Norwegian Jade accidents and incidents

January 2023Cruise Illness / Virus Outbreaks

(CruiseMapper email from John N. Marshall)

NCL Jade January 14th to 26th 2023. Cape Town to Cape Town. Day 7 gastroenteritis outbreak among passengers and crew. Symptomatic passengers and crew were quarantined until 24 hrs after their last symptom.

Buffet restaurant went to served food/no contact and ships handrails etc sanitized at least once a day.

No acknowledgment of this outbreak by the crew, medical staff or CDC's website (not in US waters and not docking there so no need to report). No compensation was offered.

The Norovirus outbreak occurred during Norwegian Jade's 12-day "Africa - South Africa and Namibia Cruise" (itinerary Jan 14-26, roundtrip from Cape Town) visiting South Africa's ports Mossel Bay, Port Elizabeth, Richards Bay, and Durban, and Namibia's Luderitz, and Walvis Bay.

01 June 2021Coast Guard Medevacs

On June 1, 2021, a 53-year-old male crew was medevaced from the ship at anchorage off Port Chania (Crete Island Greece). The man was offloaded to a patrol boat and ambulanced to a private hospital in Chania (Gavrilaki General Clinic).

The ship was at sea, approx 70 km (40 mi) northwest of Crete Island, when the Captain contacted Greece's SAR (coastguard's Search and Rescue center) requesting a medical evacuation for a crew who needs hospital treatment. SAR informed Chania's Port Authority which deployed a Greek Navy patrol boat to meet the cruise liner.

Following the Coronavirus crisis, the NCL Jade ship was scheduled to restart operations on July 25, with 7-day Greek Isles roundtrips from Piraeus-Athens (homeport),

14 December 2018Ship Collision / Allision

On December 14, 2018, at ~5 pm, upon leaving the berth in call port Philipsburg (St Maarten Island), the liner collided with the pier.

The stern thrusters (propulsion units) pushed it approx 15 m off the structure, but as the bow thrusters (forward) didn't come on, the bow headed towards the pier and hit it. Two mooring fingers were also contacted before the bow thrusters came on. The vessel was docked again and assessed for damages. Departure was delayed by ~1 hour.

The accident occurred at the end of 10-day Southern Caribbean cruise (itinerary Dec 7-17) roundtrip from homeport Miami to San Juan (Puerto Rico), Charlotte Amalie (St Thomas, USVI), Basseterre (St Kitts), Bridgetown (Barbados), Castries (St Lucia) and Philipsburg (St Maarten).

Note: Actually, this type of marine accident is called “allision” (striking a fixed object) as opposed to “collision” (striking another vessel).

18 November 2018Structural and Technical Issues

On November 18, 2018, due to "mechanical issue", NCL cancelled Norwegian Jade's current cruise (itinerary Nov 16-26) when the ship arrived in the first call port San Juan (Puerto Rico). The 10-day itinerary was a roundtrip from homeport Miami to San Juan, Charlotte Amalie (St Thomas Island, USVI), Basseterre (St Kitts Island), Bridgetown (Barbados), Castries (St Lucia Island) and Philipsburg (St Maarten Island).

Ship's Captain officially informed all passengers that the cruise ship will remain docked in San Juan until November 20 for repairs. NCL arranged charter flights to Miami and paid USD 650 per person for change fees to passengers not able to make their own flight arrangements. As compensation, all passengers were fully refunded (based on the fare paid) and received 100% future NCL cruise credit (based on current fares paid).

08 March 2013Crew / Passenger Deaths

On March 8, 2013, a 25-year-old male crew died in a pier accident while the ship was berthed and disembarking passengers in call port Katakolon (Olympia, Greece). The man (of Filipino origin) was standing on Deck 7’s platform when a mooring rope snapped, struck him violently and knocked him overboard into the water. As the harbour water was murky, divers searched for several hours until they found the body. The investigation report stated the crew was without a life jacket, harness and hard hat.

23 June 2010Crew / Passenger Deaths

(murder) On June 23, 2010, while the ship docked in call port Civitavecchia (Rome, Italy), passenger disembarkation was delayed by ~2 hours due to murder case investigation conducted by the Italian police on the ship. The crime report stated a male passenger confessed he strangled his pregnant wife in their cabin. The couple was travelling together with their children.

09 January 2010Crew / Passenger Injuries and Overboards

(overboard) On January 9, 2010, a male passenger jumped overboard into the sea but was rescued alive. He was travelling together with his family and was reported wearing a life vest when he jumped from Bridge Deck 11.

The incident occurred when the ship was off Egypt’s coast. The ship had to change course, then stopped, deployed a rescue boat and retrieved the passenger. The man was deported off the ship in call port Alexandria Egypt, where was transported by an ambulance to a hospital. He was fined ~USD 5,600 by NCL for causing this incident.

16 May 2008Ship Listing

On May 16, 2008, while cruising in Europe (Mediterranean Sea) and en route to Naples from Venice, the vessel experienced an 8-degree listing to portside. NCL officially stated the incident was caused by a “temporary technical issue” affecting the steering system. Unofficially was reported the ship’s compass lost power for a few seconds. Among the results were emptied swimming pools and toppled Lido buffet restaurant.

November 2007Cruise Illness / Virus Outbreaks

(Pride of Hawaii) On November 9, 2007, the operated by NCL America ship reported "about 1/6th" of its passengers suffering from "gastrointestinal illness". The ship was operating on 7-day Hawaii cruise (itinerary Nov 5-12) roundtrip from homeport Honolulu.

The Norovirus outbreak infected a total of 220 passengers and crew (out of ~2500). All sick suffered from Norovirus symptoms (stomach cramps, predominantly vomiting and diarrhoea) and were quarantined to their cabins for 24 hours. As compensation, all quarantined passengers received US$200 in onboard credit.