Clipped from the Star Website, 11/15/03

Waymoresports
Nov. 15, 2003. 01:00 AM

Islands get set to chart new course

ROBERT W. BONE
SPECIAL TO THE STAR

HONOLULU—Hawaii is about to explode with a fleet of new, used, refurbished and renamed passenger ships offering cruises to and among the islands of the 50th state.

Much of this maritime activity is centred around ships operated by Norwegian Cruise Lines, which is wrapping itself up in a new flag as NCL America, boasting both brand new and pre-owned vessels plus a new land-based office here in Honolulu.

Other companies are also getting into the act, notably the high-end Crystal Cruises, which will put its well-manicured toe in the financial waters for a month-long test of a new inter-island operation here early next year.

And still more cruise lines have indicated they will continue and perhaps increase their forays into the islands in cruises sailing to and from such international ports as Ensenada, Mexico, and Vancouver, then visiting several islands before returning across the eastern Pacific. These trips are made by such lines as Celebrity, Princess, Holland America and others. Princess also wraps Tahiti into several Hawaii cruises.

And many cruise ships make Honolulu a standard port of call on wider cruises on the Pacific or on around-the-world voyages. Some of these also stop for a day on the island of Maui.

For more than 100 years, U.S. maritime regulations, called cabotage laws, have prohibited foreign-owned and foreign-built ships and those with foreign crews from carrying passengers from one American port to another without calling at a foreign port somewhere along the way. But these laws are slowly sinking under pressure from companies and legislators determined to make inter-island cruises more accessible to more visitors.

Hawaii and ocean voyages are hardly strangers to each other. Before and even after World War II, the gleaming "white bottoms" of Matson and other lines brought thousands of vacationers here to the Islands. Strictly speaking, these were not cruises but four-day voyages between two points. They began to peter out in 1959 when Hawaii achieved statehood and Honolulu began receiving its first passenger jet flights from the mainland, cutting nine-hour flights in half.

Inter-island travel experiences, too, were only made by airlines until the 1980s when two old American-built ships began week-long cruises from Honolulu to the islands of Kauai, Maui, and the Big Island of Hawaii and back again.

Although plagued by difficult maintenance and other problems, the aging Independence and the Constitution continued operations until its parent company declared bankruptcy in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

But the slack was quickly picked up by Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Lines which launched its gleaming, new Norwegian Star into the local market. It was soon joined in 2002 by the Norwegian Wind, and it has been generally acknowledged that both ships brought a much higher level of luxury than was ever offered here by the Independence and the Constitution.

 

As foreign-owned ships, however, the two newer vessels are required to make a stop at a foreign port. Consequently, NCLâs standard interisland Hawaii cruise also includes a port call at Fanning Island, 900 miles to the south in the tiny Pacific nation of Kiribati.

 

Unofficial maritime sources in Honolulu point out that in case of any emergency, however slight, the ships are not required to make the Fanning run. They said that any time the ship must divert to rescue a sick fisherman, for example, the Kiribati call may be eliminated.

 

The new NCL America operation may soon be able to eliminate Fanning island for good. First of all, its newest ship,  named the Pride of America, has been constructed mainly in the U.S.A. Considered the first American-built passenger ship in more than 50 years, it will go into service on the Hawaiian interisland run on Independence Day, July 4, 2004, and begin seven-day round-the-island trips from Honolulu.

 

Also next year, another NCL ship, the Norwegian Sky, after refurbishment is to be renamed the Pride of Aloha. Following one cruise from San Francisco to the islands, it will make shorter, three- and four-day interisland cruises between Oahu (Honolulu) and other Hawaiian islands. (Per-person fares for these truncated itineraries have been announced at about $US500 and $US680, respectively.)

 

Currently of foreign registry, it, too, will then be granted American citizenship. The two ãPrideä ships will be decorated stem-to-stern with new, patriotic red-and-white-and-blue designs ö stars, stripes, and eagles -- painted right on the hulls.

 

In contrast to its other ships, the two new vessels will have American crews, a provision insisted upon by Hawaiiâs senior senator, Daniel K. Inouye, who has been instrumental in helping form legislation allowing NCL Americaâs exemption from several provisions of  the cabotage laws.

 

After all this comes to pass, the Norwegian Star will be repositioned to Seattle for Alaskan cruises. Three of NCLâs ships will remain in Hawaii, including the Norwegian Wind which will continue to make Hawaii cruises which may or may not also include Fanning Island.

 

Before all this takes place, Crystal Cruises, the opulent Japanese-owned company which is marketed mostly to rich Americans,  will also sail into the Hawaiian fray, running interisland cruises here in January and February.

 

The new Crystal Serenity will visit Hawaii for the first time when it makes an overnight call January 25-26 on its round-the-world cruise. After a stop at Lahaina, it will continue to Guam, Japan, etc.  But the same weekend, a different Crystal ship, the Crystal Harmony, will also arrive in Honolulu and begin its ãIsland Embraceä cruise around the islands, including a stop at Fanning.

 

This will be the first of three similar 10-day interisland cruises, all leaving from Honolulu, designed to evaluate the market for more such cruises beginning in 2005. Departures in 2004 are scheduled for January 24, and February 3 and 13.  On February 23 the Crystal Harmony will leave Honolulu on an 18-day cruise through the South Pacific.

 

Prices for the 10-day Crystal Cruises in Hawaii begin at $US2,495 per person, compared with NCLâs seven-day cruises beginning at around $US1,000. Discounted fare deals are available on both lines, but Crystal will remain the most pricey by far.

 

One mystery in all this that has not been cleared up is what will happen to the half-century old Independence. Along with its sister, the Constitution, it is remembered by many for Hawaii cruises in the 1980s and 90s. The Independence was recently purchased at public auction at a fire-sale price also by NCL.  The Constitution, however, was sunk in a storm not far from Hawaii while it was being towed to India to be broken up for scrap.

 

Bob Bone is a freelance writer based in Hawaii