98420934

On 4/20/2024 at 1:05 AM, chengkp75 said:

Now it all makes sense. Hilo is the typical day for crew fire drills, and also the weekly test of the emergency generator, which apparently failed during this test.

Wisely reasoned as always, Chief.

On 4/20/2024 at 10:22 AM, Nikita4 said:

One Problem was the emergency generator and then also an other generator failed, for that we were 60 hours in Hilo.

Let me correct that. The problem keeping the ship at Hilo was specific to one generator only. The member of the "technical team" to whom you spoke was inadequately informed or speculating. Other, unrelated, routine maintenance was ongoing as usual.

The time to repair was less than 40 hours, with teams working 24 hours a day. The total time in port was longer in duration than the total time needed for repairs, as the issue was not discovered at the instant of arrival. Naturally, time was also needed to prepare for departure after the issue was corrected.

It was a successful example of routine checks identifying the problems they are meant to identify.

23 hours ago, koreakruiser said:

According to cruisemapper.com, after disembarking her passengers last Friday, the PoA was moved to a drydock at Pearl Harbor.  She went into the drydock around noon on Friday and came out very early (about 2 AM) on Sunday morning, arriving back at her Honolulu dock about 9 AM.  Presumably the next set of passengers were embarked and she set sail as usual around 7 PM.  But then at about 9 PM she turned back towards Honolulu and arrived back there a bit after 10 PM.  Don’t know if they forgot something or had another issue, but she soon departed again a bit after 11 PM and arrived as usual in Kahului around 7:30 Monday morning.

Your information is correct. The hull inspection period at Pearl Harbor, which had been planned long in advance, was routine. It did not involve any maintenance and was unrelated to the generator issue that had been successfuly resolved a few days earlier. The ship departed early from Pearl Harbor. The only unexpected challenge was the crew being prohibited from going ashore at Pearl Harbor, due to the security policies of the surrounding military installation.

After boarding passengers and departing from Honolulu on time, a medical issue caused the ship to return briefly to port to disembark the affected passenger. This also is a routine occurrence.

Neither the drydock period nor the return to Honolulu were related to any kind of maintenance issue, though I admire the capable imaginations of those who suggest a much more dramatic series of events.

On 4/17/2024 at 5:14 AM, Panhandle Couple said:

It has been posted that POA will dry dock for 2 weeks in June…

No such maintenance is planned or anticipated in June, so I'm afraid that the post referenced above was made in error. However, as others have mentioned, there will be two days in drydock for a routine hull inspection next week, April 26-27, as indicated on the NCL website by the two 6-day cruises before and after those dates.

On 4/18/2024 at 9:32 AM, Nikita4 said:

There are two or more generators down not only one. And the US Coast Guard stopped the ship to sail with the broken generators. It will need a week or more to solve all generator problems.

To provide some factual details, an issue with one of the seven generators on board was identified during routine checks around 10 am on Tuesday, April 16th. The issue was corrected as quickly as possible, and the voyage resumed as quickly as possible. The total time needed to correct the issue was just over 40 hours. It was an extremely dedicated effort by the engineers and outside technical specialists, with teams working in shifts 24 hours a day to minimize the impact to passengers.

On 4/17/2024 at 6:31 AM, zqvol said:

You won’t find snow between Hilo and Kona. 

The most recent snow between Hilo and Kona was four days ago on April 15th, as reported by multiple media outlets. Here is one such link.

On 8/20/2022 at 8:33 AM, 98420934 said:

Potential for some movement in this space, but I don't know if any details are publicly available at the moment.

Some of the details referenced above are now public. Quoting a different poster in another thread:

"Just back from B2B PoA cruises. The American crew was very friendly and tried very hard to please. We heard that dispensation had been obtained, for a limited time, to reduce the ratio of American to International crew to 50%… In any case, the cruises were very enjoyable."

On a similar note, the CEO has publicly confirmed that staffing levels should approach normal next month:

…[H]e addressed the Hawaii staffing: “So, for Hawaii, the magic [crew] number is 900,” Sommer noted. “We’re now sitting at just under 800 [crew members on Pride of America], so we’ve made significant progress,” he explained. "We think we’ll be at the full 900 by early January,” adding that the ship is fully sold out through June.

On 6/30/2022 at 11:56 PM, chengkp75 said:

Deck and engine officers must be 100% US citizens.  Deck and engine crew must be 100% either US citizens or Green Card holders.  The total crew can be no more than 25% non-citizens.  NCL did get a waiver in 2006 to allow NRAC (non-Resident Alien Crew) to work on POA.  So, if there are Green Card holders in the deck/engine departments, this limits the number of Green Card or NRAC crew in the hotel department (when I say "hotel" department, this is all departments other than deck and engine), and the US officers limit this as well, since it is the total crew that must not exceed 25% non-citizens.

