Future of NCL America Decision to be made by end of 2008

[ohioNCLcruiser]

I really hope this passes. I don't even want to say much to start something but I think it would be a good thing. I really don't care if people are worried that their cruise will charge another $75 dollars. This is the only large US cruise line in the world. Only two ships of these sizes fly the American flag and people want it to fail so their Celebrity or Princess cruise won't have to be an extra day. Its just like any other type of outsourcing IMHO.

[Caroldoll]

I have a question? What are PVSA rules?

 

If you are talking about that law that was passed in the 1880's or something like that--it was passed because people in Alaska wanted to protect their interests in the fishing industry and stuff. If was not a good act for PROMOTING American ports. It covered all American ports. It was kind of restrictive--and we are finding that out today.

 

If Norwegian has to employ All Americans on their Hawaiian cruises--it is way more expensive. We had a 24-7 business and I was going crazy as all Americans didn't want to work those hours. I was going to have to outsource, so I gave up. I wanted to stay All American.

 

Now--the reason why these ships start or stop in at least one foreign port is to make it so that they can still employ people from other countries. If a ship is solely American, then they must have an all American staff.

 

I personally feel that it would be sad to lose any business from the cruise industry and I hope that they will relax the rules--and I am All American. I don't believe people sneak into the country from cruise ships, although I suppose it could happen.

 

Please, I don't want to make anyone angry. I just was stating it as I saw it.

 

I would love constructive comments.

[Caroldoll]

I have a question? What are PVSA rules?

 

If you are talking about that law that was passed in the 1880's or something like that--it was passed because people in Alaska wanted to protect their interests in the fishing industry and stuff. If was not a good act for PROMOTING American ports. It covered all American ports. It was kind of restrictive--and we are finding that out today.

 

If Norwegian has to employ All Americans on their Hawaiian cruises--it is way more expensive. We had a 24-7 business and I was going crazy as all Americans didn't want to work those hours. I was going to have to outsource, so I gave up. I wanted to stay All American.

 

Now--the reason why these ships start or stop in at least one foreign port is to make it so that they can still employ people from other countries. If a ship is solely American, then they must have an all American staff.

 

I personally feel that it would be sad to lose any business from the cruise industry and I hope that they will relax the rules--and I am All American. I don't believe people sneak into the country from cruise ships, although I suppose it could happen.

 

Please, I don't want to make anyone angry. I just was stating it as I saw it.

 

I would love constructive comments.

[dogo88]

Since everybody is adding in their comments, I thought I'd add mine. We pretty much use Holland America for our cruises. We haven't been on an NCL ship since the early 80's on the Norway. Wonder trip and great ship.

 

We are looking at doing a Hawaii cruise in 2009 and are doing the comparisons between NCL and HAL rates and cruises. So in trying to compare apples to apples I went online to a large and popular TA that advertises here and who's initials are like CVC to get similar configured trip rates. I picked late April 2009 and chose an outside cabin with air. The NCL rate for a 7 day cruise w/air and all taxes is approx $5400 for 2. The HAL trip out of San Diego for 16 days w/air is $5800 for 2. So for about $400 more I will get many more days of cruising, and true, many will be at sea. But it's not a difficult decision if you're looking for a good and equally easy to see why NCLA doesn't get the pax they need to survive.

 

Dan

[Globaliser]

Hopefully once they come out with the new regulations, this will spur the development of even more US Flagged Passenger Ships.

Dream on, mate, dream on! If there's one thing that NCLA has demonstrated so far, it is that US-flagged large cruise ship operations are now inherently uneconomic and not commercially viable. If NCLA can't do it in Hawaii, where the potential yields are so high, then it's most unlikely that it can be done in any other lower-yielding market.