Say Sayonara to Norwegian's Pride of Hawaii

This is it, the last week for NCL America's Pride of Hawaii.

As we've written about before, the Norwegian Cruise Line subsidiary had high hopes for the ship when it debuted in the islands less than two years ago. But the American-flagged, American-staffed vessel was plagued by service issues and struggled to gain a following among cruisers. Demand for the ship -- NCL America's third in the islands -- never caught up with supply, resulting in big financial losses.

Norwegian is transferring the Pride to Europe, where the line hopes the vessel will get a better reception (demand for cruises in Europe is booming). But the Pride of Hawaii name, alas, will disappear. After a brief refitting, the 2,224-passenger ship will reemerge in late March as the Norwegian Jade. It'll offer a mix of 12-, 13- and 14-night cruises out out of Barcelona, Athens, London and Istanbul.

The Pride of Hawaii's last cruise around the Hawaiian islands -- for now, at least; Norwegian executives say the ship could someday return to the Aloha state -- finishes on Monday morning.