Why is there no other lines cruising 7 night Hawaii?

[Gone Cruising]

Were looking to cruise Hawaii in the future and was wondering why NCL is the only line offering 7 night cruises in Hawaii. Do they have a special contract with the state?

[johnql]

Simple - NCLA is the only cruise line with American-flagged ships, which allows them to sail wholly within the Hawaiian islands without visiting a foreign port.

[Gone Cruising]

Oh!, thanks for the answer, you learn something new every day!

[Gone Cruising]

One more question, why don't other cruise lines want to do this? Too many regulations?

[electricron]

One more question, why don't other cruise lines want to do this? Too many regulations?

 

Yes, there's too many regulations, but also much more expensive.

Building a cruise ship in America is more expensive, paying wages for an America crew is more expensive, and you have to set up an American corporation which is also more expensive.

 

None of the other cruise lines were willing to gamble as much money on Hawaii as NCL.

[Gone Cruising]

Any suggestions to which ship to sail on?

[Don Haynes]

NCL got an exemption to use foreign built ships which were reflagged as American flagged vessels in a deal with Congress. NCLA, the American flagged operation, uses Amereican crews which have to meet American labor and wage laws, the international flagged vessels don't.

 

The other cruise lines had the opportunity to do this, but didn't. For any of the other cruise lines to operate out of Hawaii without visiting a foreign port, they will have to buy American built ships. NCL bought the mothballed SS United States and SS Independence to keep them out of the hands of other cruise lines. Currently, there aren't any more American built cruise ships.

 

Part of the deal with Congress keeps the Pride ships from sailing to Alaska, Mexico, the Caribbean, and US Gulf ports. This is a bone tossed to the other cruise lines. They can still sail to US Atlantic and Pacific ports. NCL needed this for these ships drydock every two or three years.

[johnql]

One more question, why don't other cruise lines want to do this? Too many regulations?

That's a much more complicated question to answer. It's not that other cruise lines don't want to do this; it's just that in order for a ship to be U.S.-flagged, the ship needs to be built in the U.S. OR special legislation needs to be passed in order to waive that requirement. electricron did a nice job of explaining how all this happened with NCLA's Pride ships. Check out Post #9 in the following thread:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=313861

[Gone Cruising]

Wow, thanks for the thread! Too much regulations! I wish they would let ships cruise when and where they want without all the rules and regulations. It would create some interesting itinerarys, but I understand there has to be some regulations.

[Don Haynes]

Yes, some of us don't like the Jones Act. However, without it, there wouldn't be an American merchant marine. Every fishing vessel, oil field support vessel, and every tug boat would be foreign flagged. That would put many of our fellow Amerians out of work.

[mbisson]

Yes, some of us don't like the Jones Act. However, without it, there wouldn't be an American merchant marine. Every fishing vessel, oil field support vessel, and every tug boat would be foreign flagged. That would put many of our fellow Amerians out of work.

 

The way the act exists, you are correct. But I don't understand why cruise ships couldn't be exempted.

 

-Monte

[electricron]

The way the act exists, you are correct. But I don't understand why cruise ships couldn't be exempted.

-Monte

 

The shipbuilding and seafarer unions are very strong politically, as well are the American ship owners. Congress will not write an exemption unless there's a political necessarity, to keep American union labor employed.

 

That's why NCL got the exemption for foreign built ships, to keep Hawaiian/American union workers employed, amongst other things....

As long as there are American flagged cruise ships, or even just the slightest possibility of having them, there will be no exemptions passed through Congress. And there's three American flagged cruise ships in operation today.

Before NCL got exemptions, there were two, then one American flagged cruise ship, the SS Independence, in operation. When that cruise line went bankrupted, NCL purchased their last operating ship, and the two they had ordered. NCL kept the last operating ship in mothballs, but finished building the first of the two on order.

NCL took the federal government off the financial hook to a tune of approximately one billion dollars. That was the other reason the exemption NCL got allowed finishing the ships in an oversea shipyard.

But, there are limitations as to where these three ships can sail under the exemption NCL received, the three ships built in a foreign shipyard can't sail to Alaska, Mexico, Gulf of Mexico, or Caribbean ports, either foreign or domestic ports. They also must sail mostly (greater than half a year) in Hawaiian seas. They can sail anywhere else in the world, including the Pacific West Coast and the Atlantic East Coast ports.

[beachchick]

Wow, thanks for the thread! Too much regulations! I wish they would let ships cruise when and where they want without all the rules and regulations. It would create some interesting itinerarys, but I understand there has to be some regulations.

 

As far as Hawaii cruising, it's almost a moot point because the state of Hawaii has thousands of land visitors every day, so they don't "need" tons more cruise pax. In fact, the islands wouldn't support the kind of influx that is happening more and more in the Caribbean, such as seven ships in port on any given day. Not only will the islands themselves not support those kinds of numbers, but neither will the ports themselves. It's just not going to happen in Hawaii no matter what happens to the regulations in the future.

 

I think that it's good that there are rules and regulations (and you seem to understand why they are needed). For one thing, a free-for-all with no rules and regulation would, IMO, likely lead to problems with health and safety in the cruise industry. While I don't think we need to be smothered with rules, I do believe that industry does need some regulation for the sake of the paying customer.

 

beachchick