I wonder if the PBS documentary, "SS United States: Lady in Waiting" is going to draw enough needed attention to this ship to prevent it from being towed by NCL to Alang. The one hour documentary, shot in High Definition is due to start airing in May on PBS stations throughout the USA.
Now would be a great time for everyone to write their senators and congressmen about coming up with a tax credit, or other worthy incentive, to whatever company would restore the ship and make it operational again. Even with NCL supposedly owning it, they then would have something to sell. Tax policy is the best way to encourage saving this ship. If enough representatives are aware of concern, the documentary will be watched more closely.
Next Cruise: Carnival Fantasy 10-27-08
03/08 Carnival Fantasy 10-07 Carnival Holiday 03-07 Carnival Holiday 11-06 Carnival Triumph 03-06 CaribbeanPrincess 01-04 Carnival Victory 09-03 Carnival Destiny 05-03 Carnival Imagination 11-02 Carnival Imagination 01-02 RCCL Rhapsody of Seas 02-01 RCCL Sovereign of Seas 02-00 RCCL Empress of Seas 01-99 RCCL Sovereign of Seas 01-98 RCCL Majesty of Seas
Which would be a great idea if any cruise line actually pays any US taxes. The only large cruise line paying American taxes today is NCLA, which has two ships, and after May this year, only one.
A tax credit or deduction isn't the only answer for saving the SSUS. I would suggest a guaranteed loan from the the US Maritime Administration to assist in refurbishing it would be much nicer.
At least with that they could get financing to refurbish it.
You are right! Loan incentives would add even more possibilities. I have no idea about the legalities and taxation, but seeing that most are publicly traded on NYSE, I would assume US taxes would come into play somewhere. Either way, with the right program, restoration of SSUS could be viable. That ship has far less operating hours on her than many that are cruising the seas today.
Originally posted by tncruiseman: You are right! Loan incentives would add even more possibilities. I have no idea about the legalities and taxation, but seeing that most are publicly traded on NYSE, I would assume US taxes would come into play somewhere. Either way, with the right program, restoration of SSUS could be viable. That ship has far less operating hours on her than many that are cruising the seas today.
I have no doubt that refurbishing the SSUS could be done technically. Either restoring the steam turbines or replacing them with diesel engines or gas turbines. Adding hundreds of balcony cabins. Adding a casino and many restaurants. Forming plans to do so is the easy part.
But, NCL is like every other business, they have to find a financial bank which believes it could repay the loans needed to make the refurbishment possible. That's the hard part. NCL doesn't have the hundreds of millions of dollars to finance this work themselves. Money is tight right now, and NCLA didn't rake in huge profits that NCL hoped it would. The likely hood any financial bank will come up with the money is low right now. But who knows what the future will be?
Originally posted by tncruiseman: You are right! Loan incentives would add even more possibilities. I have no idea about the legalities and taxation, but seeing that most are publicly traded on NYSE, I would assume US taxes would come into play somewhere. Either way, with the right program, restoration of SSUS could be viable. That ship has far less operating hours on her than many that are cruising the seas today.
I have no doubt that refurbishing the SSUS could be done technically. Either restoring the steam turbines or replacing them with diesel engines or gas turbines. Adding hundreds of balcony cabins. Adding a casino and many restaurants. Forming plans to do so is the easy part.
But, NCL is like every other business, they have to find a financial bank which believes it could repay the loans needed to make the refurbishment possible. That's the hard part. NCL doesn't have the hundreds of millions of dollars to finance this work themselves. Money is tight right now, and NCLA didn't rake in huge profits that NCL hoped it would. The likely hood any financial bank will come up with the money is low right now. But who knows what the future will be?
The only future that I see for the Big U is NCL selling the ship to a non-cruise line. I don't see this ship ever sailing again. It's much easier to build a brand new cruise than it is to rebuild the Big U into another ship. I don't believe that NCL/America will ever be profitable. Since they rid themselves of the SS Indy and the SS Norway, which would have costs much less to fix up than the Big U, Why should they care about the Big U?
Apollo is not going to invest $1 Billion on rebuilding the Big U. Nor will anyone else, other than the ship becoming a Hotel and Museum. With the financial mess the banks are in right now due the subprime loan dubatical, none of them will be crazy enough to give a $1 Billion loan to a company that is losing at lot of money like NCL/America. It's been 5 years since they got the ship. A feasibility study doesn't take that long to complete. The kind of plans that they want to do with the Big U is being concentrated on the F3 Class cruise ships. That's where the money is. Not on the Big U, from NCL/Star Cruises perspective. Never was. Never will. That's my opinion.
Dan Lague
Posts: 347 | Location: Florida | Registered: May 16, 2006
It's been 5 years since they got the ship. A feasibility study doesn't take that long to complete. The kind of plans that they want to do with the Big U is being concentrated on the F3 Class cruise ships. That's where the money is. Not on the Big U, from NCL/Star Cruises perspective. Never was. Never will. That's my opinion.
