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HISTORY
Norwegian Jade is a cruise
ship for Norwegian Cruise Line, originally built as the Pride of
Hawaii for their NCL America division. She was christened in a
ceremony at the San Pedro Pier in Los Angeles, California on May
22, 2006. This Panamax form-factor ship was built at Meyer Werft
Shipyard, in Papenburg, Germany, and registers at just over
93,500 gross tons.
Vessel class
Norwegian Jade is the second of NCL's four Jewel-class ships.
She was preceded in 2005 by Norwegian Jewel, then followed in
2006 by Norwegian Pearl, and in 2007 by Norwegian Gem. Each ship
has unique amenities, but has a similar exterior and interior
design.
Norwegian Jade has a similar exterior appearance to NCL's ships,
the Norwegian Star, which entered service in 2001, and the
Norwegian Dawn, which entered service in 2002. The interior
design and amenities, however, are significantly different and
merit Norwegian Jade having a Jewel Class designation.
History
When built, the ship comprised the third in a series of U.S.
flagged ships operated by NCL America for the Hawaii market. At
a cost of over half a billion U.S. dollars, the Pride of Hawaii
was the largest and most expensive U.S. flagged passenger ship
ever built. Her design was originally planned to be a sister
ship to the Pride of America, utilizing parts from the Northrop
Grumman Shipyard and the failed Project America series of ships.
Later NCL America decided that it would be better to enlarge the
Pride of Hawaii and make her a sister ship to the Norwegian
Jewel. The ship was christened in Los Angeles by Senator Daniel
Inouye. After delivery to NCL, she joined the Pride of America
and Pride of Aloha as the final ship in the NCL America fleet.
In her original livery as Pride of Hawaii
On April 11, 2007 NCL announced that Pride of Hawaii would be
withdrawn from the Hawaiian market in February, 2008 and
subsequently redeployed to Europe for the summer. In a press
release, NCL's CEO, Colin Veitch, cited substantial 2006 losses
that had been caused by downward pricing pressure in the Hawaii
market following the addition of Pride of Hawaii to the fleet,
as well as an increase in the amount of foreign flagged
competition entering the Hawaii market from the west coast as
the reason for the vessels redeployment. NCL did not commit to
sending Pride of Hawaii back to Hawaii until the other NCL
America vessels reach an acceptable level of profitability. On
February 4th, 2008, "Pride of Hawaii" departed from Pier 2 in
Honolulu for the last time. After several repositioning cruises,
name change, new livery, and an added onboard casino, she made
her debut in Europe. Despite the changes, "Norwegian Jade"
maintains much of her original Hawaiian themed decor. Tropical
flowers, Hawaiian landscapes, and Hawaiian names are throughout
the ship's public spaces. Additionally, Matson menu inspired
artwork and a large statue of King Kamehameha grace the main
dining room. "Norwegian Jade" is currently based in Europe
year-round. There is little chance that she will ever return to
Hawaii, as it would be difficult to regain her former US
registration. November 2011: The ship was undergo a dry dock in
Marseille in France for two weeks where the ship was receive new
carpets and tiling throughout and the hull will be repainted
plus the usual annual maintenance.
Cruises
The Norwegian Jade will sail many different itineraries starting
with a 11-night Mediterranean as well as 12-night Holy Land
cruise; both cruises will feature stops at Turkey as well as
Egypt and many others. Other cruises include the Greek Isles &
Turkey cruise and Croatia & Greece cruise. The ship will sail
from Barcelona and Malaga in Spain offering 7 or 9 night cruises
to The Canary Islands and Maderia.
The Norwegian Jade will be used as a floating hotel during the
2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Career
Name: Pride of Hawaii
(2006–2008)
Norwegian Jade (2008–present)
Operator: NCL America (2006–2008)
Norwegian Cruise Lines (2008–present)
Port of registry: United States Honolulu, United States
(2006–2008)
The Bahamas Nassau Bahamas (2008–present)
Builder: Meyer Werft Papenburg, Germany
Laid down: 6 February 2005[1]
Launched: 19 February 2006[2]
Identification: Call sign: C6WK7
IMO number: 9304057
MMSI number: 308416000
Status: In Active Service as of 2012 |