Potential for some movement in this space, but I don't know if any details are publicly available at the moment.

On 8/2/2022 at 4:03 AM, chengkp75 said:

POA, at today's bunker prices (she uses scrubbers, so can continue to use older, higher sulfur fuel, IFO380, and I'm extrapolating fuel costs from the mainland, as all of her fuel is transported from the mainland, and she is one of a very few users of bunker oil), burns about $500k of fuel a week.

Some updates since the shipyard periods last year. PoA burns only MGO/ISO 8217:2010 at the moment, though HFO capability and scrubbers are still in place. Fuel is received by truck weekly at Honolulu as the bunker barge operating company ceased operations during Covid.

PoA has completed her journey from Oregon, and is now moored alongside her usual berth at pier 2 in Honolulu.

Following more than nine months of layup and maintenance in Oregon, with occasional brief jaunts out to sea, AIS data indicates that Pride of America departed from her lay berth at the Vigor Industrial shipyard at Portland this morning, en route to Honolulu. Her publicly-announced restart date continues to be April 9th 👍

Will post some encouraging news here shortly.

30 minutes ago, jan&dean said:

When is the Pride of America scheduled to leave Portland? The first scheduled cruise is April 8th. Hoping it doesn't get delayed again. We are booked for an October cruise.

The departure date from Portland is set but I don't believe it has been publicly announced.

Yes, PoA is opted-in to the CDC program at the moment.

No idea if this analysis is accurate, but I thought it was an interesting take:

Norwegian Cruise Line: The Great Cruise Comeback

"The key investor takeaway is that Norwegian is far too cheap here. The market is too focused on debt levels while missing the strong profit picture on higher revenues. As the debt is repaid, the cruise line will use higher profits than 2019 to offset the additional outstanding shares to return the company back to pre-covid EPS levels of $5+. Investors should use the weakness from the war in Ukraine to finally load up on the cruise line."

As reported in the ship movements thread, the PoA made another day trip from Portland yesterday. She was underway for approximately 15 hours. She hasn't been at anchor since last year.

PoA was on a planned day trip for engineering purposes, and did not go to sea. She departed Portland at 5:23 am and was back alongside in Portland at 8:29 pm the same evening.

On 10/1/2021 at 7:07 PM, NW Pacific said:

Well as of today Friday, Oct.1, Pride still not back in Astoria, will find out tomorrow if she comes back here or is on the go somewhere else

She arrived in Astoria this morning, October 4th. To be fair, her movements have been a little confusing, as her AIS destination indicated Portland even though she was headed to Astoria. I have a feeling someone may have neglected to update her AIS status, as it is still showing an anticipated future arrival in Portland on 3 September 2021 at 08:00 UTC-7, despite that date being more than a month in the past.

On 10/2/2021 at 12:35 AM, bonvoyagie said:

She was in PDX most of Aug and in early Sept moved to Astoria, then she went out to sea and returned to PDX, where as of today she still is there. I know that when Oceania parked one of their ships in Astoria they paid a reported 16,000.00/month in docking fees. I doubt that parking at Vigor is any cheaper.

Let me update some of that history. In August, the ship was in Portland for three days, from the 5th to the 7th. The rest of August she was either at sea or in Astoria. She returned to Portland on September 2nd and entered the dry dock facility on September 7th. She remained there for most of September (you could see her in the facility, hull out of the water, for three weeks in September if you walked along the hill at the university), before shifting back to the pier on the 29th and then leaving Portland on October 1st. At the time of your post, the ship was at sea. You can check this information, if desired, by looking at the ship's voyage history on MarineTraffic, which gives dates, times, and locations. Keep in mind that times are in UTC, so you would have to subtract seven hours for PDT.

Contacts on board indicate that berthing rates in Portland are lower than in Astoria, and the ship has access to many more facilities in Portland (larger cranes, engineering facilities, sewer connection, etc.). There is also the matter of the greater tidal range in Astoria requiring far more mooring line adjustments than in Portland. I am told that, for these reasons, they have tried to remain in Portland as much as possible. I have not seen any of the berthing contracts personally however so this information is secondhand.

On 10/1/2021 at 7:14 PM, zerooveride said:

Do we know what was done in the 2nd Dry Dock?

A fair amount, but I don't believe that information is public at the moment. What I can say is that the second visit to drydock was a result of the pandemic, though I understand that is the reason for just about everything these days!

Following a second drydock and shipyard period lasting most of September, the Pride of America departed Portland this morning and is now at sea.

On 9/11/2021 at 5:34 AM, BirdTravels said:

Probably cheaper to provision and operate on the mainland than Hawaii. And with cruises suspended for the foreseeable future, parking in Portland vs Hawaii during hurricane season is probably an ok choice. 

Correct. She is not anticipated to return to Hawaii until it is necessary to do so to prepare for her return to service.

