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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 to deliver
7-day cruises to the Hawaiian Islands of Maui, Oahu, Kauai, and
the Big Island (aka Hawai'i).
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withdrawn from the Hawaiian market in February, 2008 and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 vessel's 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 4, 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"
maintained much of her original Hawaiian themed decor until a
refit in 2017. Additionally, Matson menu-inspired artwork and a
large statue of King Kamehameha grace the main dining room.
There is little chance that she will ever return to Hawaii, as
it would be difficult to regain her former US registration. In
November 2011 she underwent a dry dock in Marseille in France
for two weeks. The ship received new carpets and tiling
throughout and the hull was repainted plus the usual annual
maintenance took place. The Norwegian Jade was used as a
floating hotel during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
The ship underwent a three-week dry dock in March 2017,
replacing the Hawaiin theming with a 'contemporary style'. The
ship also received two brand new restaurants and two new bars
and lounges, updated design and décor in many public spaces, and
a refurbishment of all staterooms with new carpets, furniture,
flat screen TVs, new larger headboards with USB charging outlets
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