No Carnival in Hawaii?

[Cruzinfool25]

Wife and I would love to cruise Hawaiian islands. Our only option is NCL unless we want to spend five days on the water sailing from LA or Vancouver. Why doesn't Carnival have a ship docked in Honolulu like NCL's Pride of America? A seven day island hopping cruise on Carnival would be fantastic.

[jsglow]

Idk, because it's expensive to fly there and they are worried about filling it every week?

[Branman]

That would require having a U.S. flagged ship and would require, among other things, to have a ship that was built at a U.S. shipyard and crewed by U.S. nationals. Unfortunately, there are no shipyards in America that are cost-competitive at building ships (the Pride of America was partially built in America under a special program to subsidize its construction, and it still had to be completed overseas and get a special waiver to be U.S. flagged), and American crew members would be extraordinarily expensive as they would be required to pay U.S. income tax. Obviously NCL makes this work, but they have a monopoly. It's an open question as to how large the intra-Hawaii market is and if it can support two ships and would represent a high risk investment which may not yield a proportional reward for the level of risk incurred.

[TomCruise48]

NCL's ship is US registered and does not need to stop at a foreign port to comply with the Passenger Vessel Services Act. You can find a great deal of discussion and controversy about the American crew used by NCL on these boards.

[spleenstomper]

We went on NCL Pride of Hawaii and it was so wonderful. However, it was port intensive--port days every day. It was exhausting by the end of the cruise.

[tef43]

The alternative would be a stop at a "distant foreign port." Before NCL America, NCL would have to call on Fanning Island to satisfy the PVSA requirement.

 

By all accounts, it was dreadful.

[Kamloops50]

Wife and I would love to cruise Hawaiian islands. Our only option is NCL unless we want to spend five days on the water sailing from LA or Vancouver. Why doesn't Carnival have a ship docked in Honolulu like NCL's Pride of America? A seven day island hopping cruise on Carnival would be fantastic.

 

NCL used to have two ships in Hawaii.Of the two , POA is the only one left. The other one was foreign flagged and had to go to Kiribati Island to satisfy the PVSA. Got to expensive and moved to Europe for a few years.

[ski_mom]

We did the NCL cruise last summer - to me it was a better choice than one of the longer cruises that leaves from the mainland because you get to spend more time on the islands.

 

It was a wonderful, although costly, cruise! I hope to be able to do it again someday!

[bUU]

NCL used to have two ships in Hawaii.Of the two , POA is the only one left. The other one was foreign flagged and had to go to Kiribati Island to satisfy the PVSA. Got to expensive and moved to Europe for a few years.

And this really underscores the point... Even NCL couldn't make it with with two ships. Two competing cruise lines would just cannibalize each other until one or both were forced to cease operations.

 

 

 

This message may have been entered using voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

[Micahs Grandad]

We have done two trips to Hawaii from the west coast with a third planned.

 

Great cruise to do in winter and get rid of several weeks of cold weather.

[spleenstomper]

NCL used to have two ships in Hawaii.Of the two , POA is the only one left. The other one was foreign flagged and had to go to Kiribati Island to satisfy the PVSA. Got to expensive and moved to Europe for a few years.

 

When we went, there were 3 ships.

 

Pride of America

Pride of Aloha

Pride of Hawaii

[sanger727]

It's not just no carnival in Hawaii... NCL is the only one offering a Hawaii only cruise. As mentioned, due to PVSA requirements it's a US flagged ship which is why the sailings tend to be expensive. If there was enough of a market for it I'm sure others would compete, but just don't think it's easy to keep that profitable with the wages they have to pay.

 

 

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[sailingsusie]

We took the Vancouver to Hawaii cruise in Sept 2012..on Carnival Spirit,.we loved it. We live in Vancouver and it was very warm here, but.. the first few days at sea were very chilly, the 3rd day the sun came out and it was wonderful. The sea days were relaxing in the day and had plenty of entertainment at night. We stayed a few days in Waikiki beach after the cruise. We will do this one again. In the '95 we sailed around the islands on NCL Wind, we went to Fanning island which is still the best port we have every been to, I hope a cruise will visit there again that we can go on.

Edited April 6, 2017 by sailingsusie
missed ship name

[Riles34]

I used to live in Honolulu for a couple years and there used to be a handful of ships from a couple different lines. The ships were not making any money so they left the Islands. NCL is still having issues filling the ship to the point of having people at the port (which is open to the public everyday) wave signs to cruise the islands for $99. A couple friends did it and spent the $99 plus tax. Its a super tough port to make money! Personally, fly to HNL and spend no more than 3 days on Oahu, do Pearl Harbor and the North Shore and get out! Fly to Kauai for 5 days and then to the Big Island for 5 days. There is way to much to do on the islands for a cruise in my opinion.

[jsglow]

I had forgotten the foreign port issue. That's why CCL does the 10 minute Mexican stop on the way home!

[riffatsea]

IF you want to go to Hawaii, Then go and stay on one of the islands.

It is easy to hop from one to another if you want to visit 2 of them in one vacation.

No need for a cruise to do that. No need for a USA flagged ship to do that.

 

[sparks1093]

That would require having a U.S. flagged ship and would require, among other things, to have a ship that was built at a U.S. shipyard and crewed by U.S. nationals. Unfortunately, there are no shipyards in America that are cost-competitive at building ships (the Pride of America was partially built in America under a special program to subsidize its construction, and it still had to be completed overseas and get a special waiver to be U.S. flagged), and American crew members would be extraordinarily expensive as they would be required to pay U.S. income tax. Obviously NCL makes this work, but they have a monopoly. It's an open question as to how large the intra-Hawaii market is and if it can support two ships and would represent a high risk investment which may not yield a proportional reward for the level of risk incurred.