On 7/8/2021 at 7:08 PM, zerooveride said:

POA has been in Portland for over a month . . . Seems a little long for a simple dry dock 

As those who are in the area can see, the ship is no longer in the drydock, and is moored next to the drydock, at a pier belonging to the shipyard which operates the drydock facility. AIS data indicates the vessel shifted from the drydock to the pier on June 21st, after spending a little less than three weeks in the drydock facility.

23 hours ago, All-ready2cruise said:

Seems like a perfect time to do a dry dock, POA's last one was 2016 so it's needed anyway.  And, no rush to return to Hawai'i since there aren't any cruises booked for right now. The money has to be spent regardless of the financial situation.  

Bingo.

On 5/25/2021 at 11:10 AM, sugcarol said:

No dry dock is scheduled.

I regret to inform you that your sources are misinformed 😁

11 hours ago, Jeanne2 said:

The only thing I found was on Wikipedia about a June 2021 dry dock for POA but that certainly does not make it fact -- "In June 2021 she is scheduled to travel to Vigor Shipyards in Portland, Oregon to enter dry dock with about 200 crew members, the other 300 crew heading directly back to their home states."

Good catch. If you look at Marine Traffic (or another ship tracking website), you will see that the PoA left Hawaii yesterday. And guess where it says she is going…

On 5/25/2021 at 10:56 AM, tourismtessy said:

Do you know what they are planning to do to her?

I do not believe that this information has been made public yet.

On 4/9/2021 at 6:57 AM, ziggyuk said:

The Norwegian Sun has made the long trip from the Caribbean to Portland arriving this morning for her drydock.

Yes! And she is not the only NCL ship scheduled to use that facility this year.

1 hour ago, Silver Sweethearts said:

Perhaps that is because every county is different and they don't all have the same problems.  One size does not fit all here.

How do residents of Maui feel about cruise ship visits? I wonder if local residents will welcome ships back or not.

12 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

You are correct, but do you think that this would be at the top of the agenda right now?  And do you think there is sufficient support in Congress to pass this?  I frankly don't see it, and with the Alaskan Marine Highway's current budget struggles, they would have something to say about it, or about getting subsidies to equal the playing field.

Good questions! My discussion was about the idea that exemptions can be changed, which does appear to be an option for this particular ship.

Of course, whether or not that option is likely to occur is a different matter entirely. I agree completely that this would be extremely unlikely in pre- or post-pandemic situations.

It does seem interesting, and relevant, that many unusual and unprecedented things have been happening recently, things which would not be able to happen normally. I wonder if allowing this US flag vessel to serve and bring tourist dollars to US ports during a challenging economic time for those ports would be seen as a positive by many stakeholders.

I also agree that it would be difficult or impossible to lobby for such a change on a permanent basis. However, I wonder if any such change in exemption would be much easier to sell on a temporary basis, limited to the period of time during which operations in Alaska are curtailed as a result of the Canadian restrictions.

Of course, this scenario could only come to pass if Alaska cruising were to start up before Hawaii cruising… 

it is my understanding that PVSA exemptions can be modified by congress, but please correct me if my understanding is incorrect. In these "unprecedented times", an unprecedented modification to the PoA's exemption would not seem to be beyond the realm of possibility. No doubt any such modification would be temporary, to assuage the concerns of those operators normally present in Alaska.

It might be in the company's interest to lobby for such a modification, especially if Alaska were to permit cruising to restart before Hawaii. Better to have the ship working in Alaska than sitting at anchor in Hawaii, from the company's perspective.

I wonder if Alaska's government would agree from an economic perspective, and would support such a modification in Washington DC.

It would certainly be an expensive Alaska cruise! But with so few other ships operating, perhaps the demand would support it… Interesting ideas. Thanks to the posters above for bringing it up.

Another small change in the coming days.

On 1/25/2021 at 8:12 AM, complawyer said:

hate  to rain on your parade, or rub it in, we bought it at $7.00

Wow. Nice move!

On 1/8/2021 at 2:27 PM, Named-Tawny said:

I guess the question is, if MSC does acquire NCL, what do they do?

What would happen to stockholders in this kind of situation? I don't have any stock, so I'm not in the game, but I'm curious to understand how it would work for stockholders.

On 1/4/2021 at 11:00 AM, Formula280SS said:

It appears from some calculations that, at June 30, 2021, NCL will have only 90-days of liquidity from existing funds.  It also appears they really don't have much of anything left to leverage in debt… NCL is the most likely to work out a creditor pre-packaged event to sustain restructuring the line financially (with loss of and to equity).

Thanks for your posts about NCL's stock price. I'm not a financial person so they are helpful to read.

This article at the Motley Fool seems to indicate that NCL can run through July 2022 with the cash they have now: "Norwegian… should have $3.6 billion in the bank today. That's… sufficient to keep it afloat for 20 more months." Do you think that's an overly optimistic view?