Norwegian Sky - Service History

Service History

The Norwegian Sky entered service for Norwegian Cruise Line on August 9, 1999, with a cruise from Dover, United Kingdom to Norway. The ship's crew acted as her godparents at her christening. After a period of financial difficulties, she was the first new ship to enter service with NCL in six years. While doing her inaugural cruise along the Eastern coast of USA and Canada up to Québec City, the Norwegian Sky got into trouble. The vessel left Québec, on September 24th 1999 to Halifax, Nova Scotia with 2712 persons on board, including 1923 passengers, and two pilots. Norwegian Cruise Line estimates that there were some 50 different nationalities aboard and that the average age of the passengers was 63 years.

The trip included a cruise of the Saguenay River. On its return to the mouth of the Saguenay, at about 11:30 local time, whales were observed in the St. Lawrence River. To prolong the whale-watching activity, the vessel was turned around but ran aground on the Bancs de l'île Rouge (Rouge Island Banks) before completing its maneuver. The vessel's stern made bottom contact with the shoal. The vessel slowed and the stern came to rest on the Bancs de l'île Rouge. At 1206, the vessel was aground, listing 5.2º to port.

As the vessel was unstable on the reef, the master requested assistance from the Canadian Coast Guard for a preventive evacuation of all passengers plus some crew members. The Marine Rescue Centre of Québec (MRSC Québec) tasked different resources including whale watching tour boats and the two provincial ferries normally crossing the Saguenay River. But at the very last moment, with the assistance of a small Search and Rescue cutter and the high tide, the Norwegian Sky was able to free herself from the reef and proceeded to deeper waters. The vessel sustained substantial damage, but pollution was deemed minor. No injuries resulted from this occurrence. The vessel returned to Québec City for major repairs in a local dry-dock taking over a month As a result three cruises had to be cancelled.

After four years of service NCL announced she would be moved to its new NCL America division as Pride of Aloha in October 2004. Originally she was planned to be preceded by the purpose-built Pride of America in NCL America service, but a rogue storm damaged Pride of America during construction at Lloyd Werft and Pride of Aloha had to be rushed into service instead. In May 2004 the Norwegian Sky entered drydock in San Francisco, re-emerging as the Pride of Aloha on July 4, 2004. The Pride of Aloha was re-christened by Mrs. Margaret Awamura Inouye (wife of Hawaiian senator Daniel K. Inouye).

Being a U.S.-flagged vessel, Pride of Aloha required a crew of U.S. citizens. This made for a difficult launch as there was no established labor market to tap into. The first few months of sailings were plagued by poor service, crewmembers quitting and walking off the ship while in port, and an enormous number of customer complaints. NCL initiated a new and aggressive training program to better prepare newly hired employees for life aboard a cruise vessel. Subsequently the training for all employees took place at the Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education, a Maritime School in Piney Point, Maryland. Passenger satisfaction improved substantially since the introduction of the new training program.

On February 11, 2008, NCL announced that the Pride of Aloha would be withdrawn from the Hawaiian market as of May 5, 2008. Initially it was reported that she would be transferred to the fleet of Star Cruises. During April 2008 Lloyd's List reported that NCL was looking to sell her to the Spain-based Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. subsidiary Pullmantur Cruises instead, but Pullmantur Cruises later withdrew their offer. In May 2008 NCL reported that instead of transferring to Star Cruises, the ship would return to Norwegian Cruise Line and be re-flagged to the Bahamas while reverting to her original name Norwegian Sky with the first sailing July 14, 2008.

On Saturday, April 18, 2009 at 3:30 AM, a 39-year-old man went overboard in the Bahamas. A search party consisting of three cruise ships and two U.S. Coast Guard helicopters searched for the man for twelve hours before calling off the search. It is unclear whether the man committed suicide.

It was announced on June 1, 2012 NCL announced the signing of a memorandum of agreement to exercise its option to purchase Norwegian Sky. The transaction is expected to close shortly. The purchase price is approximately $260 million, financing is being provided by the seller.