Pride of Aloha
From cruise.travel.com
|
Compare Cruise Prices at Top Cruise Vendors:
TRAVEL.com -
CruiseDirect -
I.A.N. -
Priceline -
Travelocity
|
Norwegian Sky is a Sky Class cruise ship owned and operated by Norwegian Cruise Line. She was ordered by Costa Cruises as Costa Olympia from the Bremer Vulkan shipyard in Germany, but she was completed in 1999 by the Lloyd Werft shipyard in Bremerhaven, Germany for the Norwegian Cruise Line under the name Norwegian Sky. Between 2004 and 2008 she sailed as Pride of Aloha for NCL America.
Contents |
Concept and construction
The ship that eventually became known as Norwegian Sky was originally ordered in December 1993 by Costa Cruises from the Bremer Vulkan shipyard in Bremen, Germany as the second in a pair of sister ships. The first sister, Costa Victoria, was delivered in July 1996. Construction of the second sister, Costa Olympia, had started several months before, but by July 1996 Bremer Vulkan was experiencing severe financial difficulties, and work on the Costa Olympia was suspended when only 35% of the ship was completed.
Costa Cruises decided not to purchased the unfinished ship, and the Costa Olympia remained laid up at Bremer Vulkan until December 1997, when Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) purchased her. The Costa Olympia was redesigned as the Norwegian Sky by Tillberg Design (who had also been responsible for her original planned design as Costa Olympia). On March 8, 1998 the ship was towed to Lloyd Werft in Bremerhaven, Germany where her construction was completed.
Service history
The Norwegian Sky entered service for Norwegian Cruise Line on September 8, 1999 with a cruise from Dover, United Kingdom to Norway. After fours years of service NCL announced she would be moved to their 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.
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, crew-members 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 11, 2008. Initially it was reported that she would be transferred to the fleet of Star Cruises. In May of the same year NCL reported that instead of transferring to Star Cruises, the ship would return to the Norwegian Cruise Lines non-US flagged fleet and revert to her original name Norwegian Sky.
Design
As originally planned, the Costa Olympia would have had an exterior and interior design identical to the Costa Victoria. Following the acquisition by Norwegian Cruise Line she was radically redesigned. Design changes included two decks of balcony cabins (opposed to no balcony cabins in the original plans), three additional restaurants, entirely altered decor and moving the bridge down by one deck to accommodate an observation lounge/spa complex on the topmost deck. Both the original and revised plans were the work of Tillberg Design.
When delivered, the Norwegian Sky featured the cruise industry's first at-sea internet cafe, as well as guest rooms pre-wired for internet access.
Initially the Norwegian Sky utilized a standard dining program with set meal seating times for passengers. One year after she entered service, NCL introduced their "Freestyle Cruising" (a 'dine where you want, when you want') program. As a result, the ship had to be retrofitted with additional restaurants.
When the ship was refitted for service as Pride of Aloha, a Hawaiian theme was adapted for the decorations of all public areas and cabins. At the same time she received hull art consisting of colorful Hawaiian leis.