Hi everyone!

I know that NCL was planning to remove one ship from Hawaii but cannot find anything regarding that now. Even the NCL website has both Pride of Aloha and Pride of America showing itineraries well past my August 2008 planned sailing.

Any help here along with suggestions between the ships for "best in show" would be fantastic.

It also appears that they are not having regularly scheduled trips to Fanning Island anymore.

Thank you all in advance for any help!
Lyle

NCL America did have three ships, It was the Pride of Hawaii that they moved. The ships Pride of America, and Aloha are registered in America so they don't have to meet the requirement of going to the foreign port of Fanning Island.

Yep, Pride of Hawaii, the newest of the NCLA ships will be in Europe with a Bahamian flag very soon (will be NCL Jade). That leaves just two NCLA ships with the US flagging. At times over the past year there were actually 4 ships sailing from Hawaii. The 3 NCLA ships and NCL Wind doing Fanning. It was far to much capacity to fill each week and pricing plummeted. I remember 10 day sailings going for between $400 and $450 per person inside at times last year. This hurt the bottom line and the NCLA brand was bleeding red ink. This new push for fewer ships to increase demand has been very successful for them. Pricing has soared and availability is very limited, they're selling out months before the sailing date on many. Good for NCL but no more nearly free cruises to Hawaii for the public. It'll be easier for them to adequately staff the ships and should also result in better service, the main complaint from this market.

Cheers, Neil

With NCL pulling 2 of 3 ships out of Hawaii, do you think any other cruise line may attempt to put a ship over there now? Carnival is a natural fit I would think.

quote:

Originally posted by etinca:
With NCL pulling 2 of 3 ships out of Hawaii, do you think any other cruise line may attempt to put a ship over there now? Carnival is a natural fit I would think.

For the foreseeable future, after May 11, only the Pride of America will be left doing NCLA's 7 day all Hawaiian itineraries.
Carnival would be a good if they could flag a ship under the USA and sail a 7 day itinerary. But I don't think they will do that.
And that would means a long two week cruise to Hawaii from the West Coast, which isn't what Carnival does. What Carnival does now is a repositioning one-way cruises with one ship each Spring and Fall from California (actually Mexico) to Vancouver via Hawaii, just prior and after the Alaskan cruise season. Mexico to Honolulu, then Honolulu to Vancouver, and the reverse later in the year. That keeps the cruise to less than 14 days.
More likely, HAL, Princess, and Celebrity may schedule more Hawaii cruises, as longer cruises is what they do best.
But I don't think they'll do more soon. They would have to cancel the existing itinearies on ships being booked elsewhere to switch to a new Hawaiian itinerary, and that would make many booked customers angry.
It's also possible NCL will send the Sun to Hawaii, and sail 10-11 day itineraries to Fanning Island again. But the Sun is also committed until April 2009 on other itineraries.
This move will also cause problems for NCL, as that will take the Sun away from it's Alaskan and South American itineraries, with no ship to replace it. The Jade could return in 2009 or later, either as the Jade (with 10-11 day itineraries) or as the Pride of Hawaii (7 day itinerary).

With all the issues NCLA has had with that market and the rules imposed, both under the Jones Act and the Hawaii Legislature rules for staffing, I can't see any other line wanting a piece of that market. NCLA bled red ink from day one. It's an attractive market but not at the costs imposed to pull it off. I wouldn't look for anyone to fill the void there.

Cheers, Neil

A very good friend of mine is currently the MD (Musical Director) onboard the Pride of America, and he's in Hawaii.

Home that helps.