Saturday, February 16, 2008
Norwegian Saying Aloha to Hawaii?
More cruise news is rearing its ugly head this week, this time around from Norwegian Cruise Line with cuts to capacity to its Hawaiian market where it enjoys a near monopoly, and hints they could be pulling out altogether. They're subsidiary, NCL America, was at one point featuring sailings from Hawaii with four ships. Three of which were flagged from the United States, a requirement to be able to sail the ships on a purely Hawaii itinerary.
Last year, NCL retired the Norwegian Wind from the fleet. This year, the Pride of America was repositioned as the Norwegian Jade. Now, this week, NCL America further reduced capacity in Hawaii by announcing that it would be transferring the Pride of Aloha to its parent company, Star Cruises, and targeting the ship to serve the Asian Market. It's a sad story, really.
It makes me wish that they would just send the ship to New York City instead and then NCL could send back the horrific Norwegian Spirit which came over from Asia in 2001 and has never actually been refurbished.
But there is some good news in the offing, the remaining Pride of Hawai'i will stay in its seven day cross state operation for the foreseeable future, having had its itineraries announced through 2010. So NCL America is here to stay for the foreseeable streamlined future. Or is it?
Maybe not so much, according to the Honolulu Star Bulletin. NCL America is heavily backing proposed legislation which would create rules that essentially force other cruise lines to leave the Hawaiian market altogether (like Carnival, Princess, Holland America and others.) The proposed rule would force a ship to stay in a foreign port for 48 hours before being able to port in Hawaii. This would turn the 15 night options that other cruise lines currently offer on a semi-regular basis into 17 night cruises, something that isn't too likely to happen. NCL America seems to think that this is a requirement for their profitability.
The bottom line? NCL America is losing money and is losing out on the Hawaii market to its competitors despite having a huge advantage of not having to cross half the pacific ocean to reach its first port in Hawaii. Because of current Jones Act regulations, NCL America is the only cruise line able to offer purely Hawaiian itineraries and has a virtual lock on the 7 night Hawaiian cruise market. Yet, due to poor staffing, inattentive service, and frankly overpricing the market, the cruise line has struggled for years. Changing cabotage rules to benefit NCL America will not straighten out these core failures.
Reducing capacity by 75% should allow its one remaining Hawaii cruiser to become profitable. But its success could be foiled by the line's relatively poor product reputation. Will NCL America stay in place for the next two years? Probably, but don't be too shocked if in six months, the Pride of Hawai'i says Aloha for the last time.
Last year, NCL retired the Norwegian Wind from the fleet. This year, the Pride of America was repositioned as the Norwegian Jade. Now, this week, NCL America further reduced capacity in Hawaii by announcing that it would be transferring the Pride of Aloha to its parent company, Star Cruises, and targeting the ship to serve the Asian Market. It's a sad story, really.
It makes me wish that they would just send the ship to New York City instead and then NCL could send back the horrific Norwegian Spirit which came over from Asia in 2001 and has never actually been refurbished.
But there is some good news in the offing, the remaining Pride of Hawai'i will stay in its seven day cross state operation for the foreseeable future, having had its itineraries announced through 2010. So NCL America is here to stay for the foreseeable streamlined future. Or is it?
Maybe not so much, according to the Honolulu Star Bulletin. NCL America is heavily backing proposed legislation which would create rules that essentially force other cruise lines to leave the Hawaiian market altogether (like Carnival, Princess, Holland America and others.) The proposed rule would force a ship to stay in a foreign port for 48 hours before being able to port in Hawaii. This would turn the 15 night options that other cruise lines currently offer on a semi-regular basis into 17 night cruises, something that isn't too likely to happen. NCL America seems to think that this is a requirement for their profitability.
The bottom line? NCL America is losing money and is losing out on the Hawaii market to its competitors despite having a huge advantage of not having to cross half the pacific ocean to reach its first port in Hawaii. Because of current Jones Act regulations, NCL America is the only cruise line able to offer purely Hawaiian itineraries and has a virtual lock on the 7 night Hawaiian cruise market. Yet, due to poor staffing, inattentive service, and frankly overpricing the market, the cruise line has struggled for years. Changing cabotage rules to benefit NCL America will not straighten out these core failures.
Reducing capacity by 75% should allow its one remaining Hawaii cruiser to become profitable. But its success could be foiled by the line's relatively poor product reputation. Will NCL America stay in place for the next two years? Probably, but don't be too shocked if in six months, the Pride of Hawai'i says Aloha for the last time.
Roger, 4:06 PM