If NCLA had made huge profits, they might have needed the SSUS to expand their American fleet. They did buy the SSUS before commencing any NCLA service. But since NCLA hasn't been raking in profits, and the number of American ships has decreased, I doubt they will need the SSUS.
I do hope they can find a buyer for her that's not a scrap dealer.
Great article! If you go tp PBS website, you can find out when the new documentary will air with each station. Unfortunately, it aired here several weeks ago and is not listed anytime again in the immediate future. Rather than sulk, I ordered the DVD of the program.
I just received the DVD and felt the same way. Colin Veitch even sounded enthusiastic and convincing about its fate. Time will tell. I hope the documentary will gain the needed attention to get something going. The money needed to restore it is a drop in the bucket compared to everything else receiving funding!
Colin Veitch even sounded enthusiastic and convincing about its fate.
He did, which surprised me. It was also interesting to hear the NCL people talking about the layout and engine changes that would be needed, but how important it is to keep the profile intact. I was impressed that the hull was so overbuilt, it is still in great shape. What did they say...93% of original?
Yep..amazing considering the years...even harder to think that our "Holiday" has been in service longer than SSUS ever was. I know it probably would never happen, but imagine SSUS with twin "whale tail" funnels! I still think it would be viable to restore the ship if tax credits and tax policy encouraged a line to do so. I'd certainly be among the first to book.
Eventually the demand for weekly Hawaii cruises will expand. It's possible NCL might return the Sky and Jade back to Hawaii when demand increases, but it's also possible NCL might refurbish the SSUS for Hawaii duties.
With the SSUS, NCL can be flexible, and send it elsewhere when demand drops in Hawaii, which they couldn't do with their exempted ships. Take advanatage of unique itineraries exempted US cruise ships and non US cruise ships can't do. For example, one way weekly Alaska cruises from Seattle, instead of from Vancouver. 3 and 4 day cruises from San Francisco to Los Angeles, or a longer one way cruise from any California port to Hawaii without initiating or terminating the cruise in Ensenada.
An itinerary that only it could do that I would love to take is a Miami to San Juan cruise, 3 or 4 days in San Juan, without stopping anywhere else, like many Bermuda cruises.
Refurbishing the SSUS isn't going to cost as much as many will suggest since the interiors have already been stripped. All that's required is rebuilding the interiors, and installing new auxiliary equipment. Something you'll want to do with any ship as old as it is anyways.
Assuming the Pride of America continues to make a profit with the withdrawal of the other two ships, NCL will eventually want to add an additional ship as the Hawaii business grows. The American organization overhead is already in place.
NCL's initial plan for three ships servicing Hawaii was a gamble with too much expansion too quickly.
If the Big U is EVER renovated by NCL, then that would be a very huge shock to me. With all of the Mega Ships out there, how will the Big U ever compete with that? And also, if NCL is so positive about the Big U, then why didn't they re-engined the SS Norway, which was a very popular ship as well?
I still feel that it's highly unlikely that the SS United States will ever sail again. Why go through all the trouble of removing the engines for fuel efficient disels? Why not just build a near replica of the ship's hull and build a new superstructure on that one and leave the original Big U alone?
Also, why would Apollo and Star Cruises want to go through the financial trouble of turning the Big U into an entirely different ship? The sort of conversion that was done to the SS France into the SS Norway will never happen again.
Bruce Nierenburg, the man responsible for convincing NCL in 1979 to buy the SS France, even mentioned that it wouldn't make any sense to turn the SS United States into another SS Norway because of the way that the ship was built. He felt that the only realistic option is for the ship to become a floating museum that would honor its maritime history.
If the SS United States was rebuilt into a modern cruise ship, that everyone wants to see so badly, it would not look like the same ship after NCL is finished with their renovations. Why turn a ship that was ment to be a vessel of the Cold War into a cruise ship that would not compete with what's out there?
Again, I would be shocked of NCL ever renovates the Big U. They seem to be getting a lot of financial help these days. Maybe they will. But I can't see how it makes financial sense.
Dan Lague
Posts: 347 | Location: Florida | Registered: May 16, 2006
Originally posted by Redlinekid2: I would be shocked of NCL ever renovates the Big U. They seem to be getting a lot of financial help these days. Maybe they will. But I can't see how it makes financial sense.
I agree, it wouldn't make much sense financially if it cruised popular itineraries. Bigger and newer ships seems the more popular choice today.
HAL's Prisendam is still a popular choice today for many passengers wishing to do its many one off and odd cruise itineraries around the world. The SSUS could be a money maker doing many one-off and rare American only cruise itineraries, imho. It is the last true American flag ship in existance.
Cunard spent the money to re-engine the QE2, so it is possible, however slight, to find financing to do so.
But the key to the future of the SSUS from NCL's viewpoint is whether they can get "financing" from banks or investment firms to do anything with her.
Yes, I'd agree it could and probably would be drastically remodeled into looking entirely different. As is, it is obsolete and uncompetitive. So changes will have to be made to make her competitive in today's market.