 

It's not so much the tax that makes US crew members expensive, although the employer would need to match social security payments but that the US crew members are subject to US Wage law so they would need to receive at least minimum wage and would be eligible for overtime. I'm sure the other cruise lines have noted well the tribulations NCL has gone through and continue to go through and figure it's not worth it.

[spleenstomper]

I used to live in Honolulu for a couple years and there used to be a handful of ships from a couple different lines. The ships were not making any money so they left the Islands. NCL is still having issues filling the ship to the point of having people at the port (which is open to the public everyday) wave signs to cruise the islands for $99. A couple friends did it and spent the $99 plus tax. Its a super tough port to make money! Personally, fly to HNL and spend no more than 3 days on Oahu, do Pearl Harbor and the North Shore and get out! Fly to Kauai for 5 days and then to the Big Island for 5 days. There is way to much to do on the islands for a cruise in my opinion.

 

Yes, I agree, but for us it was a nice taste of the islands. On Hawaii, we were able to go down chain of craters road, etc to the end. I don't think you can do that any more because of the more recent flows.

 

The ship sailed by the lava at night while the Hawaiian ambassador chanted/sung traditional songs. I had tears in my eyes it was so beautiful; I felt very honored to watch new Earth created.

 

We definitely plan to return for a land vacation, but I do very much recommend the cruise also. I would like to do it again with my children, who are late teens now.

[Keys2Heaven]

We opted for the Journey's cruise in 2019 (Glory). Price for 14-day was same as 7-day NCL cruise (cruise only), plus allowed us to book first-ever aft-wrap balcony.

 

Factor in airfare and travel time to HNL, we are ahead a bit on cost. Also, have to consider my wife's MS, which we don't know how a long flight(s) (8+ hours total) would have on her. She loves sea days, so she's going to get plenty of them on this trip!

 

That being said, I hear January can be iffy for ports and Carnival has missed some ports due to rough seas. If we make all of our ports, I'm taking the extra money we save on airfare and booking some higher-end excursions or shipboard fun.

[ski_mom]

We opted for the Journey's cruise in 2019 (Glory). Price for 14-day was same as 7-day NCL cruise (cruise only), plus allowed us to book first-ever aft-wrap balcony.

 

Factor in airfare and travel time to HNL, we are ahead a bit on cost. Also, have to consider my wife's MS, which we don't know how a long flight(s) (8+ hours total) would have on her. She loves sea days, so she's going to get plenty of them on this trip!

 

That being said, I hear January can be iffy for ports and Carnival has missed some ports due to rough seas. If we make all of our ports, I'm taking the extra money we save on airfare and booking some higher-end excursions or shipboard fun.

 

 

That looks like a great cruise! I can't wait until we have enough time to go on another 2 week vacation. The only one we've ever done was when we went to Hawaii. We did the NCL 7 day cruise and stayed on Ohau at Waikiki for 2 days before and at Aulani for 5 days after. It was a great trip and we enjoyed all the islands! The cruise was busy and had no sea days (which we love), but we loved the whole trip!

[Keys2Heaven]

We opted for the Journey's cruise in 2019 (Glory). Price for 14-day was same as 7-day NCL cruise (cruise only), plus allowed us to book first-ever aft-wrap balcony.

 

Factor in airfare and travel time to HNL, we are ahead a bit on cost. Also, have to consider my wife's MS, which we don't know how a long flight(s) (8+ hours total) would have on her. She loves sea days, so she's going to get plenty of them on this trip!

 

That being said, I hear January can be iffy for ports and Carnival has missed some ports due to rough seas. If we make all of our ports, I'm taking the extra money we save on airfare and booking some higher-end excursions or shipboard fun.

 

Shoot...I meant Splendor....Glory is next year.

[heffy2]

NCL originally had three ships in Hawaii, but as other posters mentioned, it was too expensive to have ships registered in the US. I worked on the POA for two years, and she costs about 4 times as much as their foreign flagged ships to operate. That being said, she's the only ship in NCL's fleet to without a casino, and she is one of the most profitable ships in their fleet. I would LOVE to sail on the itinerary Carnival has now, all those sea days would be wonderful!

[bUU]

... she costs about 4 times as much as their foreign flagged ships to operate.

And significantly more to cruise upon. In as close to an apples-to-apples comparison of NCL Hawaiian cruises as practicable, they charge $307 pp per night on the POA while charging $200 pp per night on the Jade.

[Keys2Heaven]

IF you want to go to Hawaii, Then go and stay on one of the islands.

It is easy to hop from one to another if you want to visit 2 of them in one vacation.

No need for a cruise to do that. No need for a USA flagged ship to do that.

 

 

We would and seriously considered doing just that, but are not comfortable with the long flight at this time. The cruise gives us a way to "sample" a few islands. We might just return and do what you suggest, but that depends on my wife's health in the future.

[Je Souhaite]

You've seen the reason, but taking JUST a 7 day cruise around Hawaii can be quite exhausting.What you would rather do is take one that extends the cruise back to the mainland, either before, after, or both.

 

We did the one sailing TO Hawaii and then the 7 days around the island. LOVED IT, but without those 5 and a have days before getting there, we would have been EXHAUSTED.