helmet
  • touque

At the bottom of the mountain they saw that all three helmets had smashed into a hundred pieces each, whereas the touque was left unscathed.  Thus, the touque was decreed to be the best head protection for motorcycling.

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Flag Facts
canada.com/topics/travel/can … 7d&k=87266

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I can’t see where this is a problem.

pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/sc-cs/df2_e.cfm

[quote]Flown on ships and boats

The National Flag of Canada is the proper national colours for all Canadian ships and boats, including pleasure craft. The Canadian Shipping Act states that a Canadian ship shall hoist the flag on a signal being made to her by one of Her Majesty’s Canadian ships, or any ship in the service of and belonging to the Government of Canada; on entering or leaving any foreign port; and if of 50 tonnes gross tonnage or upwards, on entering or leaving any Commonwealth port.

Foreign vessels may fly the Canadian flag as a “courtesy flag” when they are berthed in a Canadian port. The flag then is customarily flown from the foremast.

General rules governing merchant vessels and pleasure craft are as follow:

the flag should be worn in harbour and in territorial waters but need not be worn while under way on the high seas unless the vessel wishes to identify her nationality to another ship;

whenever possible, the proper place for a vessel to display the national colours is at the stern, except that when at sea, the flag may be flown from a gaff;

when in harbour the flag should be hoisted at 0800 hours and lowered at sunset;

when a merchant ship and a warship of any nationality pass or overtake one another, the merchant ship should dip the flag as a gesture of courtesy. If on a staff, the lowest corner of the flag should be brought to the level of the rail and kept there until the salutation is acknowledged by the naval vessel. If flown from a gaff, the flag should be lowered to six feet (1.80m) above the level of the deck, until the salute is acknowledged;

in times of mourning, the flag may be flown at half-mast, which places the upper corner of the flag next to the staff at approximately three-quarters of full-hoist. As on land, a flag hoisted to or lowered from half-mast position must first be hauled close-up.[/quote]

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Right. The problem is that they’re not flying “The National Flag of Canada” – they’re flying a cheap knock-off of the Canadian flag.

I was down to see the Norwegian Wind (I think?) yesterday, and it has the same flag as the Norwegian Sun that I saw in Vancouver. Maybe I have the names of the ships mixed up.  I’ll upload photos when I get around to it :wink:

The link you posted has the Canadian flag on it, that’s not the flag that the cruise ships are flying.

It would be like us using the Stars and Stripes, but having the wrong number of starts and stripes on it.Â

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Ok, I think I had the names wrong.  It was the Norwegian Wind in Vancouver, and the Norwegian Sun here in Rupert.  But I’ll bet Norwegian Cruise Lines buys all their “Canadian flags” from Joe’s Discount Flag Emporium.

Here are photos I took yesterday.  Sorry about the quality, it was my small camera.

Not that it’s a big deal, which is probably my point.  They’re flying a flag that isn’t a proper Canadian flag, but we don’t really care.  Now take the starts and stripes and screw it up (have the wrong number of stripes, the wrong proportions or something), and see how the Americans would react.

Should we care more about our flag?  Should this be a big deal?  Or should they care less about theirs?  Or is this a good symbol of the difference between Canadians and Americans?

[original attachment deleted after 2 years]

8

Hello,

Was looking for a Canadian Flag Motorcycle Helmet for my wife… And my serach found this topic…

Just wondering what the Flag on the Nowegian Cruise line ship has to do with US citizens disregarding the traditions and symbols of our neighbors?

Last i checked Norwegian is owned by a Malaysian Company. 

To me it looks like the problem you have identified is really one of ratio… I beleive the pictures are showing the flag was made in a 3:4 ratio and a Canadian flag should be 2:3 ratio. (If i am recalling correctly) The effect is that the Maple Leaf looks smaller and the red bands thinner…

Most Americans (US Citizens) i think look upon our Canadian Neighbors  as partners and friends although i feel much less of that Love coming back when i am up there visiting friends and family.

I have to admit though if you came to the US and bought a flag at Walmart it would probably be the wrong 3:4 ratio… An would come from a Chinese manufacturer

Hello to Everybody in K-W

Have a great day.

-Scott

9

You’re right they’re not owned by an American company, but my understanding is that NCL is headquartered in the USA and run by Americans, is it not?

We don’t take it too seriously, don’t worry.  We realize there’s absolutely no malice involved.

What’s interesting is that somebody told me the captain of the Norwegian Sun asked that the nordic flags in front of the cruise ship terminal be rearranged for some reason.  (I think the captain is Norwegian?)  I’m not too sure about the details. 

That would have been the perfect opportunity to say “sure, we’ll rearrange our flags for you.  Hey, speaking of flags, your ship’s Canadian flag isn’t of the right proportions.  Here’s a proper one for you.”

Also, I think the flag should be 1:2 ratio, not 2:3 or 3:4.  It’s supposed to look like this “construction sheet” or reference diagram:

[original attachment deleted after 2 years]

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You may be right about the HQ…

I think the flag we got at Canadian Tire just doesn’t seem to be a 1:2 but will have to measure… What know for sure is it is wider and shorter then the US Flag… as our two flag display at our old house looked asymetrical…

The Canadian seems to be one of a few Country (state) flags that not in the same ratio as the US flag… 

The other interesting thing i have found is that the Canadian Flags that we seem to find in Canada is that they are made of a what appears to be a knited as opposed to woven Material… Is this Common or standard?

Not that this board is full of flag experts or anything just wondered is anyone knew…

I was hoping to find a higher quality “All Weather” version.

-Scott

11

After reading your post today, I took note of a bunch of flags in stores (doing a lot of shopping on vacation!), and I’d have to say about half the Canadian flags I found weren’t 1:2. 

The Stars and Stripes are supposed to be 10:19, so it’s pretty close to 1:2. 

If you take a look on some online flag retailers, you’ll see them selling all kinds of weird ratio flags.