''Norwegian Jade'' is a

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...

for

Norwegian Cruise Line Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) is an American cruise line founded in Norway in 1966, headquartered in Miami, Florida, and incorporated in the Bahamas. It is the List of cruise lines, fourth-largest cruise line in the world by passengers, controlling ...

(NCL), originally built as ''Pride of Hawaii'' for their NCL America division. She was christened in a ceremony at the San Pedro Pier in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

on 22 May 2006. The vessel is a

Panamax Panamax and New Panamax (or Neopanamax) are terms for the size limits for ships traveling through the Panama Canal. The limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a publication titled "Vessel Requirements". ...

form-factor ship that was built at

Meyer Werft Meyer Werft (; ) is a German shipbuilding company, headquartered in Papenburg at the river Ems. It was founded in 1795, as a builder of small wooden vessels. It has been owned and managed by the Meyer family for seven generations. Since ...

Shipyard, in

Papenburg Papenburg (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Papenbörg'') is a city in the district of Emsland, Lower Saxony, Germany, situated at the river Ems. It is known for its large shipyard, the Meyer-Werft, which specializes in building cruise liners. Ge ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and registers at just over 93,500

gross ton Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weig ...

Vessel class

''Norwegian Jade'' is the second of NCL's four ships. She was preceded in 2005 by , then followed in 2006 by , and in 2007 by . Each ship has unique amenities, but has a similar exterior and interior design. ''Norwegian Jade'' has a similar exterior appearance to NCL's ships , which entered service in 2001, and , 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 Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

market. At a cost of over half a billion

U.S. dollars The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

, ''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 A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

to , utilizing parts from the

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...

Shipyard and the failed Project America series of ships. Later, NCL America decided that it would be better to enlarge ''Pride of Hawaii'' and make her a sister ship to ''Norwegian Jewel''. The ship was christened in Los Angeles by Senator

Daniel Inouye Daniel Ken Inouye ( , , September 7, 1924 – December 17, 2012) was an American attorney, soldier, and statesman who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Hawaii from 1963 until his death in 2012. A Medal of Honor recipi ...

. After delivery to NCL, she joined ''Pride of America'' and 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 (Hawai'i). Pride of Hawaii at Meyer Werft 1

On 11 April 2007, NCL announced that ''Pride of Hawaii'' would be withdrawn from the Hawaiian market in February 2008 and subsequently re-deployed 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 4 February 2008, ''Pride of Hawaii'' departed from Pier 2 in Honolulu for the last time. After several

repositioning cruise A repositioning cruise (informal: repo cruise) is a cruise in which the embarkation port and the disembarkation port are different. This is a less common type of cruise; in the majority of cruises the ship's final destination is the same as the s ...

s, 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 graced the main dining room for many years. In November 2011, she underwent a dry dock in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

, France, for two weeks. The ship received new carpets and tiling throughout and the hull was repainted plus the usual annual maintenance took place. ''Norwegian Jade'' was used as a floating hotel during the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

The ship underwent a three-week dry dock in March 2017, replacing the Hawaiian theme 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. On 6 April 2018, American rock band

Paramore Paramore is an American rock band formed in Franklin, Tennessee, in 2004. Since 2017, the band's lineup includes lead vocalist Hayley Williams, lead guitarist Taylor York, and drummer Zac Farro. Williams and Farro are founding members of ...

embarked on a special four-day voyage entitled "Parahoy!". The event saw fans embark on the Norwegian Jade on a return trip from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas. The event featured three concerts and numerous activities. Support acts Local Natives, Judah & The Lion, mewithoutYou, Now, Now, Halfnoise, and comedians Jordan Rock, and Ryan O'Flanagan also joined the voyage. On 27 October 2018, professional wrestler and musician

Chris Jericho Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho, is an American-Canadian professional wrestler, rock musician, and actor. As a wrestler, he has been signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) , where he ...

hosted the first-ever

Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, and Christine. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), Nigerian autho ...

, a 4-day

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

and

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

-themed cruise. On 19 November 2018, ''Norwegian Jade'' experienced mechanical problems during a 10-day Southern Caribbean cruise out of Miami. While in San Juan, Puerto Rico, NCL decided to cancel the rest of the cruise, offering full refunds and credit for a future cruise on NCL. The ship underwent repairs in Miami. On 11 September 2019, ''Norwegian Jade'' experienced mechanical issues during an 11-day Mediterranean cruise out of Rome, Italy. The malfunctions prevented the ship from reaching the port of Livorno and caused the cruise to end one day early. Guests were given $100 (per stateroom) credit for shipboard services and full refunds for any NCL-booked excursions in Livorno as compensation for the trouble.

References

External links

NCL ''Norwegian Jade''
{{Authority control Ships of Norwegian Cruise Line Ships built in Papenburg 2006 ships