NCL ANNOUNCES NORWEGIAN JADE, NORWEGIAN JEWEL AND NORWEGIAN GEM FOR LARGEST
EVER EUROPEAN DEPLOYMENT


Pride of Hawai`i to be re-named Norwegian Jade and sail a mix of
European itineraries to the Eastern and Western Mediterranean, Baltic,
British Isles and the North Cape.
Norwegian Jade joins sisters Norwegian Gem and Norwegian Jewel for extended 2008 season.

Sounds like NCL might be adjusting to the problems with the American flagged ships. We will have to see what develops!

I was surprised to see the Gem repositioning to Europe as well. These changes are for the summer 2008 season.

Also, the Pride of Hawaii in February 2008 will be reflagged and renamed as the Norwegian Jade. It will arrive in Europe first. I'm not surprised NCL is withdrawing a ship from NCLA since they have had three ships sailing around Hawaii they have been bleeding red ink. Moving the Jade (soon to be ex Pride of Hawaii) to Europe also makes sense, since the demand for European cruises has risen lately.
I was surprised to see the Gem leave New York so quickly, I was under the impression that it would sail full time from New York, at least longer than a few months. This means the Dawn will probably return to New York that summer. After sailing half a year on the brand spanking new Gem, will New Yorkers still praise the Dawn as they do now?

Three ships a week from Honolulu + part time a 4th when they were running Wind to Fanning Island was too much supply for the demand. Off season they were giving away cruises.

Hopefully with fewer ships they can keep some crew members long term and fire the worst of them. Hopefully they can get the service in Hawaii up to industry standards.

Neil

I really canot imagine year-round cruising from New York being successful overall. In winter periods, it would be almost 2 full days at sea before being able to fully enjoy the outer decks, and then 2 days on the return trip, which to most is too long to be "cooped up" inside. Transatlantic would be the only cruise that would make sense year round out of New York and we can already see how successful that has been.

Wow!

quote:

Originally posted by TrvlPro:

Hopefully with fewer ships they can keep some crew members long term and fire the worst of them. Hopefully they can get the service in Hawaii up to industry standards.

Neil

Neil,

That is the way I look at it. This could be a positive move toward improving their image and enhancing customer service.
In 2004 we did an eastern Caribbean cruise on the Norwegian Sky before it changed to Pride of Aloha. The staff at that time were exemplary and the service was excellent.

Ken

This message was originally posted here on cruise-chat.com on April 10th, 2007 by Richard & Mary. Seems like a lot of viewers may have missed the original press release by NCL.


Effective February 2008, Pride of Hawaii will be temporarily taken out of service and will be deployed to Europe in summer 2008.

"For guests booked on Pride of Hawaii in February 2008 and beyond, NCL is offering a $50 on-board credit per stateroom for those who rebook by May 1, 2007, on Pride of America, Pride of Aloha or any ship in the NCL fleet. Guests choosing to cancel will receive a full refund.

NCL Announces Temporary Withdrawal of Pride of Hawaii


Miami - April 10, 2007 --- NCL Corporation ("NCL"), parent company of NCL America and Norwegian Cruise Line, today announced the temporary withdrawal of Pride of Hawaii from the Hawaii market effective February 2008. The ship will be deployed to Europe for the summer of 2008 as part of the Norwegian Cruise Line fleet.
NCL's substantial 2006 losses, reported in February of this year, have been caused by downward pricing pressure in the Hawaii market following the addition of Pride of Hawai`i to the fleet last summer, and the steep increase in the amount of foreign flag competition entering the Hawai`i market from the west coast.
"We take this action with regret, but sure in the knowledge that a temporary retrenchment is the right thing to do for the good of the business and the good of Hawaii in the long run," said Colin Veitch, NCL Corporation's president and CEO. "We remain committed to building a strong U.S. Flag cruise business home ported in Hawaii, and we need to make sure that our other two ships, Pride of Aloha and Pride of America, are able to achieve acceptable profitability before we can confidently re-introduce Pride of Hawaii."
According to Veitch, NCL America has grown very quickly over three years, and its competitors have also surged, starting in 2006, offering almost 80 percent additional capacity days on top of NCL America's in 2007.
"Clearly we are victims of our own success," Veitch continued. "We have demonstrated that Hawai`i is a highly attractive cruise destination and Hawaii now has four times as much capacity serving it in 2007 as it did in 2004 when we started NCL America.
"We are now very hopeful that this latest measure will make the critical difference in ensuring the success of this important venture. We continue to have a vision of a strong domestic cruise industry in Hawaii and firmly believe that the combination of steps we have now taken will result in a strong NCL America delivering the best cruise itinerary anywhere in the world with the very highest standard of service at sea," Veitch concluded