Service history
The ship was christened at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal on June 17, 2005 by then-United States Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao who released the traditional bottle against the ship's hull.[16] The naming ceremony was significant as the first new U.S.-flagged cruise ship in nearly fifty years, and would fly the American flag donated from the U.S. Capitol Building on its inaugural voyage.
The Pride of America's pre maiden voyage was an East Coast publicity cruise June 18–24, 2005, with Live with Regis and Kelly broadcasting their morning show from onboard the ship. A special platform was built on top of the sports court for Regis and Kelly's morning desk. The voyage sailed from New York City, north to Boston, then headed south for stops in Philadelphia, Norfolk and ending in Miami.[17]
The Pride of America continued its maiden voyage sailing through the Panama Canal, up to San Francisco and then over to Honolulu, where the ship joined its fleet mate, the Pride of Aloha.[18] The ship was assigned to a weekly itinerary around the Hawaiian Islands with roundtrip cruises from Honolulu, and stopping at Kahului, Hilo, Kailua Kona and Nawiliwili.[19]
Pride of America entered a 14-day, $30 million dry dock on 23 March 2013 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The ship's renovations including the addition of 24 ultra-luxurious suites (replacing the former top deck conference center and observation deck); four Studio staterooms and four inside staterooms; a Brazilian-style steakhouse; ship wide wireless internet connectivity; new carpeting throughout; flat screen televisions in all staterooms; updated décor; upgrades to the fitness center; new directional signage; renovations to the gift shop, photo gallery and art gallery.[20]
Pride of America entered a 24-day dry dock period in February 2016,[21] at the BAE Systems San Francisco Ship Repair facility. Normally, the ship uses facilities in Pearl Harbor, but these were already fully booked.[22][23]
During the COVID-19 pandemic on cruise ships, the Hawaii Department of Transportation reported on 8 April 2020 that six crew members of Pride of America had tested positive for COVID-19.[24] Two of the crew members were taken to a hospital for treatment, while the other patients were isolated on board the ship.[24] Another positive case was later announced, bringing the total number of cases to seven.[25]
Following the suspension of cruise operations to mitigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pride of America did not carry passengers after 14 March 2020, and docked at Honolulu Harbor, her homeport, with a complement of roughly 500 crew members.[24] This number of crew was later reduced to approximately 140, most of whom are the professional mariners needed to keep the ship operational. By June 2021 she was dry docked at Vigor Industrial in Portland, Oregon with about 200 crew members.[25] In August, 2021, Norwegian Cruise Lines said that the ship would resume service in January, 2022.[26] The first post-pandemic cruise departed on April 9, 2022.[27]
